Off
the Beaten Path: A Jazz & Tap Odyssey
explores the American art
forms of jazz and tap and their unique cultural influences.
The full evening performance was created under the direction
of award-winning New England dancer, choreographer Drika
Overton and musician, composer, educator, Paul Arslanian, in
collaboration with renowned tap dancers Brenda Bufalino and
Josh Hilberman. A jazz
quartet consisting of piano, bass, drums and woodwinds will
perform on stage with the company of six dancers.
Fusing heritage with
innovation, Off the
Beaten Path: A Jazz &
Tap Odyssey
weaves diverse themes inspired by Rachel Carson, pioneer of
the modern environmental movement, throughout the
production’s storyline into an exhilarating and compelling
journey for audiences of all ages to experience.
Drika
Overton
Drika's career as a jazz
tap artist has spanned over two decades and includes work as
a producer, director, educator, performer and choreographer.
She is the creator and artistic director of the
internationally recognized
Portsmouth Percussive Dance Festival and
Clara's Dream: a jazz
nutcracker and works throughout New England
and the US. Drika has received numerous awards for her work
including an Artist fellowship from New Hampshire State
Council on the Arts and Art Builds Community! funded by the
Lila-Wallace Readers' Digest Fund. She has been a featured
artist at the New York City Tap Festival; the Southeastern
TapExplosion in Atlanta; the Bates Dance Festival; the New
England Artist's Congress; Liz Lerman's Dance Exchange's
Shipyard Project; Public Television; and numerous jazz
clubs, concerts, and festivals. Drika is the artistic
director of
MaD Theatricals, a unique collaboration of nationally
and internationally recognized jazz and tap artists, and
co-directs and choreographs for the Youth Jazz Dance
Project.
"Her dance style is fluid,
intensely musical, long-legged, long-armed, long blonde hair
flying, reflecting a passion for jazz tap rhythms and
counterpoint. She has a wicked sense of humor and whimsy
that adds a layer of spice to her work." -
Dean
Diggins
"You don't forget her
performance, it is always dynamic. Drika's clear taps hit
very interesting, fresh and inventive syncopations when she
is dancing her own choreography. Her tall and very
expressive body punctuates the rhythms her feet are playing.
The last time I saw her dance to classical music in
choreography created by Dean Diggins to the Goldberg
Variations, she seemed to float effortlessly across the
floor with the control and sensitivity that only a master
tapper can achieve with a lifetime of practice and
performance." -
Brenda
Bufalino
Paul
Arslanian
Paul, a professional
pianist, composer and dance accompanist since 1970, began
working with tap dancers in the San Francisco Bay Area in
1974. As Musical Director for the Jazz Tap Ensemble
(1979-1984) and the "Fascinating Rhythms" tour for Boston's
Dance Umbrella (1992-1995), he toured the U.S. and Europe
and worked with dancers such as Savion Glover, Gregory
Hines, Honi Coles, and Jimmy Slyde. In addition to his own
1994 CD "It's The Feeling That Counts", his compositions
have been recorded by jazz artists John Hicks, George
Coleman and Roy Hargrove. Paul made his theatre debut
composing and performing music for People's Light and
Theatre Company in Philadelphia, and his score for Arabian
Nights was nominated for a Barrymore Award as "Best Original
Music" in 1997. Paul also composed new music for Twelfth
Night, performed by the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival
in 1996.
ARTISTIC COLLABORATOR'S BIOS:
Brenda
Bufalino
Brenda Bufalino founded
the The American Tap Dance Orchestra in 1986. She performs
and teaches throughout the U.S. and in Israel, Italy,
England, Germany, France, and Australia. She has appeared as
a guest soloist in such prestigious arenas as Carnegie Hall,
Avery Fisher Hall, the Apollo Theater, the Brooklyn Academy
of Music, the Smithsonian Institute, and the Kennedy Center
in Washington, D.C. She also performed in concert with the
late Charles "Honi" Coles, touring America, England, France,
and appeared on BBC Television in England and on cable for
"Atlantic City Live." A trailblazer in the renaissance of
jazz and tap dance, Brenda has been one of the guiding
forces in the creation of the numerous tap festivals,
summits, reunions and workshops happening worldwide. Ms.
Bufalino has also made her name as an author, actress,
producer and director. Her one-person shows, "Cantata & the
Blues", "Journals Of A Woodpecker" & "Unaccompanied" have
delighted audiences in New York City and on tour-both in the
United States and abroad. She has appeared off-Broadway in
"The Courtroom," directed by Bill Irwin. Ms. Bufalino has
been awarded numerous choreography fellowships from the
National Endowment for the Arts and The New York Foundation
for the Arts.
Joshua
Hilberman
Josh was inspired by
friendships with and instruction from legendary dancers -
James “Buster” Brown, Brenda Bufalino, Charles “Honi” Coles,
and mentor Joe “Buck-n-Wing” Stirling. He’s been a featured
soloist and instructor at the New York City Tap Festival,
The North Carolina RhythmTap Festival, DC MetroTap Fest, The
St. Louis Tap Festival, The Chicago Human Rhythm Project,
The Southeastern Tap Explosion, Montana’s Rhythm Explosion,
and Dusseldorf, Germany’s annual tap festival. A highly
pedigreed performer who has appeared alongside most every
hoofer of note, Joshua Hilberman received the 2005 National
College Choreography Initiative award from the National
Endowment for the Arts/Dance USA. In May, 2006 he received
the "Premi Claqueta," Barcelona's International Tap Day
Award, in recognition of his decade of contributions to tap
in Catalunya. Hilberman has been a featured soloist at New
York's Lincoln Center and in jazz festivals from Australia
to Barcelona and all over New England; was a principal
dancer for three years in Manhattan Tap and has performed in
Brenda Bufalino's Other Tap Dance Orchestra; teaches and
performs at tap festivals including Tap City (NYC),
Finland's Feet Beat, Vancouver, Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta,
and annually at The North Carolina Rhythm Tap Festival and
The Portsmouth Percussive Dance Festival. Josh collaborated
on "Clara's Dream: A Jazz Nutcracker," celebrating six
seasons as the Jazz Nut. He is also a collaborator in Thomas
Marek's "About Tap," multi-media portraits of tap dancers,
which plays for a third season in 2007 in Germany's
prestigious modern dance center, Kampnagel. In addition to a
choreographic residency with the Canadian company Decidedly
Jazz Danceworks, Hilberman has set works on groups in
Germany, Holland, and Spain, and on four nationally
recognized youth ensembles: The North Carolina Youth Tap
Ensemble, Washington DC's Tappers with Attitude, the
Jefferson Dancers (OR), and The Legacy Dancers(MA). Josh
developed his teaching chops at the prestigious Leon Collins
Dance Studio, and has been a faculty member at Roger
Williams and Mount Holyoke Universities as well as the
Boston Conservatory of Music and Dance. Currently, Hilberman
freelances internationally.
