{"id":109,"date":"2015-12-09T12:17:34","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T12:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/demos.artbees.net\/jupiter5\/hermippe\/?page_id=109"},"modified":"2025-08-06T14:10:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T14:10:37","slug":"bio","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/roxanebutterfly.com\/en\/bio\/","title":{"rendered":"Biography"},"content":{"rendered":"
[mk_page_section bg_image=”https:\/\/roxanebutterfly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/5-Roxane-Butterfly-.jpeg” bg_color=”#90d5ff” blend_mode=”luminosity” attachment=”fixed” bg_position=”center top” bg_repeat=”no-repeat” bg_stretch=”true” enable_3d=”true” speed_factor=”0.8″ min_height=”745″ full_width=”true” padding_top=”0″ padding_bottom=”48″ top_shape_color=”#ffffff” has_bottom_shape_divider=”true” bottom_shape_color=”#ffffff” sidebar=”sidebar-1″][vc_column][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1449585288855{background-image: url(https:\/\/roxanebutterfly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/patterns4-1.png?id=23) !important;background-position: 0 0 !important;background-repeat: repeat !important;}”]\n[\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/mk_page_section][vc_row][vc_column][mk_padding_divider size=”31″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1609091054135{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Multi-dimensional rhythmician<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/strong>Improvographer, instant choreographer, dancing-musician who sings with her feet, Roxane Butterfly is rooted in the jazz culture with her primary inspirations coming\u00a0 from her native Mediterraneans and Africa. Sought after for her exceptional talent as an improviser, Roxane Butterfly is held as a true icon of the New York underground tap movement since three decades, both in the United States but also in Europe. She is known for her daring musical experimentations in musical environments distinct from the classic jazz tradition (from free jazz to classical music via flamenco, Arabic and Indian music, electronica etc…). Born in Toulon (South of France), Roxane is the first woman in the history of tap dance to have won the prestigious Bessie Award (in 1999 at the Joyce Theater in New York). In 2001, she became the first immigrant to gain permanent residence in the USA as an official tap-dancer.\u00a0 She represents a direct link to the generation of her mentors, the Original Hoofers.<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider size=”47″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_video link=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/DvcgvdRM0Aw?si=oQhwzjCnTdvHvdBR” autoplay=”true” loop=”true”][mk_padding_divider size=”47″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1642596522915{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Awards<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Critics\u00a0 have compared Roxane to musicians\u00a0 such as jazz legend John Coltrane and king of minimalism Steve Reich. Her commitment to live-music has been supported by the New York Foundation for the Arts, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, USArtists International, John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, Harkness Dance Center, Meet The Composer, Fund For Creative Community…[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1753215510790{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]One foot in the dance-world
\n<\/span><\/strong>Roxane has helped establish the presence of tap dance at many international dance venues such as Jacob’s Pillow (Massachussets 2002), the American Dance Festival in Durham (2004), Harkness Dance Festival (NY2005), ImpulsTanz (Vienne, Austria, 2002), DanceSalad (Houston 2002), Institut del Teatre (Barcelona 2010), etc…\u00a0 In a widely male made field (still), Roxane led a solo career internationally, performing her own work Africa, the Middle East, Europe, North and South America, Asia, Australia and the Caribbeans. Amongst her multiple body of work, BeauteeZ’n The Beat is one that stands out because of its role in positionning the voice of women in a field dominated by images of men.<\/p>\n

Roxane starred in Kenneth Feld’<\/a>s hip hop musical MADhattan (Las Vegas 1997\/) and Teatro Zinzanni<\/a> (Seattle\/ 2005). She performed with Lynn Dally’s Jazz Tap Ensemble for a number of years (Los Angeles \/ 1998-2000), alongside legendary Nicholas Brothers <\/a>and Gregory Hines.<\/a>\u00a0She also took part in the world-touring moving-exhibit of photographer David Michalek : Slow Dancing<\/a> (New York\/2008).[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1609172520044{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Throughout the years, Roxane ventured into more contempary music avenues with percussionist Evelyn Glennie (in the movie Touch The Sound<\/a> released in 2001), bassist Barre Philipps (2008), multi-disciplinary soundscapist Xumo Nounjio (with their cross-over production of Ad-Lib<\/a> in 2011). In 2015, she created a soundtrack for the documentary The Origins of Music.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1609176115734{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]One foot on the music-scene<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Some of her credits\u00a0 include concerts with jazz luminaries Les Paul, Stanley Jordan, Ron Carter, Aldo Romano, Benny Powell, Phil Woods, Dennis Charles, Elisabeth Kontomanou, Graham Haynes…, flamenco legends Tomasito and Carles Benavente, and world-music innovators such as Cheick Tidiane Seck (piano), Brice Wassy (drums), Leonard Eto (taiko drums), Prabhu Edouard (tablas)… to name only a few. Roxane also had the chance to share her sound with George Benson at one of his soulful parties in his Englewood house. She has been invited to perform and lecture at multiple music festivals around the world such as Jazz in Toulon (France), the Nice Jazz Festival (France), the Festival D\u2019 Un Monde \u00e0 l\u2019Autre in Lyon (France), Nuits D\u2019Afrique (Kola Note, Montreal), PetroJazz (Russia). Her Djellaba Groove<\/a> project opened the world-famous GlobalFest at the Public Theater (NYC 2006), Summerstage (NYC 2006), Lincoln Center OutDoors (NYC 2007) and so on\u2026 She also has performed as a soloist with the Stamford Philharmonic Orchestra, The New York Virtuosi Orchestra, The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Cab Calloway Orchestra, and had the opportunity to collaborate for two decades with the pioneering production of Tamango’s Urban Tap.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1609171655784{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]The educational impact
\n<\/span><\/strong>Roxane has taught at major American universities and the best dance schools on Broadway in New York City. In 2011, she founded the Jimmy Slyde Institute<\/a> (JSI) in Barcelona, an educational space honoring her mentor Jimmy Slyde<\/a>, the great American master of bebop tap who named Roxane: \u201cButterfly\u201d, when they met in 1991.\u00a0 JSI <\/em>has now closed its Barcelona location and offers touring workshops.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1753215759758{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Current activity\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>
\n25 years after Roxane was first noticed \u00a0“trading steps ” with Bartabas’s horse during\u00a0 Suresnes Cit\u00e9 Danse, she is back in Paris teaching for the professional training of Juste Debout School,\u00a0 at the Conservatoire and for the P\u00f4le Sup\u00e9rieur Paris Boulogne Billancourt. while running her all inclusive projet Company SmARTS<\/a>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1753216088626{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Download the illustrated biographical brochure<\/a><\/strong><\/em>[\/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider size=”39″][vc_images_carousel images=”322,2845,2777,2792,2830,2831,2796,1310,1300,1323,372,326,3025,2778,2953,3055,3056″ img_size=”490x 350″ speed=”2000″ autoplay=”yes” wrap=”yes” css_animation=”fadeInRight”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[mk_page_section bg_image=”https:\/\/roxanebutterfly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/5-Roxane-Butterfly-.jpeg” bg_color=”#90d5ff” blend_mode=”luminosity” attachment=”fixed” bg_position=”center top” bg_repeat=”no-repeat” bg_stretch=”true” enable_3d=”true” speed_factor=”0.8″ min_height=”745″ full_width=”true” padding_top=”0″ padding_bottom=”48″ top_shape_color=”#ffffff” has_bottom_shape_divider=”true” bottom_shape_color=”#ffffff” sidebar=”sidebar-1″][vc_column][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1449585288855{background-image: url(https:\/\/roxanebutterfly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/patterns4-1.png?id=23) !important;background-position: 0 0 !important;background-repeat: repeat !important;}”] [\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/mk_page_section][vc_row][vc_column][mk_padding_divider size=”31″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1609091054135{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Multi-dimensional rhythmician Improvographer, instant choreographer, dancing-musician who sings with her feet, Roxane Butterfly is rooted in the jazz culture with her primary inspirations coming\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-109","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roxanebutterfly.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roxanebutterfly.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roxanebutterfly.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roxanebutterfly.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roxanebutterfly.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109"}],"version-history":[{"count":175,"href":"https:\/\/roxanebutterfly.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6078,"href":"https:\/\/roxanebutterfly.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/109\/revisions\/6078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roxanebutterfly.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}