Roxane Butterfly

Producer, choreographer, performer, teacher, Roxane is a direct heir of The Original Hoofers with whom she learned all about the tap craft. Baptized "Butterfly" by legendary bebop tap master Jimmy Slyde, she has led a 35 years worldwide career both as soloist performing with big bands and orchestras at international music venues, and amongst some of the most established tap companies such as Lynn Dally's Jazz Tap Ensemble (Los Angeles) and Tamangoh's Urban Tap (New York).

She was a featured performer in major productions such as Kenneth Feld's MADhattan (Las Vegas), toured her all women-troup BeauteeZ'n The Beat across the United States and was a pioneer on the world-music scene with her Roxane Butterfly's Worldbeats ensemble, blending the jazz tap aesthetics with north-african music and flamenco. Thanks to the generous support of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, New York Foundation For the Arts, Meet The Composer, Lower Manhattan Cultural Funds... the ensemble has performed in France, Germany, Spain, Canada and in New York (Public Theater, Central Park’s Summerstage, Lincoln Center Outdoors, Symphony Space) etc...

First woman in tap history to win a Bessie Award, Roxane has contributed to open the door for future generations of women in the field of tap. Once held as "the John Coltrane of dance" by the New York Times, she was privileged to share her rhythms with renowned musicians such as George Benson, Stanley Jordan, Ron Carter, Benny Powell, Barry Harris to nale just a few.

First immigrant dancer to be granted permanent residency in the USA as a tap-dancer, she has also helped tap's visibility expand beyond its birth place.

After teaching and lecturing for over two decades at prestigious universities and performing arts schools, Roxane founded the Jimmy Slyde Institute (Barcelona) who has revolutionized the tap-dance landscape in Europe. Relocated in Paris in recent years, she teaches for the professional training of the Juste Debout School, at the Conservatoire Frédéric Chopin and for the prestigious Pôle Supérieur de Boulogne Billancourt.

She keeps on developing work with her daughter who has down syndrome, touring internationally with her all-inclusive project, including performances for UNESCO Paris, at the ZENITH of Paris, in the carribeans, in Italy, all across the Paris suburbans school network and on the public hospitals circuit.

Since 2018 Roxane also holds the annual Paris Summer Tap Intensive, a very well appreciated tap-dance rendez-vous inthe tradition of the Jimmy Slyde Institute.