Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
What the press says:
" Butterfly is about will power, outstanding dexterity, and an unbeatable knowledge of the tradition"
Serge Baudot, JAZZ HOT (March 2003)
"A Staunch feminist with a powerful technique... Music flows from her in seamless improvisations."_Robert Johnson, The Star-Ledger (July 2002)
"One of the new distinctive women tap-stylists to watch. She is outside the mold, playing her own beat" ._ Sally Sommer, Dance Magazine (January 2002)
"BeauteeZ'n The Beat establishes a place for women in tap". _ Ashley Hassbroek, Dance Spirit
"Unabashed and unruffled showmanship" ._Gia Kourlas, The New Yorker
"Roxane Butterfly... effortlessly shifted her weight... creating a footwork fugue of unexpected syncopations... A dazzling rhythmic banquet" ._ Virginia Looseleaf, Los Angeles Times
"A charmingly blithe performer"._ Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times
"Her moves have become croud pleasers". _Michael Paskevicth, Las Vegas Review Journal
"A Tap Diva" ._Molly Glentzer, Houston Chronicle
"(All) BeauteeZ... had plenty of room to shine, with a style all their own... contributing their own statement to the eclectic mix". _ David Reitzes, The Resident On the Town
"So freely exploratory, so willing to take risks without the cushion of high sounding sentiments". _Lewis Segal, Los Angeles Times
"We were particularly taken with Ms Butterfly toe-heel twists, the likes of which we can't recall ever having seen previously"._Backstage
"Her exuberance and visible joy were infectuous" ._Kevin Giordanno, Dance Magazine
"The feet of French beauty Roxane Butterfly...never stopped pattering out suave little rhythms". _Deborah Jowitt, Village Voice
"BeauteeZ'n The Beat is the embodiement of music by women". _New York Dance Fax
"Roxane Butterfly has the gift of reflecting a culture and its tradition... Improvising with Lankan musicians, the blend was so poignant that there were two more shows"._Therese Douglas, Week End Express (Sri-Lanka)
"The Funky Lady of Tap"._Martin Ruhle, The Muensteriche (Germany)
"Savion's female counterpart"._Dance Pages
"A young leading artist of modern tap". _Jazz Hot (France)
"She expresses with her body a true hymn to music and life". _Nice-Matin (France)
- Serge Baudot (Jazz Hot) , Robert Johnson (Star-Ledger), Lewis Segal (Los Angeles Times) etc...
Discography
Because few opportunities are offered to tapdancers to record, we mainly have videos available. Check Roxane Butterfly at:
www.offjazz.com/vid/tp-butterfly.wmv
or contact us directly by email to receive our latest video.
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
ROXANE BUTTERFLY
(Tap-dancer, Artistic Director)
The only woman tap-dancer who ever received a Bessie Award (Outstanding Creative Achievement in 1999), NYFA Fellow Choreographer 2002 and one the featured in Dance Magazine, Roxane is more than a 'dancer'. "A maverick on the contemporary dance scene" (Robert Johnson, The Star-Ledger), she is an accomplished percussionist with her feet. Ligth and fluid, she allies lyricism to dexterity with an "unabashed and unruffled showmanship" (The New Yorker). At home in the jazz and world-music scenes, she was baptized Butterfly by her legendary tap-mentor Jimmy Slyde who took her under his wing in 1991. Butterfly describes herself as a world-class citizen who mixes in her performances both her Mediterranean background and her New York reality. Quoted as the 'Impresario of Tap' by The Village Voice she has self-produced tap-shows, performed and taught throughout the US and Canada as well as in West Africa, Sri-Lanka, Korea, Israel, Russia, Slovania, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Italy, France, England, Holland, Austria, Germany, and recently in The Reunion Island (off the coast of Madagascar). Self-trained, she debuted by dancing on the streets of New York and worked her way to international recognition as "one of new distinctive women tap-stylists to watch... outside the mold... playing her own beat" (Sally Sommer, _Dance Magazine).
Her music credits include the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival (Delaware), the Wheatland Festival (Michigan), The Berks County Jazz Festival (PA), the Nice and Toulon Jazz Festivals (France), the Duke Ellington Sacred Concert (with both the New York Virtuosi and the Stamford Symphony Orchestras), the Cab Calloway Orchestra and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (to name only a few). She has enthusiastically been invited to sit in with many bands lead by renowned musicians such as saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, guitarists Stanley Jordan and Les Paul, pianists Barry Harris and Cheik Tidiane Seck (from Mali), moroccan oudist Tarik Banzi and more... She has also shared the bill with bassist Ron Carter along with dancers such as Gregory Hines, the Nicholas Brothers and the Original Hoofers. Butterfly is featured in the motion picture "An Interrupted Conversation" on the life of drummer Denis Charles (by Veronique Doumbe), as well as in the B.B.C Special "Fascinating Rhythm" (by Iann Leese) and the Italian documentary " That is Tap" (by Guido Fiandra). She was broadcasted on WBGO (radio Jazz 88 ) and coached the great Pablo Veron in the tap-sequences of Sally Potter's "Tango Lesson" (Winner of the Hollywood-Best-Choreography-in-Motion Picture Award/1998).
Her dance credits include featured guest-appearances at Jacob's Pillow, Town Hall, the Joyce Theater, Saint-Marks Church, the New Victory Theater, the Duke Theater, the NY NY Hotel in Las Vegas (with the spectacular Hip Hop Musical 'MADhattan'), the Ford Theater (Los Angeles), the Wortham Center (Houston), Le Theatre National de la Danse et de l'Image (Chateauvallon/France), the Tanzhaus of Dusseldorf (Germany) and much more... with a highlight in 1996 when she invited Savion Glover ('Bring In Da Noise') and Tamango ('Urban Tap') to perform in her own production at Le Theatre de Suresnes in France.
Her teaching credits include on going classes at Sarah Lawrence College and Steps on Broadway. Her tap-seminar "Hoofalogie" has been enthusiatically received by the Universities of Virginia, Houston and Stephens College. Gaining attention as a writer, some of her articles on tap were recently published by the International Tap Association and The Nation. Also known for originating numerous Tap jam-sessions in Europe and NYC , Roxane has allowed many younger dancers to grow in the irreplacable context of live-jazz performances.
THE MUSICIANS
'Sweet ' Sue Terry Music (Director and saxophonist):
A renowned saxophonist 'Sweet' Sue Terry has played with Al Jarreau, Chaka Khan, Dianne Reeves, Clark Terry, Walter Bishop, Dr John, Mike Longo, Dr Billy Taylor, George Duke, Hilton Ruiz and many others. She has been featured on recordings by Charli Persip, Clifford Jordan, Joe McMahon, Jaki Byard, Derwyn Holder, Fred Ho, DIVA and more. She has performed as a jazz soloist with the National Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the NY Pops. She is the author of the instruction book series "Practice Like The Pros".
Nicki Parrott (Bassist)
Nicki Parrott came to NY in 1994 on an Arts and Council Grant from Australia to study with the acclaimed bassist Rufus Reid. Since then, she has toured worlwide, performing in major jazz festivals such as the Mary Lou Williams in Washington DC, the Newpor Jazz Festival, the Bern Jazz festival (Switzerland), the Berlin Jazz Festival, the Edinburgh Festival (UK) and at the Kennedy Center in DC. Nicki has performed with Teri Thornton, Slide Hampton, Clark Terry, Holly Hoffman and Warren Vache jr among many others. S
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