News Release | CSULA, Cal State L.A., Los Angeles, Ardie Bryant, Jazz tap

 Ambassador of tap honored as a ‘legend of Los Angeles’

Cal State L.A.’s Ardie Bryant enchants audience at

St. Barnabas Senior Services 100th anniversary celebration 

Los Angeles, CA – 7/31/08 –  Instead of presenting an acceptance speech, 80-year-old Ardie Bryant brought the audience to its shuffling feet with an impromptu master dance lesson at the recent St. Barnabas Senior Services (SBSS) Centennial Soirée.

Bryant, a tap performer for more than seven decades and an instructor at Cal State L.A. for the past seven years, was one of three “legends of Los Angeles” honored at the SBBS black-tie gala, held at downtown Los Angeles.

Bryant, along with KTLA newsman Stan Chambers and public relations guru Carl Terzian, were recognized for being “vital forces in Los Angeles and beyond, working busy schedules and influencing major areas of the community.”

Known as the “innovator of modern jazz tap” and the “ambassador of tap,” Bryant in his early career has performed with such premiere jazz artists as Duke Ellington, Nat “King” Cole, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. More recently, he performed at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Luckman Jazz Orchestra and appeared with Britney Spears in a Pepsi commercial.

To enhance the sounds of his percussive footwork, Bryant designed a three-drum platform upon which to tap. Along with his career as an innovative master jazz tap percussionist, Bryant has also been a composer, historian, director, choreographer and educator.

At Cal State L.A. he continues to teach jazz tap and the history of tap. He has also taught through the University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) and at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts on the Cal State L.A. campus.

According to Nori Shirasu, a student from Japan who recently earned a master’s degree at Cal State L.A. and was Bryant’s teaching assistant for several years, “To me, hanging out with Master Bryant is like free downloading of music from the Internet: You have to get it while it’s available. It won't be around forever.”

After taking three years of dance and tap history classes from Bryant, another of his former students, Frederick Hamel from France, said, “The joy and freedom I feel when I tap is a celebration of history, bringing various cultures together...overcoming obstacles.... The fact that a French kid like me can be affected so (illustrates) his ability to talk to young people.”

Bryant teaches students much more than dance steps. His lessons include handling rejection, acknowledging others, reaching across ethnic and cultural divides, and staying healthy: “I tell ‘em: You don’t have to use dope; you just have to get some water.”

Bryant’s memories of jazz and tap moves are documented in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History as part of the Jazz Oral History Project.  In 2006, he was named a Los Angeles Cultural Treasure by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

SBBS (http://www.sbssla.org), the oldest senior service agency in Los Angeles, makes it possible  for thousands of Los Angeles seniors to “live well, feel well and age well” by providing an array of services that make it possible for seniors to live independently in their own homes and apartments as an alternative to nursing homes or assisted living.

#  #  #