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American Tap Dance Foundation
The American Tap Dance Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose primary goal is the presentation and teaching of tap dance. Its original stated purpose was to provide an "international home for tap dance, perpetuate tap as a contemporary art form, preserve it through performance and an archival library, provide educational programming, and establish a formal school for tap dance." History Originally called the American Tap Dance Orchestra (ATDO), the American Tap Dance Foundation was founded in 1986 by tap dancers Brenda Bufalino, Tony Waag, and Charles "Honi" Coles. Bufalino began working with Coles in 1973 when Bufalino produced the documentary, "Great Feats of Feet: Portraits Of the Jazz Tap Dancer" featuring Coles and ''The Copasetics''. ATDO's first major engagement was on July 4, 1986, at the Statue of Liberty Festival in Battery Park in lower New York City. For the next 15 years, American Tap Dance Orchestra toured the U.S. and Europe. In 1989, ATDO appeared on PB ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tap Dance
Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely performed in musical theater. Rhythm tap focuses on musicality, and practitioners consider themselves to be a part of the jazz tradition. The sound is made by shoes that have a metal "tap" on the heel and toe. There are different brands of shoes which sometimes differ in the way they sound. Ok History The fusion of several ethnic percussive dances, such as West African step dances and Welsh, Irish, and Scottish clog dancing, hornpipes, and jigs, tap dance is believed to have begun in the mid-1800s during the rise of minstrel shows. As minstrel shows began to decline in popularity, tap dance moved to the increasingly popular Vaudeville stage. Due to Vaudeville's unspoken "two-colored rule", which forbade blacks to perform solo, many Vaudevi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village also contains several subsections, including the West Village west of Seventh Avenue and the Meatpacking District in the northwest corner of Greenwich Village. Its name comes from , Dutch for "Green District". In the 20th century, Greenwich Village was known as an artists' haven, the bohemian capital, the cradle of the modern LGBT movement, and the East Coast birthplace of both the Beat and '60s counterculture movements. Greenwich Village contains Washington Square Park, as well as two of New York City's private colleges, New York University (NYU) and The New School. Greenwich Village is part of Manhattan Community District 2, and is patrolled by the 6th Precinct of the New York City Police Department. Greenwich Village has underg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ayodele Casel
Ayodele Casel (born June 5, 1975) is an American tap dancer and choreographer. Raised in Puerto Rico, she derived inspiration for her tap style from salsa music. While in college, she studied witBaakari WilderanCharles Goddertz She became the first, and remains the only, woman to be a member of Savion Glover's Not Your Ordinary Tappers. Early life and education Ayodele Casel was born in the Bronx in New York City. Her parents were martial artist Tayari Casel and Aida Tirado. Ayodele moved to Rincon, Puerto Rico when she was in the 4th grade, returning to New York in 1990. In Puerto Rico, Casel listened to the music of Hector Lavoe, the El Gran Combo, and Celia Cruz. Their salsa music would influence her tap dance style. While in high school, Casel became "obsessed" with the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. She also attended acting classes at the William Esper Studio. As a young artist, Casel attended Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center and was a member of the Positive Yout ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jason Samuels Smith
Jason Samuels Smith (born October 4, 1980) is an American tap dancer, choreographer, and director. Early life and career Samuels Smith was born in New York City to professional performing arts parents Sue Samuels and JoJo Smith. He began his professional performing career at an early age through Frank Hatchett's Professional Children's Program at the Broadway Dance Center in New York City. At a young age, he had appearances on the television show ''Sesame Street'', and at the age of 15, was understudy to the leading role in the Tony Award-winning Broadway show '' Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk''. Awards and recognition He won both an Emmy and American Choreography Award for "Outstanding Choreography" for the Opening number of the 2003 Jerry Lewis/MDA Telethon in a tribute to the late Gregory Hines. Samuels Smith was also awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by the City of Los Angeles for creating the First Annual Los Angeles Tap Festival in 2003 and received a proclama ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Pollak
Max Pollak (born 1970) is percussive dancer and World Music expert. He was born in Vienna, Austria and became known for his work in percussive dance, World Music, tap dance, and choreography. He created "RumbaTap", which merged American Rhythm Tap with Afro-Cuban music and dance. He is the only non-Cuban member of the Afro-Cuban Rumba and folklore ensemble Los Muñequitos de Matanzas. For the 19th and early 20th centurygraphic artist, Max Pollak, see http://www.artnet.com/artists/max-pollak/ Early life Max was born in Vienna, Austria on 1 September 1970. He has started tapping when, at the age of five, he watched Fred Astaire "finesse his way across the screen of the family television set." Tap lessons, however, were not available; in Austria, there was only classical ballet for a youth hungry to learn to dance. :"I however did some self-teaching. My parents bought me some shoes in a dance wear store. I also caught a little bit of an instructional TV show that was on just for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards
Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards (born January 16, 1976 in Englewood, California) is an American tap dancer, choreographer, and instructor who has been called "the mastress of her generation." In 1998, she married fellow dancer Omar Edwards and opened a studio with him in Harlem; they have three children. Early life and education Sumbry-Edwards began tap dancing at the age of 3 under the instruction of Paul and Arlene Kennedy at Universal Dance Theatre. At 8, she performed at the Tip Tap Festival in Rome. At 12, she made her Broadway debut in Black and Blue, alongside Gregory Hines, Jimmy Slyde, Buster Brown and Savion Glover. In 1989, the ''New York Times'' described her as part of a young generation who "have the certain something." After graduating from high school, Sumbry-Edwards joined Lynn Dally's Jazz Tap Ensemble as a soloist. Career Sumbry-Edwards also appeared on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning Bring In Da’Noise, Bring In Da’Funk as the only female tap dancer, initi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Randy Skinner
Randy Skinner is an American dancer, director and choreographer, primarily for the stage. He has been nominated four times for Tony Awards, three times for Drama Desk Awards, and four times for Outer Critics Circle Awards for choreography. Early life and education Skinner was born in Columbus, Ohio. He attended Upper Arlington High School where he was valedictorian, and graduated from Ohio State University, with a major in speech and communication and a minor in psychology."Q & A Randy Skinner 'White Christmas the Musical'" wordpress.com, December 17, 2013 Career Skinner began his professional career with the well known |
Ernest Brown (dancer)
Ernest "Brownie" Brown (April 25, 1916 – August 21, 2009) was an African American tap dancer and last surviving member of the Original Copasetics. He was the dance partner of Charles "Cookie" Cook, with whom he performed from the days of vaudeville into the 1960s, and of Reginald McLaughlin, also known as "Reggio the Hoofer," from 1996 until Brown's death in 2009. Early life Ernest Brown was born on April 25, 1916, in Chicago, Illinois, where he professionally danced as a child.Hill, Constance Vallis. “Ernest ‘Brownie’ Brown.” American Memory: Remaining Collections. Library of Congress Performing Arts Databases. http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.music.tdabio.31/default.html Career Early career At age thirteen, Brown met his longtime dance partner Charles “Cookie” Cook, with whom he performed until the 1960s. They performed in acts such as Garbage And His Two Cans, in which they played the garbage cans, and Sarah Venable's Mammy And Her Picks. They traveled ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
LaVaughn Robinson
LaVaughn Robinson (born LaVaughn Evett) (February 9, 1927 – January 22, 2008) was an American tap dancer, choreographer, and teacher. A virtuoso tap dancer, Robinson perfected a high speed, low to the ground, a cappella style of dance that was characterized by elegance, precision, and clarity of sound. In a career spanning over 70 years, he started performing on the street, then in nightclubs, and finally in national and international tap festivals. He was recognized by the National Endowment of the Arts as a "Living National Treasure", received a NEA National Heritage Fellowship in 1989, a lifetime honor, and a 1992 Pew Fellowship in the Arts. Career Street dancing LaVaughn Robinson was born in South Philadelphia, one of seven brothers and seven sisters. His mother (Catherine Griffin Robinson) taught him his first tap dancing step, the plain time step, at the age of seven. During the Depression, Philadelphia was a Mecca of tap dancing; the Nicholas Brothers (Fayar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dianne Walker
Dianne Walker (born March 8, 1951), also known as Lady Di, is an American tap dancer. Her thirty-year career spans Broadway, television, film, and international dance concerts. Walker is the Artistic Director of TapDancin, Inc. in Boston, Massachusetts. Career She began her dance training in Boston with Mildred Kennedy-Bradic and later studied with Leon Collins, Jimmy "Sir Slyde" Mitchell, and Jimmy Slyde. In 1979, she began a professional dance career. She later performed with Collins & Company and became one of the Directors of the Leon Collins Dance Studio, Inc. in Brookline, Massachusetts. She is considered a pioneer in the resurgence of tap dancing. The ''Boston Herald'' has called her "America's First Lady of Tap." Prominent contemporary tap dancer Savion Glover and his peers affectionately call her “Aunt Dianne” in acknowledgment of her unique place as a mentor, teacher, and confidante. She is often seen in jazz clubs and festivals around the US. A memorable appeara ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Slyde
James Titus Godbolt (October 2, 1927 – May 16, 2008), known professionally as Jimmy Slyde and also as the "King of Slides", was an American tap dancer known for his innovative tap style mixed with jazz. Slyde was a popular rhythm tap dancer in America in the mid-20th century, when he performed on the nightclub and burlesque circuits. He was also popular in Europe and lived in Paris for a brief period of his life. Slyde appeared in several musicals and shows in the 1980s, and he received numerous awards for his talent. He was known for his signature move, the slide. Early life Godbolt was born in Atlanta and moved to Boston at the age of three. As a child, his mother encouraged him to play the violin, and he enrolled at the Boston Conservatory of Music to advance as a violinist. However, the Conservatory was across the street from Stanley Brown's dance studio, which he would visit to watch great tap dancers such as Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, John W. Bubbles, Charles "Honi" Col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chloe Arnold
Chloe Arnold is an American dancer and Emmy-nominated choreographer, actress, director, and producer. She is best known internationally as a tap dancer, and was seen on Season 11 of FOX's ''So You Think You Can Dance'' with her company Chloe Arnold's Syncopated Ladies. Early life Arnold was born in Washington, D.C. She did her first modeling work at age 4 for ''PM'' magazine, and began dancing at age 6. At 12, she starred in ''Chloe's World'', a documentary for cable television. She was a member of Chris Bellou's National Tap Ensemble from age 10 to 13; then Toni Lombre's Taps & Company from 13 to 18, where she trained in tap, ballet, jazz, and modern. In high school, she won a gold medal from The Montgomery County NAACP's Act-so Arts Competition. She played violin in the DC Youth Orchestra, and played varsity sports at Wheaton High School in soccer, tennis, track and field, and cross country. She also excelled as a scholar, winning The Bill Gates Millennium Scholarship, The Pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
