 |
Cara Butler | |
|---|---|
 Butler in 2010 | |
| Born | October 10, 1974 United States |
| Occupation(s) | Dancer, choreographer |
| Spouse | Jon Pilatzke |
| Career | |
| Current group | The Chieftains |
| Former groups | Cherish the Ladies Greenfields of America Solas |
| Dances | Irish stepdance |
Cara Butler is an American stepdancer and choreographer. She is the younger sister of dancer Jean Butler.
Cara Butler studied with the widely respected Irish stepdance teacher Donny Golden. She and her sister, Jean, each won numerous national titles and regional titles, and placed well in international competitions. She has toured with the Irish folk group The Chieftains since 1992 performing traditional and contemporary Irish dances.
In 1999, Butler performed alongside her sister as a featured dancer in "Dancing on Dangerous Ground" which played in the Theater Royal in London's West End. In 2005 she danced once again with her sister for the instructional DVD Irish Dance Masterclass with Jean Butler along with Tara Barry, Michael Patrick Gallagher, and Glenn Simpson. [1]
Butler was the lead dancer in the Folgers coffee commercial "A Dancer's Morning". [2]
Flashdance is a 1983 American romantic drama dance film directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Jennifer Beals as a passionate young dancer, Alex Owens, who aspires to become a professional ballerina, alongside Michael Nouri, who plays her boyfriend and the owner of the steel mill where she works by day in Pittsburgh. It was the first collaboration of producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, and the presentation of some sequences in the style of music videos was an influence on other 1980s films including Footloose, Purple Rain, and Top Gun, Simpson and Bruckheimer's most famous production. It was also one of Lyne's first major film releases, building on television commercials. Alex's elaborate dance sequences were shot using body doubles.
Irene Cara Escalera was an American singer and actress who rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film Fame, and for recording the film's title song "Fame", which reached No. 1 in several countries. In 1983, Cara co-wrote and sang the song "Flashdance... What a Feeling", for which she shared an Academy Award for Best Original Song and won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1984.
Yancy Victoria Butler is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Natasha Binder in the 1993 film Hard Target, Jess Crossman in Drop Zone (1994), and Detective Sara Pezzini on the TNT supernatural drama series Witchblade. For her performance in Witchblade, she won a Saturn Award for Best Actress in a Television Series.
Fame is a 1980 American teen musical drama film directed by Alan Parker and written by Christopher Gore. Set in New York City, it chronicles the lives and hardships of students attending The High School of Performing Arts, from their auditions to their freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years.
Riverdance is a theatrical show that consists mainly of traditional Irish music and dance. With a score composed by Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, featuring Irish dancing champions Jean Butler, Michael Flatley and the vocal ensemble Anúna. Shortly afterwards, husband and wife production team John McColgan and Moya Doherty expanded it into a stage show, which opened in Dublin on 9 February 1995. As of 2023, the show continues to tour the world.
Cara Elizabeth Dillon is a Northern Irish folk singer. In 1995, she joined the folk supergroup Equation and signed a record deal with Warners Music Group. After leaving the group, she collaborated with Sam Lakeman under the name Polar Star. In 2001, she released her first solo album, Cara Dillon, which featured traditional songs and two original Dillon/Lakeman compositions. The album was an unexpected hit in the folk world, with Dillon receiving four nominations at the 2002 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
Bernadette Mary Flynn is an Irish dancer best known for her work in Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames.
Jean Butler is an American stepdancer, Irish dancer, choreographer, and actress. She is best known for originating the principal female role in the Irish dance theatrical production Riverdance. In January 2020 it was announced she is a member of the Irish America Hall of Fame, an honor presented by Irish America magazine.
Orla Brady is an Irish theatre, television, and film actress born in Dublin. She started her career as a touring theatre performer and began appearing regularly in television roles in the 1990s. She has been nominated for several awards from the Irish Film & Television Academy for her television work. Major or recurring TV roles continued in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with Brady appearing in over thirty series, limited series, or television movies up to the 2020s. This included her portrayal of two supporting characters in the CBS-Paramount+ series, Star Trek: Picard.
"Flashdance... What a Feeling" is a song from the 1983 film Flashdance with music by Giorgio Moroder and lyrics by Keith Forsey and the song's performer, Irene Cara. The song spent six weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts around the world. It was awarded Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of one million copies and won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song and earned Cara the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In 2023, the song was chosen by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Recording Registry.
The Cheetah Girls 2 is a 2006 American musical comedy film and the sequel to the Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM), The Cheetah Girls. Directed by Kenny Ortega, the sequel is about the talented teen quartet who take a whirlwind tour of Spain to pursue their dreams of pop superstardom. Unlike its predecessor, which incorporated karaoke-like musical numbers, The Cheetah Girls 2 turned into more of a musical.
Lisa Kelly is an Irish singer of both classical and Celtic music and a voice teacher. She has taken part in many musical theatre productions and concerts, and is a founding and former member of the musical group Celtic Woman.
Colin Dunne is an English-Irish dancer and choreographer who is a leading figure in the world of traditional Irish dance, as well as a theatre actor and contemporary dancer. Best known internationally for his performances and choreography in Riverdance and Dancing on Dangerous Ground, he transitioned to contemporary dance after earning an MA in that style as an artist-in-residence at the University of Limerick in 2002. In 2007, he was nominated for a UK Critics Circle National Dance Award for performances at The Barbican in Fabulous Beast's production of The Bull. His first solo show, Out of Time, premiered in 2008.
Deirdre Gilsenan is an Irish singer who has toured with a variety of Celtic music groups, such as Anúna, Celtic Thunder and Celtic Woman. She is better known by the stage name Deirdre Shannon.
Joyce DiDonato is an American opera singer and recitalist. A coloratura mezzo-soprano, she has performed operas and concert works spanning from the 19th-century Romantic era to those by Handel and Mozart.
Lynn Hilary is an Irish singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She has also performed as a featured soprano soloist in the all-female ensemble Celtic Woman.
Sarah Townsend, known professionally as Sarah McGuinness, is an Irish singer, composer, producer, director, and screenwriter.
Nathalie Makoma, is a Congolese Dutch singer-songwriter. She was the lead-singer for the Makoma group and later embarked on a solo musical career.
Joanne Doyle is a former professional Irish dancer who is most famous for her lead role in Riverdance. In her 10 years with Riverdance, Doyle became the longest-serving lead in the show's history and danced in over 2,500 performances.
The Whitman Sisters were four African-American sisters who were stars of Black Vaudeville. They ran their own performing touring company for over forty years from 1900 to 1943, becoming the longest-running and best-paid act on the T.O.B.A. circuit. They comprised Mabel (May), Essie, Alberta "Bert" and Alice.
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