Woman in the Woods Productions hosts tap dance sensation mentored by Gregory Hines

||| FROM WOMAN IN THE WOODS PRODUCTIONS |||

If you like music that makes you move, set aside Saturday night September 23 when Woman in the Woods Productions brings to Orcas Center a fantastic evening of music and tap, featuring the sensational band Love Movement, led by world-renowned tap dance performer, choreographer,
instructor and educator Michela Marino Lerman.

We begin at 5 p.m. to mingle and enjoy delicious appetizers from Orcas Hotel, while listening to the great jazz sounds of Oliver Groenewald and Steve Alboucq Quintet. Then, we’ll make our way to the main stage, where at 7 p.m., Lerman and her band will light up the stage!

Lerman has been tap dancing since the age of five, when she made her first appearance on Sesame Street. In 2002, Michela was showcased on the cover of Dance Teacher Magazine with “my mentor and main inspiration,” Gregory Hines. “When I saw Gregory. I understood right away that tap dance is a
language, a tool for communication, and of deep soul and feeling. It’s not just dance, its music…and he became the music.”

Michela’s Love Movement ensemble is not your ordinary band.  Using tap dance as part of their percussion section, they incorporate original music, spirituals, jazz, traditional and electronic tap boards in a way which aims to challenge our thoughts, uplift us, and send us dancing all the way home.
Lerman is one of the tap dancers most responsible for keeping the art alive in jazz venues, emphasizing the common roots shared by jazz and tap. “You have all the drum rhythms going into the body and creating new types of percussion”, she explains, “and that eventually became tap dancing. So that’s
both jazz and tap really sprouting from the same seed.”

Sharing the rich history of tap dance is deeply rooted in all her work. She was Associate Producer of the tap dance documentary “American Tap,” a comprehensive cultural history of tap dancing in America and its relationship to jazz music.

Lerman has performed, choreographed, produced, and directed many projects throughout her career, all around the globe. But she holds closest to her heart the shows she has led as a bandleader at some of New York’s greatest music venues such as Jazz at Lincoln Center, Smalls, Ginny’s Supper Club, and many more. She also has appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival, and has performed with many masters including Wynton Marsalis, Jon Batiste, Roy Hargrove, Anna Deavere Smith, and Quincy Jones.

Oh, and by the way, she also appears on the U.S. Postal Service stamp series that honors the art form of Tap Dance!

Don’t miss your chance to witness one of the world’s top tap dancers, band leaders, choreographers, and all-round creative spirits. Come enjoy this immersive musical experience that has been leaving audiences amazed.

One night only, Saturday, September 23, with doors opening at 5 p.m. Tickets at orcascenter.org. Great food, music and dance, only $59 per person.