Buffalo native and UB Alum Amanda Benzin to Perform with Jump Rhythm Jazz Project

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Buffalo native and University at Buffalo alumna Amanda Benzin, will perform with Jump Rhythm Jazz Project (JRJP) during their upcoming residency March 15-19 at UB, which will include a public performance on March 19 at 8 p.m. in the Mainstage Theatre, Center for the Arts, North Campus.

Benzin, a native of Orchard Park, attended Holy Angels Academy and danced and taught at Mary Alice's Dance Studio in Orchard Park. She graduated summa cum laude as a Renaissance Scholar from UB with a bachelor of fine arts degree and a minor in business administration. During her time at the university, she performed with the Zodiaque Dance Company and the Zodiaque Studio Dance Ensemble.

Upon graduation, Benzin moved to New York City and performed professionally with the Vissi Dance Theatre and modern choreographer, Brandon Ellis. Benzin has taught dance to children of all ages in local studios and public schools in Buffalo and New York City, including a pre-school for developmentally and physically disabled children. She currently teaches at Kaleidoscope Dance and Movement Center in Skokie, Illinois.

Throughout her career, Benzin has studied all forms of dance under many renowned teachers and choreographers, but after her first exposure to JRJP in their annual Chicago intensive, she was hooked. She is now in her fifth year as a performing and teaching artist with the company. As a company member with JRJP, she has performed and taught the renowned Jump Rhythm Technique at universities, schools and dance studios nationally and internationally. She received an Emmy Award as "Outstanding Achievement for Individual Excellence On Camera: Performer" for her work in the multiple Emmy-Award-winning documentary Jump Rhythm Jazz Project: Getting There, produced by HMS Media, which aired on PBS.

Jump Rhythm Jazz Project is a company of rhythmically explosive, emotion-driven dancers who perform and teache nationally and internationally. JRJP was founded in 1990 in New York City by Billy Siegenfeld. Now based in Chicago, JRJP continues to grow as a company whose concerts, workshops and classes both honor and expand upon the art of classic jazz performance -- dancing and singing in joyous, high-energy bursts of body rhythms to the syncopated sounds of swinging jazz music, the blues, Latin jazz and blues-tinged funk.

Tickets for Jump Rhythm Jazz Project are $23.50 general admission and $13 for students (any school). Tickets are available at the Center for the Arts Box Office from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and at all Ticketmaster locations, including ticketmaster.com. To charge tickets, call 1-800-745-3000; in Canada, call 416-870-8000. For group sales, call 716-645-6771. For more information, call 716-645-2787. Students (of any school) must present valid student ID at the Center for the Arts Box Office to receive discount.