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                         program specifics - workshops - residencies

     Assemblies and Libraries

“Crazy Rhythm, Fancy Feet” is a fun-filled dance and music program which celebrates America's diverse partner dance and music heritage. Included in the show are many styles of music and dance that originated in America such as swing, Charleston, tap, Appalachian clogging, Fred and Ginger style foxtrot, disco, waltz and a routine that mixes swing and hip hop. We have also included a few numbers that do not have their roots in America, such as salsa, samba and tango because these styles have become an important part of the American music and dance fabric

We have performed our programs at many venues such as schools and universities, libraries, museums and parks. The student show is comprised of the incredibly versatile dance team of Bob Butryn and Eva Brothers performing to recorded music. Bob also plays sax, clarinet, flute and sings and performs hilarious skits and vocal duets with Eva. We have 20 different dance routines from which to choose, and the content and length of the show vary according to the age span of the audience and the allotted time.

Since our show involves a lot of dance, quite a bit of the show does not change whether we are performing for kindergarten, high school, or the entire family. However, we do alter the description of the dances for the particular grade levels that attend a school assembly. Also, the level of difficulty of our brief, fun dance lessons are adapted to the aptitude of the students. Our goal is to challenge yet not to intimidate. FUN is the key.

These programs are an interactive teaching tool geared to instruct the audience about America's dance and music history through lively dance routines, exciting music demonstrations, colorful costumes and brief fun dance lessons. The audience will learn how these dances reflected, and continue to reflect society.

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The following letter of recommendation is from the Holmesburg Branch of the Philadelphia Library:

To Whom It May Concern:

The Holmesburg Branch of the Free Library of Phildelphia recently hosted an extremely entertaining dance program performed by "Crazy Rhythm, Fancy Feet", which I would highly recommend. I requested that the show be aimed at a family audience and the performers delivered an enjoyable evening for all who attended. The different styles of dance were very fun to watch as well as interesting to learn about. While the lovely Eva stepped out for costume changes in between numbers, dapper Bob demonstrated dance steps and made the program an interactive delight inviting participants to join him in learning the steps. Although we (the library) sometimes have difficulty with getting teens interested in attending programs at the library, this one was a great success in attracting that age group. They were quite impressed with the routines. It was a fun experience for everyone involved and the community was pleased to have the opportunity to learn about dance styles with which they may not have been familiar.

We owe Bob and Eva our thanks for a delightful evening and we look forward to having them back to explore other styles of dance in the future!

Carole Barta

Chileren's Librarian

Free Library of Philadelphia

Holmesburg Branch

7810 Frankford Ave.

Philadelphia, Pa 19136

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Program Specifics

 Disco dancing  

Since we want to immediately get the students “into” the show, we start the program with the most contemporary partner dance, disco dancing.  This is performed to music from the 1970s.  Our dance routine is to the tune “You Should Be Dancing” by the Bee Gees.  After our performance, we will talk about the film “Saturday Night Fever”, John Travolta, the Bees Gees and the development of disco dancing.. We will explain to the students how this film almost single-handedly inspired a new style of partner dancing called the hustle, a form of disco dancing.

The students might know the song "You Should Be Dancin'" since it was used in the recent film "Despicable Me".

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Charleston Lesson     

Audience participation is an essential ingredient to a successful program.  Bob and Eva have the students join them on stage to teach them the basic step of the Charleston. Older students are taught a couple of variations as well.

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Zany Charleston   

We perform our Charleston routine to a tune from the 1990s called When I Change Your Mind . After our performance, we will talk about the history of the Charleston. We will demonstrate a funny Charleston move called monkey knees and two progressively harder variations. We will finish this segment by playing a hip hop song and briefly show that the Charleston is used in hip hop dancing, and in fact the move is called Charleston.

We dance our routine to a tune from the 1990s called "When I Change Your Mind".

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Tap dancing while playing the clarinet! 

We will introduce and perform the shim sham shimmy.  It is a tap-oriented line dance that everyone used to do together just like today’s “Electric Slide”. Bob simultaneously tap dances and plays the song “Honeysuckle Rose” on the clarinet. After the routine, we will talk about tap dancing in America and how many tap steps made their way into swing dancing.

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Appalachian Clogging

Bob and Eva make some noise with their taps when clogging to the song "CHICKEN" by the Red Clay Ramblers. The audience is encouraged to get into the country mood by shouting "ye ha" and ya hoo" during the performance.

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Swing/Hip Hop Routine    

Bob and Eva show the students how old and new dance moves can be combined into one routine. They dance to the classic funky tune by the "Dirty Dozen Brass Band" entitied "Feet Can't Fail Me Now".

Bob asks the students before the dance routine if they think Eva can hold him upside down. The answer is pictured to the right.

Question and Answer segment

Waltz

Bob and Eva express the elegance and beauty of the world’s most popular partner dance.  Enter another world when they dance to the theme of “Edward Scissorhands”.

Foxtrot

The elegant sway of chiffon and tails recaptures the beauty and grace of the 20th century's most celebrated dance duo, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. This foxtrot routine is danced to the song "Beyond the Sea" .

Swing dancing is taught ("Theme from the Pink Panther" - Henry Mancini)

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 Dancing Swing to New Music    

In this routine, we demonstrate how one can swing dance not only to swing music of many years ago, but also to contemporary tunes such as "Hey Ya" by Outkast. The dancing in this song also demonstrates improvisation. All other dancing in the show is choreographed.

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Lindy Hop   

Lindy hop is the earliest form of swing dancing. We will demonstrate some of the very exciting “aerials” or “air steps” that are part of the upcoming routine. After demonstrating the lift, we ask the students to tell us what they think the step is called. We call this game “Name That Air Step” and it is quite fun. Sometimes the students come up with the real name of the move.

We will point out to the students that our Lindy routine has pieces of the Charleston in it since it is the dance that developed from the Charleston. Finally, before we start the routine, we explain to the students how wonderful partner dancing can be because it gives one the opportunity to work closely with another to achieve a common goal. Also, there is the side benefit of great exercise. We perform our final routine to Ain t Nobody Here But Us Chickens by Louis Jordan.

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Please note:

1) In addition to our assembly programs, we can present our music and dance numbers within a show format using our tremendous, six-piece, on-stage band. This could be performed at the school in the evening as a fund raiser, or in conjunction with a nearby performance venue.

2) Since Bob is a full-time professional musician as well as dancer, he can also teach a workshop called “The Development of Jazz” as a separate workshop or as part of the dance workshop. This is demonstrated on sax, clarinet and flute.

3) When teaching dance workshops, after using traditional music to teach a certain style, we switch to the students' music so they can see that these styles can also be danced to "their" music.

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Additional Repertoire

The dance routines below show the extremely diverse repertoire from which we can choose when fine-tuning an assembly program for a particular school. 

Cakewalk

It is he oldest American partner dance in the show. Created by the slaves mimicking their wealthy owners, this dance was actually embraced by the owners since it is so much fun. True to tradition, the male and female dancers try to out-do each other in the solo section.

Samba

This routine is performed to the song “Cuban Pete”.  The actor/comedian Jim Carrey sang and danced to this song in the film “The Mask”.  He inspired Bob and Eva to come up with their own interpretation of this fun tune.

Sax playing

Bob serenades Eva and the audience with his saxophone.

Salsa

Start with an Afro-Cuban beat, mix in some American pop and jazz influences, add loose hips and attitude and you have...salsa.

Go-go dances of the 60s

This routine is danced to the classic tune "Land of 1000 Dances". Within this routine, Bob and Eva dance many of the "go-go" dances of the 1960s. Here is a list of some of them: pony, frug, watusi, mashed potato, alligator, hitch hiker, boogaloo, funky chicken, swim, jerk, twist, and locomotion.

Beatniks

The art of indifference is humorously played out between two beatniks who reach beyond words to express a train of random thoughts

Power Play

Who is in control?  The answer to that question keeps changing in this playful routine.  However, any attempt to determine deep meaning would cause one to miss this nonsense in motion.

Gypsy Dance

Colorful gypsy characters dance an earthly duet by the campfire.
This routine mixes Irish and gypsy dancing with Finnish music. Somehow it works?#*!
                                                                     

 Workshops

We teach dance workshops and master classes in the many styles of dance that we perform.  The styles include: swing, Charleston, tap, Appalachian clogging, salsa, samba, tango, waltz, west coast swing, hustle, country two-step, cha-cha and one-step.

We highly recommend this if at all possible. Partner dancing not only develops rhythm and creativity, but it gives one the opportunity to work closely with another to accomplish a common goal. We want the students to experience the thrill of communicating creative ideas through the lead-follow technique of partner dancing. Last, but not least, there is the side benefit of great exercise.

In addition, since Bob is a professional musician as well as dancer, he also teaches musical workshops about jazz, the music that was born in America.  He does this by playing sax, clarinet and flute.

 R e s i d e n c y   A c t i v i t i e s

Lecture / Demonstration / Audience Participation

Our mission is to educate as well as entertain.  One way we accomplish this is through our outreach programs.  In addition to performing, we feel that partner dancing should be taught, especially to the young.  It not only develops rhythm and creativity, but gives one the opportunity to work closely with someone to accomplish a common goal.  We want to share the thrill of communicating creative ideas through the lead-follow technique of partner dancing.  Last, but not least, there is the side benefit of great exercise.

We perform age-specific interactive dance and music programs designed to instruct as well as entertain.  Since our show is very entertaining for the whole family, the core of the show is the same for all age groups.  However, the audience participation segments change for particular age groups.  For example, if we are working with young children, our dance lesson would include basics such as walking and kicking in rhythm.  For teens and adults, we start by teaching the basic steps for dances such as swing, salsa and hustle.  Variations are added with a level of difficulty that challenge but do not intimidate the audience.  Fun is the key.

When working with seniors, we teach steps that match their physical capabilities.   Whether they are the able to do some easy swing steps or just some rhythmic chair dancing and clapping, we get the seniors to feel the beat and experience the music.  We also lead sing-along medleys that include songs from their youth, and we play a game called “Name That Singer” in which the seniors have to name the singer who made a particular song famous.

Biographies

Eva Brothers has toured Japan with the New York Ragtime Ensemble where she performed and taught vintage dance.  She also toured Florida, Boston, Washington and New York and performed at the Chataqua Arts Festival.  Eva has taught vintage dance at numerous schools in the Philadelphia area.   She has performed for the Philadelphia library system and at regional First Night celebrations.  She also has theatrical experience and has performed in numerous shows including Bye Bye Birdie and The Mikado and has performed dance as a colonial character in Philadelphia=s historic district.

Bob Butryn is a professional musician who specializes in sax, clarinet and flute in addition to being a theatrical partner dance performer.  He freelances in all styles of music whether it is rock, jazz, pop or classical. He has a B.S. in Music Education from Temple University.  He has taught both general and instrumental music in the Philadelphia school system as well as private schools.  Bob performed music and dance in Atlantic City, and has toured Germany with a progressive klezmer band AKlingon Klezmer". The most recent tour was in November 2007. He was guest artist with the Pottstown Symphony performing with his Dixieland band, as well as dancing several selections including tap, swing and Charleston.  Bob is also a member of the renowned new music group Relache.  Bob has choreographed and instructed extensively in the Philadelphia area.

Bob and Eva have been performing and teaching together for 10 years.  They have studied dance in a way that resembles the way craftsman learned from the masters many centuries ago.  They have located the masters in every style of dance in which they were interested and have taken instruction from them.  For example, with swing dancing, Bob and Eva have studied with the legendary Frankie Manning in New York.  Frankie, who passed on a few weeks before his 95th birthday, is one of the originators of Lindy hop, the early form of swing that bridges the gap between the Charleston and today=s swing dancing. 

In addition to performing on a regular basis for corporate clients, Bob and Eva have performed and taught at many venues such as concert halls, retirement communities, schools, libraries, and festivals in the Philadelphia area.  Their varied performances include swing at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, disco in Atlantic City, and the Viennese waltz at Princeton University. They have performed numerous routines at the Sunnybrook Ballroom in Pottstown and were selected to instruct swing via the internet for the web site ADanceTutor.com@.  Bob and Eva have performed for Ocean City and Haddonfield New Jersey's First Night celebration , the Augusta Heritage Festival and the Great Allentown Fair. Their performance which had the widest exposure was a swing dance performance of AIn The Mood@ at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in 2000 in front of 20,000 conventioneers at the Wachovia Center.  This was broadcast live on C-Span and seen worldwide. 

Bob Butryn - 6488 Woodcrest Avenue - Philadelphia, PA 19151 - Ph/fax   215-477-0997 - BButryn@Verizon.net