In The Company Of Friends: The Dancers and Creative Talents of Director/Choreographer Gower Champion at St Luke�s Theater

Dancers Over 40 (DO40) members have worked with many choreographers, but almost none as often as Director/Choreographer Gower Champion.

The dancers and the creative talents associated with Mr. Champion, from 1951�s 'Make a Wish' to his last Broadway show and the smash '42nd Street' in 1980, will be represented in the show In The Company Of Friends, playing at St Luke's Theater on 31 Mar 2008.

You can read more about director/choreographer Gower Champion (b.1919 - d.1980) at Wikipedia.com

In The Company Of Friends will feature two panels of dancers:

The first with dancers Lee Roy Reams (Hello, Dolly!' 42nd Street), Bob Fitch (Sugar), Iva Withers (Make a Wish, The Happy Time), Ed Kressley (Bye, Bye, Birdie), Lars Rosager (42nd Street) and Johnny Nola (Carnival).

The second will include dancer and Gower dance partner Marge Champion, Karin Baker (42nd Street), Gene Bayliss (Make a Wish, Carnival!, Bye, Bye, Birdie), Nicole Barth (Carnival!, Hello, Dolly!, The Happy Time, Sugar) and Tony Stevens (Irene, Rockabye, Hamlet).

The panels will be moderated by David Hartman, host of Thirteen/WNET�s popular Walking Tours series who was featured in the original 'Hello, Dolly!' as Rudolph the waiter! There will be performances from 'Bye, Bye, Birdie,' 'Carnival!' and '42nd Street.'

There will be time for the audience members to mix and mingle with the dancers and an opportunity to support DO40 with a Raffle and door prizes.

In The Company Of Friends will be filmed and donated to the Jerome Robbins Dance Collection at the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center.

Dancers Over 40 (DO40) was founded in 1994 by a group of Broadway dancers who were concerned about their ability to continue to live and work in a creative environment.

DO40 publishes a newsletter and website, as well as producing social events and panel discussions that focus on topics important to the mature dancer � and to the next generation of Dancers Over 40.