FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Phil Villeneuve Dances with the Baby Girlz at The ROM

Toronto- Nov. 15, 2010. Every once in a while, something very exciting happens at Arts for Children and Youth. This time, AFCY was approached by Phil Villeneuve, Toronto’s one-man dancing sensation.

Villeneuve will be dancing with the Baby Girlz at the ROM in the dinosaur exhibit room on Thursday, November 18, at around 4.30 p.m. The performance will last as long it takes to film the perfect video clip. Everyone at AFCY is so excited!

Villeneuve has been dancing alone for about five years and wanted to add a dance crew to the mix. He wanted to dance with a group of youth and so he contacted AFCY to determine if we were interested in creating a collaborative dance routine with Villeneuve.

“ He contacted us to see if we could collaborate with him.  I met with him to get a sense of what he had in mind, but I was already excited about this project, because I had seen his videos,” says Erin Glover, AFCY’s program director.

“We decided that the Baby Girlz, would be the best fit for this project.  The Baby Girlz are based out of York Square at Eglinton and Caledonia, and have been dancing together in AFCY’s programs for several years. They said yes, and now Phil has been practicing with them for a few weeks.  Together, they selected a song and choreographed a routine. Phil has been generous with the Baby Girlz by giving them a lot of artistic freedom,” said Glover.

This collaborative project embodies AFCY’s mandate, which is to empower Toronto’s marginalized youth to reach their full potential through high quality arts education programs. Such collaborations provide youth from Toronto’s under-serviced neighbourhoods with opportunities express what’s important to them.

Villeneuve became a You Tube superstar when he posted his funky dance videos. His dance moves have an Ellen DeGeneres flavour to them. He dances effortlessly. Villeneuve has been dancing all over Toronto, with just himself and to music that only he can hear with his headphones! The reactions he gets from pedestrians are quite amusing, as you can imagine. He has been seen dancing flashmob-style in the city’s high pedestrian traffic areas.

About AFCY:

Arts for Children and Youth is a charitable organization. We ally with high priority communities and empower marginalized children and youth by engaging them in hands-on, community and school-based arts education programs that respect existing cultural and community activity, resulting in participatory action and social awareness. To learn more about us, please visit www.afcy.ca. You can email us at info@afcy.ca or call us at 416-929-9314.

-30-

**MEDIA NOTE: High-resolution images available on request**

Shehreen Ladha
Marketing and PR Coordinator
401 Richmond St. West, Suite 230
Toronto, ON M5V 3A8
416 929 9314 x 114
shehreen@afcy.ca