In the dance world, it pays to stand out. In March 2012, Harlem native Joshua Johnson made The New York Times by tap-dancing on the subway to pay for his Pennsylvania State University tuition. Next week, the college senior will perform at a much larger venue: Madison Square Garden at the New York Knicks’ opening […]
In 2012, “Tap it Out” was held at the World Financial Center. There aren’t many opportunities to see 300 feet tapping in sync—unless you own Happy Feet on DVD. But this weekend, “Tap it Out” will give New Yorkers a show to remember. The performance will conclude the American Tap Dance Foundation’s week-long Tap City […]
Speak with tap great Savion Glover for only a moment and you’ll immediately feel his reverence for the art form that is tap: “I recognized through the tap giants that I got to work with, like Dianne Walker, Jimmy Slyde, Gregory Hines and Buster Brown, that it was special for me to have been invited […]
Savion Glover is serious. Serious talent. Serious about upholding tap history. Serious about having a good time and making the audience feel joy. Serious is the only way to describe the man after seeing the second performance of his new show STePz at The Joyce Theater in New York on Wednesday night. With Marshall Davis […]
Seen & Heard At the Dance Teacher Summit As a regular convention faculty member, Debbi Dee is a pro at teaching tap to teachers. Named a “Living Treasure in American Dance” by Oklahoma City University in 2011, she will be teaching at the Dance Teacher Summit in August. Dee spoke to DT about her […]
Buster Brown, foreground Today marks the centennial of the birth of Dr. James “Buster” Brown, one of tap’s most celebrated performers and teachers. A long-time member of the Copasetics, Brown influenced many of today’s dancers through his teaching and at his famous Sunday night tap jams at NYC’s Swing 46. This weekend, many of Brown’s […]
How I teach pre-tap Courtney Runft and American Tap Dance Foundation student Julia Freer (age 5) demonstrate a maxi ford. Forty-five minutes of 3 1/2-year-olds in tap shoes may sound like a recipe for a throbbing headache, but Courtney Runft manages to keep the noise under control. That’s because for the first few months of […]
Music for rhythm tap When Mike Minery’s students enter Wednesday tap class at For Dancers Only in Little Falls, New Jersey, they already know what technique drills are coming. “Soon after I first started teaching, I realized I was just coming up with combinations. I wasn’t really teaching technique,” says Minery. “Now I’ve made an […]
Michelle Dorrance reaches new heights as the first tapper to receive the Jacob’s Pillow Dance AwardFollowing her spectacular January performance at Dancespace Project, the unstoppable Michelle Dorrance was recognized in The New York Times as tap’s most promising choreographer. And the good news keeps coming: This summer, Dorrance will receive the annual Jacob’s Pillow Dance […]
An anti-bullying program helps high school students find their voices. Andrew Nemr’s tap show for schools addresses bullying. Standing at a microphone, a young woman relives a scene that tormented her throughout her school life: classmates mocking her Long Island accent. In another moment, a young man revisits his childhood battle with a misdiagnosis of […]