A butterfly sits in."I call her papillon papillon (păp`əlŏn'), breed of toy dog whose origins are obscure but whose widespread existence in Europe is attested to as early as the 17th cent. It stands from 8 to 11 in. (20.3–27. (butterfly) because her feet don't hit the floor at times--she flies!" says master tapper Jimmy Slyde Jimmy Slyde (b. James T. Godbolt), who is known as the King of Slides, is a world-renowned tap dancer, especially famous for his innovative tap style mixed with jazz. Slyde was born circa 1927 in Atlanta, Georgia. of Roxane Butterfly, the feminist tap dancer who is blazing tap trails on a number of fronts. First is her artistry. She is the only female tap dancer to receive a New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Dance and Performance "Bessie" Award (for Creative Achievement). Trumpeter Joey Morant calls her "the Coltrane of dancers," with deep respect for her jazz-improvisational abilities. In her solo work and for her women's collective of musicians, dancers, and singers, BeauteeZ'n The Beat, she uses jazz as well as electronic music along with hip hop hip-hop or hip hop n. 1. A popular urban youth culture, closely associated with rap music and with the style and fashions of African-American inner-city residents. 2. Rap music. adj. , funk, and African music African music, the music of the indigenous peoples of Africa. Sub-Saharan African music has as its distinguishing feature a rhythmic complexity common to no other region. . In addition, butterfly has what ballet dancers call "ballon bal·lon n. Buoyancy or lightness in movement that allows a dancer to rise and fall smoothly. [French, balloon; see balloon.] "-that irrepressible lightness of being that makes her look she is choosing to remain in the air, instead of having to land. Second, Butterfly is driving a resurgence in club dancing, often sitting in as a tap-percussive member of the band in what were once music-only clubs. Clubs dancing isn't new to tap--it was an important source of income for many tap dancers prior to World War II. Today, few tap dancers work regularly in clubs. (Exceptions are tap pioneers Brenda Bufalino, based in New York, and Michael "Shoehorn" Conley of Portland, Oregon, who plays the sax as he taps.) Butterfly says that in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. , where she now lives, you can tap in two clubs every night. She brings wireless mikes for her feet everywhere she goes, so "I can plug in and be heard," advising accomplished tappers to buy mikes before buying new taps. "You don't dance to dance, you dance to music," she says. "But you have to do it regularly. That's the only way to keep getting better. What's the point of sitting home for nine months to do one month of performing when you could be creating every day?" Third, Butterfly has a long track record of linking tap with social justice issues. She has toured with Palestinian and Israeli performers in the peace concert " God bless the child." She taught rhythm classes to the wheelchair-bound teens in France. She recently received an Arts International grant for Travel to Africa as a tap artist to research the violent practice Of female circumcision. "Dance has the ability to go across political lines to bring people together," she says. "The real power to make change is held by artist." |
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