Born and raised in India, Sarah Petronio moved to Paris in the 70's where she headed the Tap Dance Department of the American Center of Paris and became the dancing partner of the legendary Jimmy Slyde. She has broken ground as a woman in the jazz world, bringing her special style of jazz tap rhythms and improvisation to jazz festivals and clubs including Jazz Yatra India, Jazz à Juan, New Morning-Paris, Avignon, Cannes, Ravinia, Printemps de Bourges, Perth Jazz....

A master teacher and performer and a major force in introducing rhythm tap to French audiences she has appeared at dance festivals in New York, Colorado, Portland, Boston, Texas, Saint Louis, Kansas, Chicago, Washington, Israel, Moscow, Spain, Munich, Holland, Australia.

Sarah has been the recipient of Russia's Tapparade award for "Recognition of Accomplishments in Teaching and Performing Tap Dancing" and The Lexington Tapestry Award for "teaching with passion, dedication and inspiration". She will receive New York Tap City's prestigious 2005 Hoofer Award at the Joyce Theatre in July.

Sarah has been an ardent advocate for Rhythm Tap dancing appearing on several television programs in France and dancing for jazz listeners on the Radio stations. She has performed Ellington's Sacred Concert with Bill Russo's Chicago Jazz Orchestra and has danced for the great Honi Coles in the documentary "Honi Coles, a Class Act".

Sarah currently resides and teaches in Paris, where she performs her "Jazz in Motion" and "When Tap meets Jazz" concerts often accompanied by Leela Petronio and Europešs top jazz musicians.

---

Sarah Petronio and Dr. Jimmy Slyde Photo credit: Peter Petronio ©

---

Quotes:

"Imagine the breezy, freewheeling tap of Bill Robinson, the stage savvy of Sammy Davis Jr. and the unpredictable rhythms of Thelonious Monk, and you'll understand the basic vocabulary of Petronio's art. Listen closely and you'll hear some fascinating rhythms; watch closely and you'll see an actress whose mood, expression and tone change constantly. Her work genuinely constitutes jazz; the rhythms she articulates and the way she embellishes and improvises upon the work of her rhythm section falls easily within the acoustic jazz tradition. Petronio is a rare artist - an original".
Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune Arts/Jazz Critic

"Petronio moved past jazz-tap's expected musical base, the easy swing rhythms of Count Basie; instead she prefers to apply her feet to music by more modern artists such as Thelonius Monk, Bud Powell, Bill Evans and Carlos Jobim. But she solos with the straightforward delight in pure motion that characterized Basie's greatest drummer, Jo Jones."
Neil Tesser, Jazz Critic Chicago Reader

"Referred to by Jazz India as an "out-of-this-world citizen", Sarah Petronio lived up to the sobriquet. Her tap dancing virtuosity left an impression that will forever be encased in this reviewer's mind."
Times of India.

"She came all the way from Paris and tap danced right into our hearts, putting jazz into motion, delightfully."
Indian Post, Jazz Yatra

"An exaltation was present in " Just You, Just Me " and improvisational duet performed by the great Jimmy Slyde and Sarah Petronio, a dream of a dancer, who has the relaxed and wordly chic of an American transplant to Paris, where she has taught generations of tap performers"
Jennifer Dunning, dance critic, New York Times