MANNA (Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance) delivers care and hope by nourishing people at acute nutritional risk due to a life-threatening illness in the Delaware Valley. The performance will be hosted by 88.5 WXPN Morning Show personality, Michaela Majoun. Reserved tickets to Shut Up &Dance range from $25- $175 and include an after-party at PURE Nightclub with the dancers.
Created fifteen years ago by dancers of Pennsylvania Ballet, Shut Up & Dance originated out of a desire to pay homage to friends and loved ones lost to the AIDS epidemic and support those in the daily service to the HIV/AIDS community, such as MANNA. After a series of discussions as to who and how and what the fundraiser should entail, legend has it one dancer finally remarked, "Let's just Shut Up & Dance."Â
The performance attracts a loyal following each year and is almost always a sellout. Shut Up &Dance is especially unique in that it is an opportunity for the dancers to choreograph their own pieces. Choreographers responsible for this year's inspiring production include Heidi Cruz, Ian Hussey, Jermel Johnson,Matthew Neenan, AdamRogers, Hawley Rowe, and Barette Vance. Also included in this line-up of choreographers are former company members Meredith Rainey, and Christine Cox, codirector of BalletX. Returning this year is Brian Sanders, a founder of JUNK Dance Company and a member of MOMIX, a dancer-illusionist company.
"The dancers of Pennsylvania Ballet are honored to have participated in Shut Up &Dance for the past fifteen years,"Â said Producing Director and Pennsylvania Ballet Soloist Tara Keating. "Their artistic dedication, in combination with the selfless devotion of MANNA, continues to produce one of the most memorable evenings of the year."Â
Dancers of Shut Up & Dance 2007 include:
James Ady; Valerie Amiss; Heidi Cruz; Caralin Curcio; Adrianna DeSvastich; Megan Dickinson; Chelsea Gilday; Ian Hussey; James Ihde; Jermel Johnson; Riolama Lorenzo; KeithMearns; AbigailMentzer; Michael Patterson; Meredith Reffner; Adam Rogers; Hawley Rowe; Nicholas Sipes; Barette Vance
Dito van Reigersberg, founding member and Co-Artistic Director of Pig Iron Theatre Company will be making a special appearance as Miss Martha Graham Cracker. Reigersberg studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. He has performed in almost all of Pig Iron's shows to date and in Philadelphia with The Arden Theatre Company,Mum Puppettheatre, The Lantern, Headlong Dance Theatre, Big Mess Cabaret, and The Philadelphia Opera Company, in New York with the Zap! Dance Series at the Merce Cunningham Studios and the NYU Graduate Acting Program and in DC at The Shakespeare Theatre.
To culminate the evening, the dancers will be onsite at the post Shut Up & Dance bash at PURE Nightclub (1221 St. James Street). Guests are encouraged to wear dancing shoes to share the floor with the dancers of Shut Up & Dance. The after-party is open to guests (21 years of age and older) free of charge with their ticket stub from the event.
"Shut Up & Dance is more than a performance - it is an experience,"Â states Richard Keaveney, chief executive officer of MANNA. "Always entertaining and inspiring - these incredible dancers continue to outdo themselves year after year. We are so grateful to them!"Â
Major sponsors that have made this performance of Shut Up & Dance possible include: East Coast Salon Services,M?l A?l C AIDS Fund, Neiman Marcus, Toppers Spa Salon, and media support from CBS 3, Morris Visitor Publications, Philadelphia's City Paper, Philadelphia magazine, and WXPN 88.5, along with the generous support and cooperation of Pennsylvania Ballet.
MANNA delivers care and hope by nourishing people at acute nutritional risk due to a lifethreatening illness in the Delaware Valley. A small professional staff and 1,000 dedicated volunteers bring over 40,000 nutritious, freshly prepared, home-delivered meals each month to individuals and families living with HIV/AIDS, cancer or other life-threatening illness. MANNA dietitians promote wellness through nutrition education and counseling. Through these services,MANNA provides opportunities for caring people to extend loving support to families, friends, and neighbors. -- www.paballet.org
Posted March 9th, 2007 by ruzik_tuzik
