final show photos by Andy Snow

After 23 years of making music and dance rooted in American cultural traditions, Rhythm in Shoes polished off the 2009-2010 Celebration Season by pulling out all the stops at the Cityfolk Festival this Fourth of July, in downtown Dayton. More than thirty performers, spanning the company’s long and fruitful history were on hand for what turned out to be a real fireworks show for the feet.

True to our master plan, the 2009-2010 Celebration Season was rich with the involvement of some of our favorite local partners: the Muse Machine, Carillon Historical Park, Cityfolk, the University of Dayton, Contemporary Dance Theater of Cincinnati, the Springfield Arts Council, and our fourth SuperPops collaboration with the Dayton Philharmonic.

Also part of the plan was ending with plenty of performances that were free and open to the public. Our last three performances were June 20th at Stubbs Park in Centerville, OH, June 24th at the Springfield Summer Arts Festival and finally, our final performance July 4th, at the Cityfolk Festival.

THANK YOU!

As we planned our final season, were determined to truly celebrate the work we’ve done over the years by recognizing the people we’ve worked with and the community we’ve helped to build. It’s been an incredible run and we want to say thank you for sharing these many great years with us. Rhythm in Shoes has always been about family and community and we are grateful that you’ve been part of it.

Heritage Award

RIS Co-Artistic Director, Rick Good was honored earlier in the afternoon of July 4th when the Ohio Arts Council presented him with the 2010, Ohio Heritage Fellowship, “In honor of lifelong achievements that have had a lasting positive impact on the excellence, vitality and public appreciation of the folk and traditional arts in Ohio.”

The award recognizes Rick’s 40 year career as a musician, actor, writer, educator and advocate of America’s musical roots, including his work with the Hotmud Family and Rhythm in Shoes.

see more of Andy Snow’s photos from the final performance

Our fourth collaboration with conductor, Neal Gittleman and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra this May 7th & 8th, at the Schuster Center for the Performing Arts, was a huge success. With two near sell-out houses, the highly emotional and entertaining program featured a memorable live montage of RIS favorites, accompanied by the orchestra playing “Bolero” to the rhythm of Sharon Leahy’s tapping in a tour de force of steadfast focus.

Returning for this concert was RIS alumnus, Nate Cooper. Ever the effervescent crowd-pleaser, Nate has been performing for the past few years with Cirque du Soleil in their production of “LOVE” at the Mirage, in Las Vegas. As always, he delighted the audience with non-stop physical mayhem and inspired clowning.

Accordionist Kristi Guillory of Lafayette, Louisiana, was on hand to play music she composed for Sharon’s very touching last new work for Rhythm in Shoes. With lush orchestrations by Danny Devellier, also of Lafayette, the piece was visually based on paintings by Jack Vettriano, beautifully realized by John Rensel’s lighting and Laine Marr’s costumes.

Guest violinist and fiddler Christina Wheeler who, since her last appearance with RIS, has become a member of the United States Army Orchestra in Washington, D.C., was spectacular playing both the music of Bach and the barn dance.

Also making an appearance was Dayton’s own Michael Kenwood Lippert, handily reprising his role as Frank Galileo, the blind private eye from Rick Good’s “Nova Town.” The two selections from the show, orchestrated for the Philharmonic by Ben Cooper and Rick, left those in the audience who had seen the original, full production begging for more.

On a personal level, everyone in the Rhythm in Shoes family who was lucky enough to be a part of this production, extends heartfelt thanks and admiration to Neal Gittleman. His open generosity, continuous encouragement, formidable creativity and extraordinary talent helped to make our final theater production all we hoped it would be.

Muse Schools

Our final collaboration with the Muse Machine, after many years of educational struggles and triumphs together, was a very successful, 50 school run, executed with joy and precision in less than six weeks. The students learned about the music, dance and history of the Great Depression and even made some enlightening connections with our country’s current economic crises.

Especially enlightening are Franklin Roosevelt’s eloquent words from his second inaugural address, in 1937:

Old truths have been relearned, untruths have been unlearned. We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics… We are beginning to abandon our tolerance of the abuse of power by those who betray for profit the elementary decencies of life… The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

Banjo Dancing

Banjo Dance, our tribute to the music, dance and culture of the Southern Appalachians, enjoyed a good run last November with three shows at the University of Dayton’s Boll Theater, followed by an appearance at the Kent Folk Festival and two nights at the Aronoff Center for the Arts, Jarson-Kaplan Theater, presented by Contemporary Dance Theater in Cincinnati.

It was a wonderful variety of venues and the show was well received every night. The final performances of Banjo Dance took place on January 30 & 31, 2010 at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio.

Vaudeville at Carillon Park

photo by Andy Snow

See Jan Underwood’s Dayton Daily News photos of our 5th annual Shuffle Ball at Carillon Historical Park featuring Doctor Goodfellow’s Traveling Vaudeville Variety.

Hoop Dancing at the University of Dayton

It was our pleasure to welcome Dallas Chief Eagle and Jasmine Pickner, along with their accompanist Quentin Redbear to our community for a week of workshops and a pair of concerts at the University of Dayton’s Boll Theater, co-produced by the University and Cityfolk.

The sold out concerts were a blessing in troubled times for all who attended and the community events and school programs will not soon be forgotten by those lucky enough to participate.

During the past several years Rhythm in Shoes has spent some memorable weeks in the the state of South Dakota, much of the time in various reservation schools. While working in these schools we had the honor of meeting and joining forces with Dallas and Jasmine.

Dallas Chief Eagle is a member of the Rosebud Lakota Nation. He started teaching hoop dancing to his stepdaughter, Jasmine Pickner when she was a young girl and it wasn’t long before Jasmine became the first female to win the teen division of the World Hoop Dance Championships.

The ancient tradition of the Hoop Dance portrays the Plains Indian worldview with hoops that intersect and grow into ever more complex shapes. Dallas and Jasmine continue to develop their skills in joint performances presented in concerts, schools and community events. In the fall of 2007, they were invited by the American Folklife Center to perform at the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

BROTHER WOLF

“… splendid authenticity and atmospheric energy… a fluid, seamless collaboration, coaxing strong performances across the board.”

Russell Florence, Jr.
Dayton City Paper

Our multi-faceted collaboration with the Human Race Theatre Company was a soul-stirring theatrical experience with a stellar cast of players.

Written by Preston Lane with music and lyrics by Laurelyn Dossett, Brother Wolf was first produced in 2007, at the Triad Theater in North Carolina. Simply stated, Brother Wolf is a retelling of the Beowolf legend set in Appalachia.

Audiences and performers alike are sure to remember the experience as one both inspiring and rewarding.

HOLIDAY ON THIN ICE - Final Edition

The 10th annual Rhythm in Shoes vaudeville lampoon of the Christmas season was not only our last but, quite possibly, our most successful. For many in the audience it has become a Yuletide Tradition.

Presented at Gilly’s nightclub in downtown Dayton, December’s song and dance show, rich in comedy sketches and topical humor, featured familiar favorites like The ADD Duet, The Cowboy Rockettes and Christmas Eve in the Neighborhood Tavern. The latter being populated by a couple of handsome young vampires, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Governor Sarah Palin. Audiences for all four shows were superb in both quality and quantity and the Company was strong as ever. Particularly entertaining was Tina DeAlderete’s take on Carmen Miranda, performed to Rick Good’s original “Fruity Fruitcake” composition and the Rhythm Pirates Christmas on the Briny Deep (pictured above).

In the tradition of the pub sessions of Ireland, Ben Cooper and Rick Good of Rhythm in Shoes and the Corndaddies, have been hosting a weekly jam session at the Trolley Stop in the Oregon District of downtown Dayton for almost five years now, AND they will continue to do so!

The sessions run almost every Wednesday night from 9:00 pm to midnight. In addition to the usual guitars, banjos and fiddles that most commonly play traditional American tunes, we extend the invitation to basses, mandolins, ukeleles, and harmonicas, and we always play unplugged.

Pickers of all levels are welcome, so bring your instrument and join in the musical merrymaking. For more information about playing in jam sessions we recommend a very nice site hosted by banjoist Pete Wernick, aka Doctor Banjo. It is more Bluegrass than Old Time oriented but contains a lot of useful information.