The ATDF is dedicated to nurturing a creative environment for artists to connect, explore and share their talent with other artists, students, ATDF faculty and the community. The ATDF encourages artists to pass on a tradition. A tradition of teaching, learning, exploring and then passing it on to the next generation.  ATDF programming is designed to connect the tap professional to our student body. Each artist contributes to the Tap Conservatory by teaching special master classes, making guest appearances in ATDF events and performances and by creating and placing new contemporary choreography on the Tap City Youth Ensemble. The ATDF steward's innovation, fosters exploration, provides support and resources and provides a forum for each artist to reach his or her full potential as a working professional in the field.

To learn more about this program contact Tony Waag at: twaag@atdf.org

Brenda Bufalino (ATDF Artistic Mentor/Teacher) is a mixed genre artist; choreographer and tap dancer, a dancer who sings, tells stories, writes books, works clay into shapes that dance, and paints pictures. She has performed her one person shows Internationally and has appeared as a guest soloist at Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the Kennedy Center among other major venues. In February 2009, she premiered her latest show “Primordial Memories” at the Judson Church in NYC as part of Tony Waag’s “Sound Check Series.” She mentors, lectures and teaches master classes internationally and teaches many workshop series for the American Tap Dance Foundation in New York City throughout the year. As artistic director/ choreographer of The American Tap Dance Orchestra she toured America and Europe with her company, and appeared at The Joyce Theatre, and on PBS “Great Performances…..Tap Dance in America with Gregory Hines.” For many years Ms. Bufalino collaborated and toured extensively with her mentor Charles “Honi” Coles. She has received consecutive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and is a NYFA fellow. Her critically acclaimed book “Tapping the Source…. tap dance stories, theory and practice” is published by Cod Hill Press. She has created numerous DVD’s and CD’s…. tapping, singing, teaching and telling stories, which are available from her web-site. She is the recipient of the Flobert Award, The Tapestry Award, and The Tap City Hoofers Award, all for outstanding achievement and contributions to the field of tap dance.
Visit: brendabufalino.com

Visit: Brenda's Blog

Photo by Lois Greenfield

Michelle Dorrance is one of the most sought after tap dancers of her generation. She currently performs with the Off-Broadway production STOMP and is on faculty at Broadway Dance Center. A North Carolinian by birth and a New Yorker since 1997, Michelle has been tap dancing her whole life. She was formally trained at the Ballet School of Chapel Hill under youth tap trailblazer Gene Medler. Michelle started performing at the age of 8 with Medler's company, the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble at the early tap festivals of the 1990's and grew with them, receiving international acclaim. An incredibly diverse dancer, Michelle has since established herself as an accomplished solo artist, teaching master classes and performing from Monaco and Moscow to Tokyo and Tel Aviv. She has been honored to work with Heather Cornell's Manhattan Tap, Savion Glover's Ti Dii, Barbara Duffy & Co., Max Pollak's Rumba Tap, Tony Waag’s Tap City on Tour, Ayodele Casel's Diary of a Tap Dancer, Mable Lee's Dancing Ladies, Harold Cromer's Opus One, Derick Grant's Imagine Tap!, Lynn Daly’s Jazz Tap Ensemble and Jason Samuels-Smith's Charlie's Angels: A tribute to Charlie Parker. Michelle's choreography has been performed throughout the country and internationally and has been featured at Jacob's Pillow with Cintia Chameki's Ritmico, at Birdland with members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, as well as in a commercial for Toyota Taiwan. In 2007, The Brothers Timofeyevich won second place at the World Championships in Germany performing her choreography. She has been known to appear dancing on stage with underground music icons The Squirrel Nut Zippers, Bitch and Animal and Darwin Deez. Michelle holds a Bachelor of Arts from New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, and is on faculty at Broadway Dance Center. She would like to thank all the Masters of the art form whom she's had the opportunity to study with for their indefatigable love and inspiration and genius.

Visit: Michelle Dorrance.com

Derick K. Grant is a performer, choreographer, director who has an established career that spans over three decades. Under the direction of Tony Award winning director George C. Wolfe, he was an original company member and Dance Captain for Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk at both The Public Theater and on Broadway and starred in the role of ‘da beat for the first National Tour of Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk.  Mr. Grant created the critically acclaimed show Imagine Tap! and was appointed as the Co-Artistic Director of Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s Rhythm World Summer Festival.  His choreography was featured on Fox’s hit series So You Think You Can Dance and he has performed and recorded with Grammy Award winner Dan Zanes. Mr. Grant was the recipient of the Princess Grace Award for Upcoming Young Artist, The Helen Hayes Award (Washington D.C.) for Outstanding Featured Actor as well as two additional for his role in Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk.  Mr. Grant also received two Los Angeles Ovation Awards for choreography and for best Ensemble performance in Noise/Funk, and was most recently recognized for Best Choreography for Imagine Tap! He is currently a corporate Tap spokesperson for SoDanca and continues to transform and inspire dance communities around the world.

Visit: imaginetap.com

Photo by Lois Greenfield

Max Pollak, named one of the "25 to Watch in 2007" by Dance Magazine, was inspired by the virtuosic footwork displayed by many of the greats in American film, and most importantly, jazz music. A native of Austria, he has been tapping since the age of 11, and playing drums and percussion since the age of 14. At age 17 Max was first exposed to the African American style of rhythm tap when seventy-one-year-old Carnell Lyons became his first mentor. Lyons, a Kansas City-born childhood friend of Charlie Parker, had toured the world successfully as a member of the vaudeville acrobatic tap act "Jesse, James and Carnell". Settling in West Berlin in the 1960s, Lyons became the pioneer of rhythm tap pedagogy in Europe. While completing his theater degree at the Theater-an-der-Wien Musical Theater School in Vienna, from 1988-1990, Pollak became an accomplished professional drummer and tap improviser. After working in several large musical theater productions in Germany and Austria, including one under the direction of Broadway choreographer Michael Shawn, he moved to New York City at the invitation of Heather Cornell, artistic director of the Bebop tap quartet Manhattan Tap. His tenure with the company lasted until 1997. During the early 1990s, the most important breeding ground for emerging tap talent was the weekly tap jam session hosted by tap legends Dr. Jimmy Slyde, Dr. Buster Brown, Chuck Green, and Lon Chaney at the New York City jazz club La Cave. Pollak was a regular, taken under the wing of the masters. For three years, he also co-hosted a weekly tap jam session at the East Village club Deanna's. Pollak also furthered his musical studies in jazz at New York's prestigious New School, graduating in May 1995. It was Latin percussion master Bobby Sanabria, though, who introduced Pollak to the earth shattering power and spiritual depth of Afro-Cuban music. Pollak soon began incorporating elements of Afro-Cuban jazz and folkloric music in his performances, developing the concept he calls "RumbaTap", a melding of Afro-Cuban music and dance, American jazz, body percussion, and tap dance. One of Pollak's crowning achievements was to receive a grant from Arts International in 2001 to help establish Cuba's first tap festival in Havana. Today Pollak is recognized worldwide as the creator of "RumbaTap." So respected is Pollak for this concept that his performances, teaching schedule, university lectures, and residencies take him throughout the US, Europe, Asia, Central and South America. Pollak has published articles on tap dance in several international publications and is the 2008 recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Choreography.

Visit: Rhumba Tap

Photo by Lois Greenfield