Angelina Ballerina™
Angelina Ballerina is a little star with big dreams of becoming a prima ballerina. This feisty little mouse works hard to reach her goal and along the way, always learns from her mistakes. When little girls share in Angelina's experiences, they're inspired to go after their big dreams too. In addition to the critically acclaimed story books created by Katharine Holabird and Helen Craig, Angelina Ballerina dances her way into the hearts of young girls weekly on PBS KIDS®.
Angelina Ballerina™ Dances Into The Hearts Of Ballerinas Everywhere As The Exclusive Spokescharacter For National Dance Week
National Dance Week Celebrates its 25th Anniversary in 2006
03/01/2006New York, NY
Angelina Ballerina, the little star with big dreams, dances into the hearts of ballerinas everywhere as the exclusive Childrens' Spokescharacter for National Dance Week, an annual program created to heighten the awareness of dance and its contributions to culture. Angelina will be in the spotlight during the program's ten-day run from Friday, April 21st through Sunday, April 30th, participating in both national and local events promoting dance. This year National Dance Week celebrates its 25th Anniversary with more than five thousand local events throughout the country.
As the spokes-character for National Dance Week, Angelina Ballerina will be featured in all outreach materials, advertisements and posters for National Dance Week, distributed to over 15,000 libraries, schools and dance studios as well as on National Dance Week's website at www.nationaldanceweek.org. Additionally, HIT Entertainment will support the event with online promotion on www.angelinaballerina.com, and through inserts in Angelina Ballerina home entertainment releases.
"Angelina Ballerina has been teaching young children about dance and modeling positive life lessons since the debut of the classic books by author, Katherine Holabird and illustrator, Helen Craig," said Jamie Cygielman, Senior Vice president, Consumer Products, HIT Entertainment. "As a Spokescharacter for National Dance Week, our little star with big dreams will be promoting the benefits of dance to people everywhere."
The Executive Director of National Dance Week, Patricia Goulding, emphasizes the strength of the partnership by citing "the fact that Angelina brings a 'balletically correct' presentation of dance to the children while, at the same time, emphasizing strong self-affirming and traditional attitudes and philosophies makes these networking efforts all the more appropriate and valued."
About National Dance Week
Celebrating its 25th year in 2006, National Dance Week - organized/sponsored and developed by The United Dance Merchants of America www.udma.org - was created to heighten the awareness of dance and its contributions to culture. The annual event is observed through national and local programs at libraries, dance studios, community centers and schools, including various year round programs and online activities at www.nationaldanceweek.org. Additionally, there are more than 5,000 local events throughout the country that promote dance in schools, dance studios and community settings. During this ten-day period, there are approximately 200 delegates networking with the 25,000+ dance teachers who, in turn, reach out through the more than 4 million dancers in America, bringing dance into the spotlight.
About Angelina Ballerina™
Angelina Ballerina is a little star with big dreams of becoming a prima ballerina. This feisty little mouse works hard to reach her goal and along the way, always learns from her mistakes. When little girls share in Angelina’s experiences, they’re inspired to go after their big dreams too. In addition to the critically acclaimed story books created by Katharine Holabird and Helen Craig, Angelina Ballerina dances her way into the hearts of young girls weekly on PBS KIDS®. For more information about Angelina Ballerina, please visit www.angelinaballerina.com.
About HIT Entertainment
HIT Entertainment, owned by private equity investment group Apax Partners since June 2005, is one of the world’s leading independent children’s entertainment producers and rights-owners. HIT’s portfolio includes internationally renowned children’s properties, such as Bob the Builder™, Barney™, Thomas & Friends™, Pingu™, Rubbadubbers™ and Angelina Ballerina™. HIT acts as a representative for The Wiggles® in the UK, US and Canada and as worldwide representative for The Jim Henson Company’s library of classic family brands, including Fraggle Rock™. HIT also owns the Guinness World Records™ publishing and television property and Fireman Sam™, a joint venture with S4C. Launched in 1989, HIT’s lines of business span television and video production (including studios in the US and the UK), publishing, consumer products licensing and live events. With a catalog of more than 1,000 hours of young children’s programming, HIT sells its shows to more than 240 countries worldwide, in more than 40 different languages and has operations in the UK, US, Canada, Hong Kong and Japan. In 2005, the Company joined Comcast Corporation, PBS and Sesame Workshop to launch PBS KIDS Sprout℠, a 24-hour digital cable channel and VOD service for preschoolers. For more information, visit www.hitentertainment.com.
About United Dance Merchants of America
In 1991, the United Dance Merchants of America made a commitment to National Dance Week as a part of their campaign to actively encourage the growth of Dance in America. UDMA has since been the primary sponsor of National Dance Week which is a subsidiary educational committee under the trade association's not-for-profit status. As such they provide NDW with services and product in addition to the monetary donations made by all their members. This sponsorship brings together people of the varied fields within the dance community across the United States and, together, they work to heighten the public appreciation for the art of dance as well as gain recognition for its contributions to our society.
