Valerie Harper Joins 'AMERICA DANCES!' Career Transition For Dancers' 24th Anniversary Gala 11/2

Rolex presents "AMERICA DANCES! Celebrating Our Sparkling Heritage - Broadway, TV & Film"- Career Transition For Dancers' 24th Anniversary Jubilee on Monday, November 2, 2009 at 7:00 pm at New York City Center, 131 West 55 Street (bet. 7 & 6 Aves) NYC.

Four-time Emmy Award winner Valerie Harper joins the Gala, which will be the entertainment-dance event of the new season. The Rolex Dance Award will be given to Patrick Swayze. Lawrence Herbert and the Lloyd E. Rigler - Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation will receive the Career Transition For Dancers' Awards for Outstanding Contributions to the World of Dance. Artists and program subject to change without notice.

Valerie Harper achieved fame as Rhoda Morgenstern on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Rhoda". During those nine years, she was the recipient of a Golden Globe, Harvard University Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year, Hollywood Women's Press Club "Golden Apple", and Photoplay Gold Medal Awards. Her stage career began at Radio City Music Hall, in the Corps de Ballet. She was in the Broadway musicals "Li'l Abner", "Destry Rides Again", "Take Me Along", "Wildcat", and "Subways Are For Sleeping"; as well as in Carl Reiner's "Something Different", the Tony award-winning "Paul Sills' Story Theater", Sills' production of "Ovid's Metamorphoses", and in Charles Busch's "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife". Valerie has starred in the feature films "Blame It On Rio", Neil Simon's "Chapter Two", "Freebie and The Bean", and "The Last Married Couple In America" to name a few. She has also starred in many television movies. Her other notable TV appearances include "The Shadow Box", directed by Paul Newman; Neil Simon's "The Trouble With People", Norman Lear's "I Love Liberty", and as host of the acclaimed documentary on child abuse "Innocence On Trial". She has performed with various companies of Second City and Story Theatre across the continent and toured in "Dear Liar" (a play comprised of letters between George Bernard Shaw and Mrs. Patrick Campbell), "Agnes of God", and "Golda's Balcony". She and her husband Tony Cacciotti developed a one-woman play based on the life of Pearl S. Buck, "All Under Heaven" that played in New York, Los Angeles, and across the country. She recently portrayed Tallulah Bankhead in the world premiere of "Looped".

"AMERICA DANCES! Celebrating Our Sparkling Heritage - Broadway, TV & Film" celebrates a variety of entertainment that defines our American culture-Past, Present and Future. This eclectic evening is an assimilation and fusion of styles that move from theater to concert dance, to television and film, in a vibrant homage to an array of dance genres. It will play tribute to the crazes and evolution of American dance. Some of the talent for the show will include: American Ballet Theatre's Ethan Stiefel, Laura Benanti, Bob Fosse's Dancin, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, "Dancing with the Stars," DJ Activephaze, Electric Boogaloo's Mr. Wiggles, Nicole Fosse, Valerie Harper, Lombard Twins, Lori Belilove & The Isadora Duncan Dance Company, Kathleen Marshall, Melanie LaPatin and Tony Meredith's Dance Times Square, Metropolitan Opera's Samuel Ramey, New York City Ballet's Ashley Bouder & Andrew Veyette, PopMaster Fabel, Ann Reinking, Rock Steady Crew, "So You Think You Can Dance," Sophisticated Ladies - a Tribute to Duke Ellington, Jock Soto, "Step UP 3", Tap City Youth Ensemble, and Sonya Tayeh Dance with other stars and surprises TBA.

Career Transition For Dancers with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago has helped over 4,100 professional dancers identify their unique talents in preparation for establishing new careers when dance is no longer an option. Since its founding in 1985, the organization has provided more than 40,000 hours (equivalent to $4 million) of one-on-one career counseling and program services - at no cost - and has awarded millions of dollars in scholarships for education and entrepreneurial grants. CTFD also provides dancers with specialized services that include transition seminars and workshops, peer support groups, resource centers, a toll-free national career counseling hotline, a website, and a National Career Network.

Gala tickets are $600, $750 & $1,200 each, which include the performance and a post-performance "Anniversary Supper with the Stars", live auction and dancing at The Grand Ballroom at The Hilton New York. Sponsorships and tables are also available, as well as Jubilee Journal ads. For gala tickets, please call Marjorie Horne, McEvoy & Assocs. at 212 228-7446 x33 and for Group Sales please call 718 499-9691. Show only tickets are $130, $75, $55 and $45 at CityTix 212 581-1212. www.careertransition.org

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.

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