Patricia McBride and Karen Brown Join Ruth Page Tribute at St. Luke's Next Week

A special tribute from New York City Ballet's ballerina Patricia McBride and Dance Theatre of Harlem's Karen Brown will join the Dancers Over 40's Tribute to honor Chicago Ballet's superstar Ruth Page, "A World Apart" at St. Luke's Theatre, 308 West 46th St., NYC at 7PM.

Ruth Page was a dance innovator who refused to be pigeon-holed into just one type of dance, Ruth worked with all the greats, and was the first American to dance with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1925. Prokofiev, Gershwin and Ravel played for her, Isamu Noguchi designed her costumes and she commissioned Aaron Copland's first ballet score. She dedicated her life to making dance and ballet accessible to everyone.

Ruth's work on Broadway includes her professional stage debut in Jerome Kern and Victor Herbert's Miss 1917, a leading role in Irving Berlin's Music Box Revue 1923-24 edition, and choreographing 1947's Music in My Heart. A double-bill of her famous opera ballets Revenge and The Merry Widow had a six-day a sell-out run at the Broadway Theater in 1955.

Broadway's Lawrence Leritz and DO40 board member Andrew Wentink are the great minds behind this panel. Lawrence Leritz danced with her company and Andrew Wentink curated all of Ruth's materials for the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing arts, knew Ruth for many years and wrote extensively on her career.

Scheduled to pay tribute to Ruth in person or in recorded messages are Patricia McBride, Kirsten Simone, George de la Pena, Mel A. Tomlinson, Karen Brown, Dolores Lipinski, Patricia Klekovic, Gildo D'Annunzio, Helene Alexopolous, Lawrence Leritz, Tom Gold, Cynthia Roses, Suzette Boyer, Dean Badolato, Bil Badolato, dance historian Joellen Meglin, and Dakin Hart, Curator of the Isamu Noguchi Museum.

Tickets will be on sale at the St. Luke's Box Office early March, and on telecharge as well. Members, $25.00 with your 2014 - 2015 discount code/membership card; non-members, $45.00. Members call the telecharge number 212-947-8844 or go online to www.broadwayoffers.com. Non-members call telecharge at 212-239-6200 or go to www.telecharge.com. The St. Luke's Box Office is open 7 days a week, 2 - 6pm (save phone and online charges by going to the box office!).