Broadway Billys to Perform at the White House, 9/7

On September 7th, First Lady Michelle Obama will invite world renowned dance companies to perform at the Administration's first event celebrating dance. The White House Dance Series: A Tribute to Judith Jamison will honor Jamison for her outstanding career as an American dancer, choreographer, and Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for the past 20 years. The event, featuring American dance from ballet, modern and contemporary dance, hip hop and Broadway will be held in the White House's East Room at 5:00 PM and will be pooled press. The early evening event will feature performers by Billy from Billy Elliot the Musical, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Paul Taylor Dance Company, The Washington Ballet, Super Cr3w, and New York City Ballet. It will be directed by Damian Woetzel, former principal dancer at the New York City Ballet and member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
 
In continuing the Administration's focus on supporting the arts and arts education, a dance workshop will be held in the White House East Room on September 7th at 3:00 PM. Dance companies will lead a segment of the workshop focusing on their genre.  Students from the Alvin Ailey School, Ballet Hispanico, Cab Calloway School of the Arts (CCSA), Dance Theatre of Harlem, Interlochen Center for the Arts, The Washington School of Ballet, the National Dance Institute's New York, Colorado and New Mexico affiliates, the Chicago Multicultural Dance Center and the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts will participate in this 90 minute workshop and then attend the early evening performance as guests. The start of this event will be open press. Please RSVP to firstladypress@who.eop.gov, indicate if you have a White House Hard Pass or send your vitals by Friday, September 3rd at 10:00 AM.
 
Judith Jamison has been artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for two decades. One of the most renowned figures in modern dance, she was Mr. Ailey's muse for whom he created the tour-de-force solo Cry and other enduring roles. As a highly regarded choreographer, Ms. Jamison has created works for many different companies. She is also an author, whose autobiography was edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Ms. Jamison is the recipient of a primetime Emmy Award, the Kennedy Center Honors, and the National Medal of Arts, and she was named in TIME's 2009 list of the world's 100 most influential people.
 
Billy Elliot the Musical winner of ten 2009 Tony Awards including Best Musical features music by Elton John, book and lyrics by Lee Hall, choreography by Peter Darling and direction by Stephen Daldry.
 
Billy Elliot is the joyous celebration of one boy's journey to make his dreams come true. Set in a small town, the story follows Billy as he stumbles out of the boxing ring and into a ballet class, discovering a surprising talent that inspires his family and his whole community and changes his life forever.
 
Tickets for Billy Elliot the Musical range from $41.50 to $141.50, and can be purchased at the Imperial Theatre Box Office (240 West 45th Street) or by calling Telecharge.com at 212-239-6200 or visiting www.Telecharge.com.  The playing schedule for Billy Elliot through Labor Day is as follows: Wednesday - Saturday at 8pm, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2pm and Sunday at 7:30pm.
 
Billy Elliot the Musical is produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Jon Finn and Sally Greene. Angela Morrison and David Furnish are Executive Producers. The production features scenic design by Ian MacNeil, the associate director is Julian Webber, costume design by Nicky Gillibrand, lighting design by Rick Fisher and sound design by Paul Arditti. Musical supervision and orchestrations are by Martin Koch.
 
For tickets and information visit www.BillyElliotBroadway.com