Mambo and Cha-Cha-Cha to Raise Funds to Ensure Positive Futures for Dancers

Shake off the winter's chill on February 2, 2005 at 7:00 pm, with Winter Heat, a special gala benefit to raise funds to ensure positive futures for those artists both leaving as well as those preparing for dance careers.

New York, NY (PRWEB) December 24, 2004 -- Shake off the winter's chill on February 2, 2005 at 7:00 p.m., with Winter Heat, a special gala benefit evening of hot excitement dancing to the sounds of the 22-piece Harbor Latin Big Band and a performance by the Harbor Conservatory's Gestures Dance Ensemble at the Copacabana, 56 West 34th Street (11th Avenue) NYC. The event will raise funds to ensure positive futures for those artists both leaving as well as those preparing for dance careers. Tickets are $150 for the gala evening. Special prime tables ($2,500) are also available as well as Sponsorships. For information, please call 212/427-2244 ext. 577 or 212/764-0172.

Proceeds will support East Harlem's leading pre-professional performing arts school, Harbor Conservatory, now celebrating 35 years of enriching the lives of young people through the arts, and a division of Boys & Girls Harbor; and, Career Transition for Dancers, the national and local arts service organization with a 20 year history of helping professional dancers identify their unique talents in preparation for establishing new careers when dance is no-longer an option. (See Background sheet) The evening will include a special performance by the Harbor Conservatory's Gestures Dance Ensemble in an excerpt choreographed by Pedro Ruiz, principal artist with Ballet Hispanico.

Relive the Palladium Era when the mambo and cha-cha-cha were a national dance obsession, set amongst the Copa's glamour and sophistication of a 40's supper club with Art Deco décor, a sweeping dance floor surrounded with flowing palm trees, food and drink to swing in a new year. The Harbor Latin Big Band under the direction of Louis Bauzo is dedicated to the sounds of the golden age of Latin Music, and celebrates the music of the "Big Three", -Machito, Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez. The Band has performed with such Latin greats as Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Johnny Pacheco, Alferdo "Chocolate" Armenteros, and many more.

Joining Chita Rivera as Honorary Chairs are Sarita Allen, Ronald K. Brown, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Barry Friedberg and Sylvester Miniter. The Guests of Honor are Mercedes Ellington, Jennifer Muller and Rosie Perez. The gala evening Chairs are Janice Becker and Nina Klyvert-Lawson and the Committee includes: Fe Saracino Fendi, Ronald Lawson, Lady Maughan, Susan Fawcett Sosin, Suzanne Sunshine, and Laura Zeckendorf, committee in formation.

For more information on the Harbor Conservatory, please visit, www.harborconservatory.org and for Career Transition for Dancers, www.careertransition.org.

Winter Heat @ The Copacabana,
February 2, 2004, 7:00 pm
Honorary Chair Chita Rivera

Contact: Nina Olson, 212/427-2244x577
nolson@theharbor.org

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