When I was 10, I so wanted to be Eleanor Powell.
A glamorous powerhouse with a sassy smile and a great pair of legs, Powell seemed to me to be way cooler than Ginger Rogers. No marabou feathers or froufrou ruffles for Powell -- just those little short-shorts that showed off her brilliant tapwork. Plus, she was always surrounded by hordes of adoring men, and even better, she was the equal of any guy. Even Fred Astaire looked at her with a different kind of respect and affection in his eyes, and with good reason -- she could easily dance him under the table.
There's a special kind of happy that I get from watching tap. It's a dance form that oozes joy and exuberance with every carefree scuff or teasing slide. So there's a good reason to look forward to Aug. 13-19, when the Bay Area's Stepology hosts its annual weeklong tap fiesta, with classes, workshops and free panel discussions -- even a public tap jam at the San Francisco Dance Center. It all culminates in a blowout performance at the Herbst Theatre called the Bay Area Rhythm Exchange.
Read on Contra Costa Times site.
Charismatic, versatile and eloquently formidable, the Delroy Lindo that most audiences know is a dynamic force on both stage and screen. Whether playing manic West Indian Harlem numbers-runner Archie in Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" or sympathetic jazz musician and father Woody Carmichael in "Crooklyn," Lindo's sensitivity and ability to uncover what makes people tick has long been admired. A prolific actor, Lindo has been in more than 45 films and television shows as well as dozens of stage productions...
