WHAT:Jazz-A-Long Community Dance Event - Learn some of those hot jazz moves you liked so well in movies and plays such as Chicago, All That Jazz, Cabaret, Fosse and Pippin. No experience required.
Dance students, dance lovers, kids, parents, the young and old and the young at heart are invited to attend a Jazz-A-Long led by dancer, choreographer and teacher Wilfredo Rivera and some of his musical theater students from Columbia College Chicago.
Ben Vereen - legendary star of stage and screen, best known for his groundbreaking work in Pippin, All That Jazz and Roots is in town for Columbia's Conversations in the Arts: Up Close With... program and will attend the Jazz-A-Long.
WHEN: Thursday, February 10, 2005 - 1:00 p.m.
WHERE: Chicago Hilton and Towers Mezzanine Level, 720 S. Michigan Ave.
HOW MUCH: Free and open to the public
MORE INFO: 312-344-7383
For Immediate Release--January 10, 2005
Chicago, IL-- Due to a rehearsal conflict for the Broadway production of "On Golden Pond," James Earl Jones has withdrawn his scheduled appearance at Columbia's second presentation of its new program series "Conversations in the Arts: Up Close With..."Columbia has signed musical theater legend Ben Vereen to replace Mr. Jones on Thursday, February 10 at 7:30 p.m. at the college's new state-of-the-art Film Row Cinema theater, 1104 S. Wabash Ave. Columbia theater professor Chuck Smith will interview Mr. Vereen. At the conclusion of the conversation, members of the college's President's Club will join Mr. Vereen at a private reception.
Tickets are $35 and may be purchased by calling Ticket Web, 866.468.3401 or at www.ticketweb.com. To learn how to join the President's Club, call 312.344.7817.
"Conversations in the Artsis an in-depth dialogue with some of today's most respected members of American arts and letters," says Columbia president Warrick L. Carter. "Columbia is a major contributor to Chicago's vibrant arts scene and it's natural that we would offer the kind of programming that brings the audience face to face with the men and women who have helped to shape our perceptions of the world through their contributions to arts and culture. We're thrilled to be able to offer these evenings to the city's cultural community."
The last conversation of the inaugural season will be held on Thursday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m. with Mary Tyler Moore as the featured artist. Each featured artist will be joined by the evening's host in a small theater setting for an intimate conversation about the arts.
Ben Vereen has appeared on Broadway in Fosse and the critically acclaimed, I'm Not Rappaport. His Broadway credits also include Sweet Charity, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Pippin, Grind, Jelly's Last Jam, A Christmas Carol, and Chicago. His role in Pippin garnered him both the prestigious Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for "Best Actor in a Musical."
Vereen is best known to television audiences as Chicken George in Rootsand as Louis Armstrong in Louis Armstrong--Chicago Style. He has appeared in many made-for-television movies, mini-series and specials including: Anne Rice's Feast of All Saints Showtime, Intruders They are Among Us (CBS - Emmy nomination), The Jesse Owens Story, Ellis Island (CBS - Golden Globe nomination), and Faerie Tale Theatre's Puss N' Boots with Gregory Hines. His own network specials and television shows are Ben Vereen: His Roots, which received nine Emmy nominations and won seven Emmy Awards, Tenspeed and Brownshoe, You Write the Songs, and Zoobilee Zoo. Vereen's film credits include All That Jazz, Funny Lady (for which he received a Golden Globe nomination), Why Do Fools Fall in Love, the animated movie Once Upon a Forest, andThe Painting, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year.
Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution committed to open access and excellence in higher education, provides innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Founded in 1890 as a communications school for women, Columbia College Chicago was revisioned in 1963 as liberal arts college with a "hands-on minds-on" approach to arts and media education and a progressive social agenda. Under the modern leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D. Columbia is aggressively pursuing its mission to bring a richness of vision and a multiplicity of voices to the creation of culture through the diversity of our students and graduates.