White Plains Feels The Love This Friday
By Sam Barron
The City of White Plains is getting ready for a Love Fest.
On Jan. 27 at 7 p.m., the White Plains Youth Bureau will be hosting Live, Love, Dance! A Tribute to Darlene Love.
Love was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and has a long and distinguished career as a singer and actress. The Youth Bureau will also be honoring her for her service to the community and for being inspiration to the youth of White Plains.
The event will feature eight dance performances and two singers doing work inspired by Love and will feature a performance from Love herself.
“She truly is an exceptional person,” Frank Williams, the Director of the Youth Bureau, said.
This is the 7th annual benefit for the Youth Bureau, which raises money for the bureau and for kids in disadvantaged countries.
The Youth Bureau, which has been recognized by the Department of Education as one of the best in the country, has more than 50 different programs designed to help young people transition from youth to being a successful adult, of which Love is a huge supporter.
“Young people rarely have an opportunity to meet someone like Darlene Love,” Williams said. “They’ll know more closely who Darlene is. Before there was hip-hop, there was Darlene Love. She goes all the way back.”
The programs the Youth Bureau offers runs the gamut. They offer programs in culinary arts, boxing, chess, martial arts, academic achievement and teen pregnancy prevention.
“We want them to be involved in doing something positive after school,” Williams said. “When you’re not involved in healthy activities, it becomes a recipe for risk development. We try to strengthen their behavior habits so they make better decisions.”
Many of the dancers performing in Live, Love, Dance! will dance to songs Love has made famous throughout her long career. Artists include The Keene Dance Theater, which is based in New York and performs works that challenge stereotypes and break social barriers.
Performers returning to the benefit this year include the Armonk Dance Company, vocalist Sharisse “She-Salt” Stancil- Ashford, the Steffi Nossen School of Dance and the three dance groups that are part of the Youth Bureau’s Youth on Stage performing arts program.
Tickets are $50.00 and $30.00 and are tax deductible. They are available with a cash or check payment at the White Plains Youth Bureau, 11 Amherst Place, from Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Patrons can also purchase tickets with cash or credit cards at the White Plains Performing Arts Center, 11 City Place, by phone at (914) 328-1600 or in person.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.