Chloe Arnold Inspired and mentored by Debbie Allen, hopes to also inspire and unite people globally through the Arts.  Ms. Arnold graduated with a degree in Film from Columbia University, and has directed a variety of projects, in addition to working alongside high-profile directors and artists. Over the course of her career, Ms. Arnold has had extensive experience in multiple aspects of the industry, as the co-director of the Los Angeles Tap Festival, the producer of over 20 shows, as well as her continued presence as an internationally recognized performer and choreographer. Performance Credits: Debbie Allen's Alex in Wonderland, Brothers of the Knight, Soul Possessed, and Sammy The Musical (dance captain); Savion Glover's All Star Tap Revue; India Jazz Progressions; Imagine Tap; and Jason Samuels Smith's A.C.G.I. and Charlie's Angels: A Tribute to Charlie Parker. Film/TV Credits: Outkast's Idlewild (Universal Pictures/HBO); Brothers Garcia (Nickelodeon), The Parkers and One on One (UPN), The Opening of the Jerry Lewis/MDA Telethon's Emmy Award Winning Number, Dean Hargrove's Award Winning Short "Tap Heat" www.tapheat.com, AMC's Cool Women, Beyonce's Dance Double in "Upgrade You", and tap dancer in Sean Paul's "Give It Up To Me" (Soundtrack for the movie Step Up).  Choreographer/AC Credits: ABC's American Celebration, Debbie Allen's Alex in Wonderland and Pearl; and for her own company Syncopated Ladies.  Directing Credits: CUERPASO, a TV pilot and DVD, Music Videos, and commercials; Assistant Director to Melina on Music Videos for Beyonce, Eve, Jennifer Lopez, Neyo, Snoop Dogg, Kylie Minogue and more. Chloe recently launched her "I love Tap" clothing line on sale now - www.chloearnold.com.

Photo by Carl McClarty

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Bob Audy has worked in every aspect of show business as director-choreographer, for Broadway, television, movies, and summer theatres across the country. He has coached or taught numerous stars, including Shirley MacLaine, John Travolta, Cybil Shepard, Joel Grey and Ben Vereen, and has trained several generations of New York City tap dancers. His focus is on crystal clear taps, breaking manipulations down to their essential sounds and strong use of arms. His pull-back and wing technique is a must for all tap dancers. He wrote two best sellers published by Random House, "Teach Yourself How To Tap", and "Jazz Dancing" and has taught for every major dance organization in the United States, as well as in Paris, France and Helsinki, Finland. Bob was delighted to accept The Dance Masters of America President's Award for 2001. He was honored for his contributions to tap dance at Tap City 2003.

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Bernice Brooks (musical director/drums) is without a doubt, one of the foremost female drummers in the United States as well as abroad. Ms. Brooks studied at the Conservatory of Music in Chicago, her birthplace, and has concretized at The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco and Radio City Music Hall, New York, and has played in notable clubs such as New York’s Blue Note, The Ritz and Cotton Clubs, Blues Alley, Washington, D. C. and at the popular Chicago Festival.

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Ernest “Brownie” Brown is 80-something and began to dance professionally as a child.  With longtime partner, Charles Cookie Cook, he was half of the celebrated vaudeville duo Cook and Brown.  During the 30’s and 40’s, Mr. Brown headlined at New York’s Roxy, Radio City Music Hall, the Cotton Club, at London’s Palladium and the Latin Casino in Paris.  Broadway veteran of “Kiss me Kate,” Brownie was a member of “The original Copasetics.”  Currently, Mr. Brown dances with his partner and protégée Reginald “The Hoofer” McLaughlin; they appear on a tap documentary called “JUBA – Masters of Tap.”

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Brenda Bufalino , a trailblazer in the renaissance of tap dance, performs and teaches throughout the U.S. and the world. She has been one of the guiding forces in the creation of the numerous tap festivals, summits, reunions and workshops presented worldwide. As a master teacher, historian, author, lecturer, and choreographer she is recognized as a resource authority on the evolution and development of tap dance, one of America's few indigenous art forms. She produced and directed the award winning documentary film, "Great Feats of Feet" in 1975, featuring Charles "Honi" Coles and the Copasetics. She has appeared as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Apollo Theater, the Smithsonian Institute, the Kennedy Center, and in concert halls around the globe. She has also appeared Off Broadway in "The Courtroom,” directed by Bill Irwin. She collaborated and performed in concert with the late Charles "Honi" Coles, touring America and Europe. They co-choreographed the Morton Gould "Tap Concerto" and performed it with the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the Norwalk Symphony. In 1986 Ms. Bufalino formed the American Tap Dance Orchestra with Tony Waag and in 1993 they founded a sister company, the International Tap Dance Orchestra. The ATDO has performed throughout the world and appeared on the PBS-TV special "Tap Dance in America.” Ms. Bufalino continues to break new ground with her vision of concert tap dance in orchestral form. She has created many instructional video tapes, and her new book "Tapping the Source...tap dance stories, theory and practice"  has been published by Cod Hill press and is available at both www.Amazon.com and BrendaBufalino.com.

Photo by Toe Knee

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Ayodele Casel, a native New Yorker, began her professional training at New York University. Currently studying acting under William Esper at The William Esper Studio in NYC. Ayodele was a student at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute for six years. Television credits include Third Watch and Law and Order. In the summer of 2000 she completed filming BOJANGLES for ShowTime Television with Gregory Hines. Ayodele has appeared on the cover of The Village Voice, American Theater Magazine and has been featured in Dance Spirit, In Theater, B. Smith Style and most recently Paper Magazine named her one of "50 Beautiful People". Ayodele was seen tap dancing for seven years as a member of Savion Glover's N.Y.O.T.s (Not Your Ordinary Tappers). The group has appeared on television in The Jamie Foxx Show, In Performance at the White House, Savion Glover's Nu York, Monday Night Football '97, and on an Off Broadway stage in Savion Glover Downtown: Live Communication. In 1998 Ayodele co-choreographed and performed a tribute to Rogers and Hart for PBS Great Performances, as well as recording a tribute album to Duke Ellington with members of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

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Heather Cornel recently premiered her solo show “Finding Synesthesia” a collaboration with pianist Andy Milne, vocalist Malika Zarra and cellist Rufus Cappadocia, for the London Jazz Festival at the UK’s prestigious Southbank Center.  Called “the Oscar Peterson of hoofing” (Globe and Mail, Toronto, Canada), she began her career as an apprentice to six of the first generation of American tap masters, and had the honor of performing frequently with Buster Brown, Eddie Brown, Harriet Browne, Cookie Cook, Steve Condos and Chuck Green.  She is artistic director and principal choreographer for Manhattan Tap, an international ensemble of tap dancers and live musicians known for its innovative collaborations on original music for tap.  She is a pioneer in concert tap, traveling worldwide with her company and as a soloist, and has created full-length works with the late jazz icon Ray Brown, film composer Bob Telson (Gospel at Colonus), Chango Spasiuk, and the world music blend of Keith Terry and Crosspulse.  She choreographed the British comedy, “The Play What I Wrote” for Broadway and was choreographic consultant and tap coach on “Three Penny Opera”, a production by Atalaya theatre company in Seville, Spain.  TV credits include a national KQED special with JTE and Honi Coles; Gregory Hines’ Tap Dance in America for Great Performances on PBS; and a 30 minute special for the Canadian Television jazz series Sounds Impressive.  She is responsible for training much of today's generation of tap artists as well as cast members of Manhattan Tap, Stomp, Bring In da Noise, Bring In da Funk, Tap Dogs, Imagine Tap, and Riverdance.   For 15 years she has held the “Manhattan Tap NYC Intensive Workshop”, a 58 hour intensive that she co-teaches with world and jazz musicians.  Other shows today are: “Short Stories”, a collaboration with Vienna based artists Sabine Hasicka and Alexander Lachner to be premiered at "Tap Ahead" in Dusseldorf in May, 2008.  She is artistic director of a new collaborative Canadian company, “Rhythms 2010”, an initiative to bring together a number of Canadian tap artists and musicians, that will premiere (stage two) at the Vancouver Tap Festival in Sept. 2008.  Ms. Cornell’s greatest collaborators are her daughter Soné (August 2000) and son Eoghan (December 2002).

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Harold Cromer was born in New York City, and began his 50 year career as a tap dancer on roller skates at the Hudson Guild in Hell’s Kitchen. He made his Broadway debut with Bert Lahr, Ethel Merman (later replaced by Gypsy Rose Lee), and Betty Grable in Du Barry Was A Lady. Mr. Cromer later performed around the world as a member of the well-known song and dance comedy team, Stump and Stumpy, with James Cross. They appeared in leading theaters and night clubs with Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday and Count Basie. Stump and Stumpy also toured with Nat Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, the Ink Spots, Stan Kenton, and Sophie Tucker, among others. In the late 1950’s, Harold became the Master of Ceremonies to Rock and Roll’s The Biggest Show of Stars, introducing such talents as Buddy Holly, Paul Anka, Bobby Darin, Fats Domino, Chubby Checker, Frankie Avalon, Chuck Berry, Aretha Franklin, and Marvin Gaye. Mr. Cromer returned to Broadway in 1978 in The American Dance Machine as a guest soloist, which later toured many cities in the U.S., Japan, and Europe.

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Nicki Denner Pianist/composer/arranger Nicki Denner has been a part of the New York Latin and jazz music scene since 1999United States and Europe.  Nicki is also a devoted teacher, maintaining a private teaching studio, and serving on the piano faculty of the Stanford University Summer Jazz Workshop and the Montclair State University Jazz Prep Summer Program.  Since 2001, she has led her own trio which features Jennifer Vincent on bass, and Willie Martinez on drums. In 2006, the trio released their debut recording, Moliendo Café, which was named one of the "Top Ten Picks of 2006" in Latin Beat Magazine.  Ms. Denner has released two other Latin jazz CD’s as a leader, Don’t Just Stand There and El Médico de Coquí (featuring Julian Llanos, former singer with Latin music legend Arsenio Rodriguez) which spent six months in Latin Beat magazine's Top 20 Hit Parade. You can hear her music at www.nickidenner.com.

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Michelle Dorrance has been tap dancing since the age of three and performing since the age of eight under youth tap trailblazer Gene Medler at the Ballet School of Chapel Hill. She performed and toured extensively with Medler's North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble from festivals in St. Louis and Chicago to Vienna and Berlin. Michelle has since worked with Heather Cornell's Manhattan Tap, Barbara Duffy and Company, Max Pollak's Rumba Tap, Tap City on Tour and was a founding member of Savion Glover's Ti Dii including performances at The Cannes Film Festival, The 2002 Winter Olympics and debut of Improvography at the Joyce Theater in New York. She has taught and performed as a solo artist at the North Carolina Rhythm Tap Festival, the International FeetBeat Festival in Helsinki, both the Dusseldorf and the Heidelberg Stepptanz Festivals in Germany, Tap Encontro in Rio de Janeiro, as well as workshops and performances in Moscow and Tokyo. 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, at the Joyce Theater & the Duke on 42nd Street Theater as a part of New York City Tap Festival's Gala performances, as well as in a commercial for Toyota Taiwan. She has been known to appear dancing on stage with underground music icons The Squirrel Nut Zippers and Bitch and Animal. Most recently Michelle has been honored to be a part of Ayodele Casel's Diary of a Tap Dancer, Mable Lee's Dancing Ladies, Harold Cromer's Opus One and was critically acclaimed in the premiere of Derick Grant's Imagine Tap! in Chicago. She is part of a life-collaboration known as deez and deez, and thrilled to be a part of her mother, ballet dancer M'Liss Gary Dorrance's T-Bone Burnette Suite at Duke University. Michelle holds a Bachelor of Arts from New York University's Gallatin School, 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 their technical and artistic genius.

Photo by Lois Greenfield

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Barbara Duffy According to Gregory Hines, “Barbara Duffy is one of the most inventive tappers around today.” Barbara’s performance highlights include THE GREGORY HINES SHOW, where she was a featured dancer, actress and choreographer, GALA FOR THE PRESIDENT, performing with Gregory Hines before President and Mrs. Bill Clinton and as dance captain and featured dancer in Brenda Bufalino’s AMERICAN TAP DANCE ORCHESTRA. Barbara performs as a featured soloist across the United States and overseas, including London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, where she was hailed as “a riveting performer” by the Independent. BARBARA DUFFY & COMPANY, her own company of all women tappers, “brought down the house with their musical sensitivity” (Star Ledger, NJ) at the Duke Theatre for Tap City 2002. They have also performed at Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, and at The Duke for Tap City 2001 and 2003. A highly sought after teacher, Barbara has taught at numerous workshops and festivals in 14 countries around the world. When not on the road, Barbara holds classes in New York City at Broadway Dance Center. Her greatest inspirations are BRENDA BUFALINO, the late LEON COLLINS and the late GREGORY HINES.

Photo by Lois Greenfield

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Barbara Duffy & Company Inspired by Gregory Hines to create a women’s tap company, Barbara Duffy started working with some of her best friends and fellow tappers, Lynn Schwab, Cintia Chamecki and Pia Neises in the year 2000.  Since then, the company has grown in number and now includes Michelle Dorrance, Chikako Iwahori, Karida Griffith, Maya Jenkins, Carson Murphy and Claudia Rahardjanoto. Barbara Duffy & Company has performed at Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Tap City 2001, 2002 and 2003, (Duke Theatre, NYC). Other performance highlights include Tap City 2004 and 2006 (Duke Theatre, NYC), the Joyce Theatre, (Tap City, 2005), Studio 54, in a tribute to Gregory Hines, the Tanz Haus Theatre, (Dusseldorf, Germany), the Jepson Theatre at the University of Richmond, Center Stage Theatre, (NYC) and Tap City Downtown, Battery Park, (NYC). Barbara Duffy & Company’s full-length theatrical concert,  “STAGES” directed by Tony Stevens, debuted at the Regent Theatre, (Arlington MA) in October 2007 to an enthusiastic audience. Barbara Duffy & Company are also featured performers in Tony Waag’s, “Tap City On Tour”, which is currently touring the U. S. 

Photo by Lois Greenfield

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Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards has been apart of almost every major Tap movie or show that has appeared in the history of tap dance since the 80's. She was most recently nominated for best actress and currently stars in the award-winning Independant film "The Rise and Fall of Miss Thang" which continues to tour film festivals. In addition to opening the Harlem Tap Studio in NYC, Mrs. Sumbry-Edwards continues to appear as a special guest for shows and festivals around the world. She was also elected to the Advisory Board as the Tap Advisor for Dance Magazine and the official Tap Spokesperson for Capezio along with her family, as well as being featured in their international advertising campaign.  Mrs. Sumbry-Edwards career includes acclaimed runs on Broadway and off-Broadway in shows such as Black and Blue, the Tony Award Winning Bring In Da'Noise, Bring In Da'Funk, International Tour of Bring in Da'Noise, Bring in Da'Funk (dance captain/principal dancer/understudy to the lead role), and Imagine Tap! (featured soloist). Other performances include the national tour of Wild Woman Blues and Debbie Allen's SAMMY (the life and times of Sammy Davis Jr.). Film credits include "TAP" with Gregory Hines, Spike Lee's "Bamboozled" (Assistant Choreographer), and "The Rodgers and Hart Story: Thou Swell, Thou Witty". Mrs. Sumbry-Edwards' choreography has been featured in TAAP:The Art & Appreciation of Percussion and was also utilized in Michael Jackson's music video "Rock Your World". She was also spotlighted in a commercial for Tops and is currently filming for MTV's hit television series MADE.

Photo by Eduardo Patino

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Edwin Fion's professional theater career spans from leading roles in West Side Story, Grease, Godspell, and Jesus Christ Super Star, to being a featured dancer with Pepsi Summer Tours 2000. He is a featured dancer and member of The Vanaver Caravan Dance & Music Co. and was seen most recently in "Pastures of Plenty", and in Tina Croll and Jamie Cunningham's production "From the Horses Mouth" where he shared the stage with Martine Van Hammel, Michele Ribble, Brenda Bufalino, Kwikstep and Rokafella.   He was a featured dancer in television commercials for Pepsi-Cola and MacDonald's. He won the prestigious Silver Medal Award at the World Championship of Performing Arts for dance E.E.U.U., and received the Coach of the Year Award for La Copa de las Americas, Mexico. His formal training is from the Performing Arts International in Guatemala City, Mexico includes: Jazz, Funk, Hip-Hop, Clogging, Modern, Ballet, World Dance, Latin, and Swing. Specialty skills are: Gymnastics, Aerial Acrobatics (with bungee harness), and Invisible Thread. Edwin speaks fluent Spanish, and can snap with one finger. Edwin has most recently been working with Nina Vega as choreographer for her new hit single "I Wanna Know You Like That", and also choreographs for Nina Skies.

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DeWitt Fleming Jr. graduated at Marymount Manhattan College with a BA in Acting. Some of his Off- Bwy stage credits include:  27 heaven (jimi), Dutchman(Clay) , Dance Bojangles Dance(Bojangles), Highlights in Jazz, Tribute to Tap Legends, Richard III(Grey), and Finnegan’s Farewell(Tyrone). He was most recently a lead in the Alliance Theater’s production of Sophisticated Ladies in Atlanta, GA. He is an acclaimed tap dancer, and has performed throughout the United States and abroad. He is the host, and also co-creator of the new Off-Bwy hit Broadway Underground. DeWitt has danced with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and with artist such as Wynton Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, Eric Reed, and Suzanne Douglas. DeWitt is also a Percussionist. He plays the drum set for numerous artists in such venues as the legendary Blue Note, Sounds of Brazil (SOBs), and The Village Underground.. He is dance captain for The New Jersey Tap Ensemble, Co-Chair/Director for the New York Tap Extravaganza, a member of Rumba Tap, The Young Hoofers, and Theater for a New Generation.

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Joe Fonda (bass) is a composer, bassist, recording artist, performer and producer.  He has performed as leader of his own ensembles throughout the United States and Europe and as sideman with Anthony Braxton, Archie Shepp, Bill and Kenny Barron, Ken McIntyre/Charlie Persip, Lou Donaldson, Leo Smith, Mark Whitecage, Curtis Fuller and others. As a composer he has been the recipient of numerous grants and commissions and has released many recordings.  He was bassist with the American Tap Dance Orchestra in New York City from 1995 - 1997.  An independent producer since 1978, Fonda is Founding Director of Kaleidoscope Arts and Musical Director of the interdisciplinary Kaleidoscope Performance Ensemble. 

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Acia Gray As soloist, choreographer and master teacher, Ms. Gray has toured extensively across the U.S. and abroad to include England, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Spain, Brazil, Canada and Austria. In 1989, she co-founded Tapestry Dance Company in Austin, TX with Deirdre Strand and currently serves as Executive/Artistic Director as well as the Artistic Director of The Soul to Sole Tap Festival in Austin.  A graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts/NYC, Ms. Gray has shared the stage with such tap greats as Lon Chaney, Chuck Green, Steve Condos, Brenda Bufalino, Donald O’Connor, Fayard Nicholas, Buster Brown, Savion Glover, Gregory Hines, Jimmy Slyde, Sarah Petronio, Dianne Walker and many others in such productions as The Great Tap Reunion, Tap Do/Wop, Just Friends, Masters of Tap, Tap City, Chicago on Tap and The Soul to Sole Festival  to name a few.  Ms. Gray was chosen as one of 12 dancers to work with the late tap legend Charles ‘Honi’ Coles in America’s first creative residency for tap at The Colorado Dance Festival in 1989 and again in l990 with Jimmy Slyde and was also featured in the documentary A Class Act: The Magic of Honi Coles. Along with Tapestry Dance Company, she was a founding member and Managing Director of the touring company Austin on Tap throughout the l980’s, served on the steering committee of The International Tap Association and was a featured soloist in the l990 Dance Magazine calendar. Ms. Gray’s work, in collaboration with Tapestry co-founder Deirdre Strand, has shared the stage with numerous international dance companies including NYC Ballet, David Parsons Dance Project and Doug Varone to name a few as well as solo collaborative works with such dance artists as Bill Evans, Lambros Lambrou and Stephen Mills among others. Ms. Gray has also danced, choreographed and taught for numerous dance and academic organizations across America and abroad including Columbia College, The Colorado Dance Festival, International Summer School/Cyprus, Dance Masters of America, TASIS/London, Tanzsommer/Austria, The St. Louis Tap Festival, The Chicago Human Rhythm Project, The NYC Tap Festival, Le Festival De Danse Encore and many others. In June/2002, Ms. Gray was inducted as a premiere member of the Austin Arts Hall of Fame and was nominated for a prestigious Alpert Award in the Arts as well as being a choreographer chosen for the 2003 NEA National College Choreography Initiative. Her critically acclaimed book and Amazon.com category bestseller The Souls of Your Feet – A Tap Dance Guide for Rhythm Explorers is available at all major bookstores and has been translated in the Czech Republic.  Recently profiled in Dance Teacher Now magazine, Ms. Gray also served on the NEA funded Steering Committee for the National Tap Plan, is currently the Chair of the ITA Reconstruction Committee and her work The Souls of Our Feet – A Celebration of American Tap Dance is currently on tour through the National Endowment for the Arts American Masterpieces: Dance Initiative.

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Jane Goldberg is a "rara avis:” a dancer who is also a dance writer and historian. In 1972, the tap dancing of Astaire and Rogers infected her imagination, and as a result, she studied tap and began to write about it for Boston newspapers. She approached tap with a political sensibility and set off to revive interest in tap by seeking out elderly retired tap greats, apprenticing herself to many of them, interviewing them, and documenting their lives and work. She performs her new genre of Topical Tap, often in collaboration with Sarah Safford, which examines politics, Judaism, safe sex, and more. In 1979, Goldberg founded Changing Times Tap Dancing Co, Inc., which toured the U.S. and Europe. Goldberg herself tapped in India on two Fulbright scholarships, is the inventor of the tap-a-gram, and is a well-known teacher. She is the recipient of the 2002 Flo-Bert Award for her contributions to the art of Tap Dance.

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Thelma Goldberg recently celebrated her 20th anniversary as founder and director of The Dance Inn in Lexington, one of New England's largest and most innovative schools, serving 700 students weekly. She is also on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory of Dance, Music, and Theater. Combining her love of dance with her experience as a special education teacher in Boston, Thelma created a dance education curriculum that emphasizes musicality, fun, and excellence. Her dance team, the Legacy Dancers, featuring performers aged 10 - 81, performs an extensive tap and jazz repertoire at regional festivals and charitable events. Thelma is also Executive Director of Dance Inn Productions, a non-profit organization that produces both an annual youth ballroom program as well as New England's National Tap Dance Day celebration. She continues to actively study and pursue new opportunities for herself and her students by participating in festivals and sponsoring workshops with master teachers.

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Germaine Goodson was born in Philadelphia, PA.   BA/MA. Last seen on Broadway, in "Play On," she was a Principal dancer in the Broadway production Of "Black & Blue."   She & her partner, Deborah Mitchell are an extraordinary class act known as the Rhythm Queens.   The act has toured with the legendary Cab Calloway & The Hi-Di-Ho Orchestra.   Audiences have seen her performances on commercials, soaps, prime time dramas, feature films & TV specials.   She continues to teach tap in NYC and gives master classes all over the world. It was a dream to come true to have had the opportunities to choreograph, & teach master tap classes in Hong Kong, the south of France, Germany, & Norway, to name a few.   Germaine recently performed in the new production of a new musical, "Tan Manhattan."   It is self fulfilling to plant seeds & to watch great results.   She is super excited to be a member of the faculty for the great experience, known as Tap City!   the company that gives all tap dancers a place to express themselves and feel great at the same time.... For more info go to www.germainegoodson.com

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Derick K. Grant A native of Boston, has been tapping for 28 years. He was an original company member and Dance Captain for Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk at both The Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival and on Broadway. Derick recreated Savion Glover's choreography and starred in the role of 'da beat for the first National Tour.  Derick began his training at the age of two at The Roxbury Center for the Performing Arts, and by the time he was eight years old, he has learned the "hoofin" style of tap from the master tap dancer Diane Walker. Derick furthered his training in Los Angeles at Universal Dance Design Studio under the tutelage of Paul Kennedy. Derick spent three years with the Jazz Tap Ensemble touring the world. He is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award for Upcoming Young Artists as well as The Helen Hayes Award (Washington D.C.) for Outstanding featured Actor for his role in Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk. Derick was featured at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts African Odyssey program, part of the Expresiones Latinas Festival. He collaborated on a piece that incorporated tap and capoeira with renowned Brazilian artist Nego Gato, which opened the festivities for singer Daniella Mercury. He also choreographed and performed in a piece on the history of tap that launched the Black History Month 2001 celebration at Aaron Davis Hall. Recent compositions were featured in The Queens Symphony Opera's Duke Ellington Concert in Ann Arbor's Arts Festival.

Most recently Derick's own creation A Night Out: Tap! toured the country for three months. Of his latest choreography and performance with Jazz Tap Ensemble at the Joyce Theater in NYC the New York Times said "Mr. Grant let gusts of rhythm propel him with remarkable velocity!"

Photo by Lois Greenfield

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Susan Hebach considers herself a graduate of “Woodpeckers Tap Dance Center” where she was fortunate to study with a diverse group of master tap artists such as her mentor, Brenda Bufalino, and other inspirational teachers such as Barbara Duffy, Robin Tribble, Margaret Morrison, Josh Hilberman, Lynn Dally, and Diane Walker to name a few. As a choreographer, she enjoys developing new works and collaborating with fellow dancers of “The Tap Collective”, a tap company she founded in 1996. Her choreography has been featured in events such as “VII Nit de Claque” in Barcelona, Spain, to the offbeat “Vaudeville 2000” at LaMama ETC Theater and “The Elegance of Comedy of Tap”, hosted by Bill Irwin at NYC Town Hall. Susan directs her own children’s tap program, “Tap Dance for Young People” in NYC. She has also served on the dance faculty for Oklahoma City University and Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri as visiting guest artist. Susan is honored to have been part of Tap City since 2001.

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Josh Hilberman A highly pedigreed performer who has appeared alongside most every hoofer of note, Joshua Hilberman received the 2005 National College Choreography Initiative award from the National Endowment for the Arts/Dance USA.  In May, 2006 he received the “Premi Claqueta,” Barcelona’s International Tap Day Award, recognizing his contributions to tap in Catalunya. Hilberman has been a featured soloist at New York's Lincoln Center and in jazz festivals from Australia to Barcelona and all over New England; was a principal dancer for three years in Manhattan Tap and has performed in Brenda Bufalino’s Other Tap Dance Orchestra; teaches and performs at tap festivals including Tap City (NYC), Finland's Feet Beat, Vancouver, Chicago, Dusseldorf, Atlanta, and annually at The North Carolina Rhythm Tap Festival and The Portsmouth Percussive Dance Festival.

Josh collaborated on “Clara’s Dream:  A Jazz Nutcracker,” celebrating six  seasons as the Jazz Nut.  He is also a collaborator in Thomas Marek’s “About Tap,” multi-media portraits of tap dancers, which played a third season in 2007 in Germany’s prestigious modern dance center, Kampnagel. Josh developed his teaching chops at the prestigious Leon Collins Dance Studio and in workshops worldwide.  Further propaganda can be found on his website: 

www.Hilbermania.com.

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Theo Hill (piano) is among a group of young and versatile jazz pianists rapidly emerging onto the New York jazz scene. A four-year-member of the Empire State Jazz Orchestra and College of Saint Rose Jazz Ensemble, and a two-year member of the New York Youth Symphony Jazz Band Classic, he has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Knitting Factory with Jimmy Heath, Slide Hampton, Lew Soloff and Joe Locke, receiving the Directors Award for Commitment and Achievement in 2004. After graduating from the Jazz Music Conservatory at SUNY Purchase, he has been playing in and around New York City performing at venues such as Sweet Rhythm, Zinc Bar, Tonic, and Blue Note with his trio and as a sideman. He toured South Korea as member of Victor Jones' Culture Versey and has toured France with Groove Collective. He has worked with jazz tap dancers Omar Edwards, Josef Webb, George Patterson, and Jason Samuels Smith, and in the summer of 2005 played The New York City Tap Festival and Los Angeles Tap Festival. He is currently working with drummer Dennis Davis and recording his first album as a leader. 

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Constance Valis Hill is a jazz dancer and choreographer dedicated to writing about and historicizing jazz tap dance. She has studied with Pepsi Bethel, Matt Mattox, Nat Horne, Charles ‘Cookie’ Cook and members of the Copasetics. After creating and performing The Doilie Sisters at La Mama, and directing Sole Sisters for the Changing Times Tap Company, she earned an M.A. in Dance Research and Reconstruction from City College of the University of New York, and a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from NYU. Her articles and reviews have appeared in Dance Magazine, Village Voice, Studies in Dance History, International Tap Association, and Dance Research Journals. Her book, Brotherhood in Rhythm: The Jazz Tap Dancing of the Nicholas Brothers, won the 2001 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. She is currently an Associate Professor of Dance at Hampshire College in Massachusetts.

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Chikako Iwahori Originally from Tokyo, Japan, Ms. Iwahori moved to New York 1995 to study Rhythm Tap and West African dance and drum. Since1996 she has been working as dancer, teacher, choreographer, singer and drummer for Feraba-African Rhythm Tap, Manhattan Tap, Guinean master griot Keba Cissoko's band Tamalalou, Max Pollak’s RumbaTap, RhythMutation with Stephanie Larriere, Cyro Baptista's Beat the Donkey touring USA and Europe.

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Jason Janis originally hails from the northern New Jersey area, and more recently from Charlotte, NC and is a member of Tapestry Dance Company in Austin. His dance education is highlighted with training and performing with Tapestry Dance Company and by his tenure as a charter member of the New Jersey Tap Ensemble, where Jason began his rhythm tap career under the direction of Ms. Deborah Mitchell. His interaction with other with tap dancers such as Acia Gray, Dianne Walker, Brenda Bufalino, Nicholas Young, Sarah Petronio, Mike Minery, Karen Calloway Williams, Paris Mann of the NJTE, and with Ted Levy, influenced and ignited his career. Jason continues to teach and choreograph from coast-to-coast while he continues to grow as a multiform rhythm tap dancer. Jason is also the Artistic Director of the Hoofin’ Ground Tap Festival in Charlotte, NC and recently performed in Derick Grant’s Chicago production of Imagine Tap.

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Jess Jurkovic A native of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, Jess Jurkovic started his musical life as a drummer and percussionist, but at age fourteen, began to compose and teach himself jazz piano. Today he is an exciting and
eclectic voice as a pianist and composer. He has written over 100 pieces and arranged dozens of standards and not-so-standards for his groups. In addition, he has arranged and composed music for jazz big band, jazz vocal ensemble, string orchestra, and even classical chamber ensembles—as well as worked in and composed for pop, rock, and funk genres. Jess attended the University of Minnesota, receiving his Bachelor of
Music degree in 1996. That year he moved to New York City to study at Manhattan School of Music, where he received his Master's degree in Jazz and Commercial Music in 1998. In addition to his jazz work, Jess has served as musical director to several New York cabaret artists. He is on the piano faculty at Larchmont Music Academy, teaching private piano lessons to all ages. He has also worked with Cherry Lane Music Co. as a freelance writer and editor; his book Keyboard Warm-up Techniques was published in 2006. Jess’s first recording was The Art Department (2000), a jazz quartet he formed with percussionist Greg Beyer. He quickly followed that with Blue and Violet (2001), a duo recording with Pedro Giraudo. In addition to his own recordings, Jess is an integral member of the Pedro Giraudo Jazz Orchestra (found on CDs Mr. Vivo and Desconsuelo), and Justin Hines and the Headphones's debut CD, ...As Advertised.Jess's newest recording is a solo piano effort, Two Hands, Vol. 1.

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Kendrick Jones at thirteen, made his mark in New York winning King of The Hill at Showtime at the Apollo. He has been touring with Tap City since 2003, nationally and appearing in New York at the Joyce and Duke theatre. His credits include “Bubbling Brown Sugar” as Young Checkers at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, and recently starred in “Looking for Josephine” a world premiere directed by Jerome Savary at the Opera Comique in Paris, France. Kendrick appeared with Gregory Hines in Ebony Magazine, and Dance Spirit Magazine named him one of the top upcoming hoofers of his generation. His New York appearances include Encores: “Stairway to Paradise” at City Center (Broadway debut), Noah Racey’s “All Singing, All Dancing” at Town Hall, and “Barack on Broadway” a campaign fundraiser at the New Amsterdam Theatre for Senator Barack Obama. This year, Kendrick is one of this DANCE Magazine’s “25 to Watch.”

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Ann Kilkelly is Professor of Theatre Arts and Women’s Studies at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia, where she is a teacher, performer, and scholar of tap dancing. She is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Collaborative Research Grant for her project Tapping the Margins, a past Senior Fellow at the Smithsonian, a published author of creative and scholarly work, a theater director and designer of community based arts events. Most illustriously, Ann is the pink half of the Lloyd and Bunny ukulele playing, tap dancing, and singing act immortalized in the New York Times, which reported, simply, that “she brought down the house.”

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Kazu Kumagai was born in Sendai City, Japan. He started studying tap dancing when he was 15 with Masaru Satou. He went to New York at 19 to study with master teachers, including Charles Goddertz and Barbara Duffy. In June 1997, he studied with Ted Levy and graduated from the New York Institute of Tap's "Funk University", where he learned tap style created by Savion Glover. Early 1998, he toured Japan with British Royal Ballet principal, Tetsuya Kumakawa, and later, returned to the United States to perform in the tap celebration, Tap Extravaganza, where he shared the stage with Gregory Hines and Savion Glover. Currently Kazu appears in hip-hop, jazz, and funk clubs in New York and Japan, and has earned a solid reputation for his sensational tap.

Photo by Debi Field

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Mable Lee began performing at age four in her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. Known for her classy potpourri of snake hips, boogie, and jive dancing in the ‘30s and ‘40s, she was featured at New York’s most popular nightclubs, including the Ubangi and Club Sultan. She toured Europe with the Cab Calloway band in the first all-black USO shows, and earned the title “Queen of the Soundies” by appearing in more than 100 films with Fats Waller, Noble Sissle, Pigmeat Markham, the Lucky Millinder Orchestra, and Sister Rosetta Thorpe. She appeared on the March 1947 cover of Ebony magazine. Her Broadway shows include Shuffle Along, Brown-Skinned Models and The Hoofers, and Bubblin’ Brown Sugar, and she has been awarded an Audelco Award for Outstanding Musical Performance. In June 2001, she received the Lionel Hampton Legacy Award from the NY State Black Film & Video Archives.

Photo by Debi Field

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Michela Marino Lerman, 21, first appeared on Sesame Street at the age of 5. In 2002 she was showcased on the cover of the February issue of Dance Teacher Magazine with Gregory Hines and in 2005 was featured in Dance Spirit magazine as one of the 20 hottest tap dancers under 20. Throughout the years Michela has appeared in both the Tap Extravaganza and Tap City numerous times. In 2002 she performed with Jennifer Holliday on Broadway in Nothing Like a Dame. In 2003 she was inducted to the famed Copasetics as their first and only female lifetime honorary member. Since 2004, Michela has been touring around Spain and Tokyo with Rafael Amargo’s Enramblao. In the fall of 2005, she choreographed the tap section of the opening number for the Bermuda Music Festival with UDP, starring Al Green, Angie Stone, and Patti LaBelle. Gratefully mentored and guided by Buster Brown, Gregory Hines, and Leroy Myers, Michela is a performer, teacher, and choreographer dedicated to spreading the art of tap around the world.

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Hjördis Linn (festival manager) is a performer, mask maker and stage manager who is grateful to Tony Waag for recognizing that being part of the big picture at the New York City Tap Festival is an obvious, natural progression.  She has stage managed her way through the Off Broadway circuit and into the rhythmic world of tap dance where she is thrilled to be working with all of the amazing, talented performers, teachers, designers, tech staff, students and volunteers who make Tap City what it is.

Photo by Toe Knee

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Lloyd and Bunny first met while at college in one of their very first tap classes, many, many, moons ago, in a far away, far out and farfetched place, Utah! After an incredible partnership receiving incredibly reviews, awards, great acclaim, and usually dinner, Lloyd eventually moved west, and bunny went east and they never crossed paths again till 1990, or something. After various flings around the country, and various gigs, love affairs, marriages and even kids, they finally reunite, once again, on stage (where they belong of course), ready to receive your continued love, praises and fried calamari.

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Reginald  McLaughlin,  better known as “Reggio The Hoofer”, began his career dancing in the subways of Chicago, where he developed his unique and extraordinary style of fancy free street hoofing, a distinctive raw form of Rhythmic African American Tap. Now, he is a Chicago tap icon. Through “Urban Gateways”, the largest institute of art in the form of education in the U.S., Reggio was recognized as a positive role model and his talent was introduced to the school system. Being profiled on educational television programs and numerous news highlights, he currently appears in the tap documentary called “JUBA – Masters of Tap”, partnering with legendary dancer Ernest “Brownie” Brown (member of the “Copasetics). His performance experience includes colleges, libraries, museums and major dance festivals. I Chicago he was seen in two Duke Ellington musicals, “Beggars Holiday” and “Jump for Joy” and did the theater version of “The Sammy Davis Jr. Story”. Through Reggio’s charisma and expertise he has been invited to foreign countries such as Japan, Canada, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, etc. contributing to the raising of Tap Dancing to a status of recognition and admiration.

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Deborah Mitchell, Founder and Artistic Director of New Jersey Tap Dance Ensemble, received extensive training and mentoring from one of the great Tap Masters, Leslie “Bubba” Gaines of the Copasetics.  Her many credits include The Cotton Club Motion Picture, Broadway and Paris Productions of Black and Blue, PBS Great Performances, 5 international tours with the legendary Cab Calloway, and a partnership with Philadelphia native Germaine Goodson as The Rhythm Queens. She is a recipient of tap dancing’s most prestigious awards including The Flo-Bert Award from NY Committee to Celebrate National Tap Dance Day, The Living Treasure Award from Oklahoma City University, The Hoofer Award from the American Tap Dance Foundation and Savion Glover Recognition Award for contributing tirelessly to the advancement of the art form.  She was a guest at the 2008 UCLA 1st Conference on Women In Tap, and is a 2nd Generation Silver Belle.   She is Chairperson of the Tap Department at Sharron Miller’s Academy for the Performing Arts, teaches master classes and workshops nationally, is author and director of the Doll Shop and Generation Tap, which are Arts Education presentations for arts education programs in public, charter and private schools. She has worked extensively with young artists in Newark, NJ as Assistant Director/Choreographer for Marie Thomas Foster’s Theater Workshop/Peppermint Players.

Photo by Peter Petronio

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Margaret Morrison – ATDF Education Director -- is a rhythm tap soloist, choreographer and producer who has performed and taught across the United States, Brazil and Europe. She was hailed as a "consummate artist who breaks the mold” in her tap show "Body of Rhythm". She is a founding member, since 1986, of the American Tap Dance Orchestra, directed by Brenda Bufalino. She toured internationally with the ATDO for 15 years and appeared on the acclaimed PBS Special, Tap Dance in America with Gregory Hines. Margaret also tapped in a national commercial for Seagrams and is a co-creator of Pulsation and Wombapusi, all-women ensembles of tap, percussion, and poetry that performed at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, NYC’s PS 122 and the Nuyorican Poets Café. Jennifer Dunning of the New York Times called Margaret an "exciting virtuoso dancer," and her choreography "a tour de force" and "the witty highlight of the evening." Margaret’s choreography is performed by ensembles around the US and was featured at Avery Fisher Hall in 2000.  As Education Director, Margaret coordinates all of the ATDF’s training programs and workshops and co-directs the Tap City Youth Ensemble.  She is a graduate of Barnard College, where she is currently on the faculty of the Dance Department, teaching tap technique and a history course "Tap as an American Art Form" and directing the Tap Ensemble.

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Carson Murphy has been performing for most of her life. A prominent tap dancer throughout the northwest United States, she has been heavily influenced by Mable Lee, Ted Levy, Dianne Walker, Steve and Carol Zee, Jeannie Hill, and Linda Murphy. She has performed in concert with Ted Levy, Los Angeles' Tongue Contemporary Dance Company, Miller and Ben's "Tap Giants", was a part of Harold Cromer's Original "Opus One" and joined the first National Tour of Broadway's "42nd Street". She has most recently performed in Tap City 2005 at the Joyce Theater with Michelle Dorrance, in Tap City 2006 with "Mable Lee's Dancing Ladies" and "The Tap Collective", in "Tappy Holidays" at Symphony Space alongside Ayodele Casel, Sarah Savelli and Derick Grant , and is currently working with Barbara Duffy and Company. Carson is also a certified and heavily sought after Pilates and Gyrotonic instructor as well as an aspiring Physical Therapist. She holds Bachelors of Arts in both Dance and Philosophy graduating with honors from Loyola Marymount University.

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Toni Noblett is on the faculty of the ATDF Youth Program and brings to her classes almost 30 years of experience teaching dancers of all ages.  Her style has been heavily influenced by Barbara Duffy and Brenda Bufalino.  In addition to her love of teaching adults, Toni has devoted her career to improving tap training for young dancers.  She has taught dance teacher seminars through the ATDF and Broadway Dance Center and created a video, “Creative Movement for 3 and 4 Year Olds.”  She is presently developing a tap syllabus for primary students emphasizing the importance of musicality and musicianship in those very important beginning classes.  Since 2005 she has worked with Rosie’s Broadway Kids where she is the Director of Faculty for all programs. Prior to joining Rosie’s Broadway Kids, Toni was the artistic director and owner of a private studio for twenty-five years.  Her background includes extensive work as a choreographer in local theatre high school and, and she currently freelances as a teacher, choreographer, and consultant.  Years of experience with exceptional children, average children, as well as gifted children has prepared her for the challenging work of teaching in the NYC public schools. For the past seventeen years, she has served as an assistant and lead tap teacher for the National Dance Institute’s summer program, under the direction and mentoring of RBKids present Artistic Director, Lori Klinger.  She has been a personal assistant to NDI’s Jacques d’Amboise and  produced a segment aired on “CBS Sunday Morning with Bill Geist”.  Toni Noblett’s formal training in drama and dance has included work at East Carolina University and The American Dance Festival in North Carolina, as well as many years in attendance at Tap City and American Tap Dance Orchestra workshops. 

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Max Pollak, a native Austrian, received his most important training in the conservatories, clubs, and streets of New York City and Havana. He is an experienced musician who performs, teaches, and choreographs worldwide. Mr. Pollak is the first artist ever to merge authentic Afro-Cuban dance and music with tap and have it recorded on CD. He has established the first ever tap venture in Havana, Cuba called “RumbaTap”, and has worked with Ray Brown, Danilo Perez, Muñequitos de Matanzas, Chucho Valdez, Gregory Hines, and Jimmy Slyde, among others. He has appeared on Broadway in Tamango’s Urban Tap, and toured the globe with Manhattan Tap, Feet 2 The Beat, Cool Heat-Urban Beat, Tap City on Tour and Beat The Donkey.

Photo by Lois Greenfield

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Tina Pratt, dancer extraordinaire, hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She received her training in tap and classical ballet from Mamie Barth Studio in Pittsburgh, also attended by another great dancer, Gene Kelly. She also has studied modern dance at the Modern Institute of Contemporary Dance, Boston, Massachusetts as well as a host of other fine dance studios in the country. Her performing experience is quite extensive, having performed with a number of fine entertainers, including Sammy Davis, Jr., Nancy Wilson, Flip Wilson, Redd Foxx, Pearl Bailey, Phyllis Diller, Frank Fontaine and Shecky Green. She also has performed with a roster of dancers including Baby Lawrence, Bunny Briggs, Shorts Davis, Howard “Sandman” Sims, hines, Hines, and Dad and many, many more. She has performed jazz-tap with such greats as Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, Ernie Wilkins, Jaki Byard, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Tommy Turrentine and Milt Buckner.In addition to performing, Tina busies herself with an active teaching schedule. She has taught a history of jazz-tap dancing at various YWCAs in Pittsburgh and Boston, as well as instructing dancers in tap at the Boston Center of the Arts and the School of Contemporary Music/Afro-American Center in Pittsburgh. She has presented lecture demonstrations on the history of tap dancing at Emerson College in Boston as well as the Selma Burke School in Pittsburgh, NY University, Boys & Girls High, NY City Public School and Libraries, and Pace University. She is currently working on research on the history of jazz-tap and performing with Jaki Byard 18 piece big band, The Apollo Stompers and the Barry Harris Jazz Ensemble. Toured Europe, for several seasons, was awarded a citation, for outstanding performer, by UJC and CASH; Teaches at The Jazz Cultural Theatre; member of the “International Hoofers Club;” writes for Jazz Spotlight News paper and Producer and founder of Show Biz Assoc. productions “Salute to Black American Dances and Dancers,” which is held every February for Black History Month.

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Sarah Reich is exploding onto the scene as a young professional, having spent the past year assisting tap legend Harold Cromer at numerous festivals, including Tap City, St. Louis Tap Festival, Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Los Angeles Tap Festival, and Tap Into A Cure.   She has studied with, among others, Alfred Desio, Cyd Glover and Paul & Arlene Kennedy, has been a member of the Jazz Tap Ensemble’s Caravan Project, is a current member of Jason Samuel Smith’s “Anybody Can Get It” company, Chloe Arnold’s Syncopated Ladies, and serves as the Dance Captain for the LA Ironworks Youth Company as well as contributing choreography for the group.  Sarah has performed at many venues around Los Angeles including the Getty Museum, the Ford Amphitheatre, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Madrid Theatre, the Temple Bar, the African Market Place and was asked to dance for promotional events for the movie Happy Feet.   She is featured on two instructional tap DVD’s with Mike Wittmers.  Sarah was featured in an article titled “20 Hot Tappers Under 20” in Dance Spirit Magazine and received an award for Performing Artist of The Year at the 2005 OMNI Awards.

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Michele Ribble - Director of Youth Programs and Award winning choreographer, Master instructor, producer, dancer, and coach, Michele Ribble has spent a lifetime working in classical ballet, tap dance, musical theater, and jazz. She has choreographed for both stage and screen including: assistant choreographer for the film "Beetlejuice", several Off Broadway shows, and has choreographed numerous "gag" acts for the Garden Brothers, Right Bros. and Bentley Bros. Circuses. Other credits include work for Jacob's Pillow, HBO, Miramax, Circuit Productions, Hanna-Barbera and MTV. As lead dancer and choreographer for the Tommy Sands Revue she has played every town from NY to WA and has had the privilege of sharing the stage with an amazing roster of talented individuals. Michele has danced as a member of the NYC Company, Ronn Forella and the Second Century Dancers, is a featured soloist at Tap City, the New York City Tap Festival, and is known as dance partner to Charles Goddertz and Harold Cromer. Most recently Michele performed in the star-studded performance of "From the Horses Mouth" with Jamie Cunningham, Tina Croll, Martine Van Hamel and Brenda Bufalino. Michele is a faculty member of the American Tap Dance Foundation, a guest instructor at Steps on Broadway, a columnist for the ITA newsletter, director of the Metro-Gnomes Youth Tap Company, Director of the Rhinebeck Dance Centre, and founder of the Roya Curie Dance Scholarship Foundation.

Photo by Peter Petronio

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David Rider, began his dancing career at the age of three and is now the owner and director of "David Rider's World of Tap" in Hyde Park , NY . David has just concluded a year with the Int'l tour of Randy Skinner's 42nd Street . Other credits include: Dancing on Common Ground (nat'l tour), Lincoln Center 's Reel to Real series tribute to Donald O'Connor, and the Tap Extravaganza 2001 and 2003. David has been featured in both YM Magazine and Dance Spirit. He has taught regularly at various dance schools, has traveled to teach master classes, and has been on the faculty of Tap City : the New York City Tap Festival since 2003. His students have performed in various productions such as Tap Your Feat at Beat Street , Tap City , and recently were the opening act of the 2005 Tap Extravaganza. David is currently studying at Fordham University .

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RumbaTap is TAP in CLAVE.  A unique new way of expression created by Max Pollak, that fuses the ancient music and dance traditions of Afro-Cuban Folklore with Afro-American Rhythm Tap and Body Percussion. Together with a powerful group of international artists he combines these elements in new ways, always paying respect to the tradition. RumbaTap unleashes the forces of nature, never failing to touch the audience’s spirit. The ancient thrill of releasing the beat of your soul by playing the Groove on the oldest instrument known to man, the body, we let the music play us -- hips, shoulders, arms etching pictures in space which, passed through the spirit of the player, turn back into music. 

Photo by Lois Greenfield

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Courtney Runft, a native of Wichita, Kansas, received her early ballet, tap, and jazz training under the tutelage of Sharon Rogers at Rogers’ Ballet, Inc. During her tenure, she was a founding member of RBI’s performing company, “PointeCounterpointe.” While working toward her BFA in Ballet at Friends University, Courtney had the honor of working with such artists as Stan K. Rogers, Francisco Martinez, Melonie Buchanan, Shawn Stevens, and Dominic Walsh. Since moving to New York City in 2005, she has been influenced by and has the privilege of studying with Brenda Bufalino, Michelle Dorrance, Barbara Duffy, Derick K. Grant, and Lynn Schwab. She has most recently performed in Tap City 2007, various showcases in and around the tri-state area, and is currently dancing with C3 – Tap Cooperative. Courtney is the Education Assistant and Registrar for the American Tap Dance Foundation, as well as a teacher in the Youth Program. In addition to her duties at the ATDF, Courtney is an instructor at Progressive Dance Studio in New Jersey and Dancewave in Brooklyn.

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Germaine Salsberg is one of the most popular and influential tap dance teachers in New York today. She has been on the faculty of Broadway Dance Center for over 15 years teaching professionals as well as people who "just love to tap." She has privately coached many actors including Liza Minnelli for the movie "Steppin Out." In addition she teaches tap for Musical Theatre Majors at NYU and is a frequent guest teacher throughout the US and internationally. She assisted Tony Award Winner Danny Daniels for Broadway and National tours of "Tap Dance Kid" and has choreographed many musical theater productions. Last summer Germaine performed in Edmonton's Fringe Festival with an hour long tap show called Toe Jamm, which delighted audiences for the run of the Festival. In New York she and her husband created and performed in "Not Fade Away: Dancing Over 40."

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Lynn Schwab was a founding member and Dance Captain of California’s Taps, Ltd., “a homegrown, kinetic, innovative ensemble [that] has created a thriving rhythm tap scene that is known throughout the nation”, (Santa Barbara Jazz Society Jazzette). With Taps Ltd, Lynn performed throughout California including Los Angeles’ National Tap Dance Day festivities and in Santa Barbara’s well known “Summer Solstice Celebration”. In addition to performing in, Lynn and members of Taps Ltd., choreographed for and produced the first through fifth of Santa Barbara’s “Annual National Tap Dance Day Celebration” concerts at University of California Santa Barbara’s Campbell Hall. Lynn is currently a member of Barbara Duffy & Company and Susan Hebach’s The Tap Collective. She previously was a member of Feraba – African Rhythm Tap. With these groups, Lynn has had the opportunity to perform at such notable venues as The Duke on 42nd Street (Tap City 2001, 2002, 2003), Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Town Hall, Off Broadway’s LaMAMA, World Festival 2000, The International Street Performers Festival and at New York’s Studio 54 Theatre in a tribute to Gregory Hines. Recently, Lynn, with members of the Tap Collective, choreographed and performed the Morton Gould Tap Dance Concerto with the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra. Lynn’s rich dance experience includes studying Tap, Jazz, Modern, Ballet and African. She has shared that knowledge with students at Broadway Dance Center, NYU’s Collaborative Arts Project 21, Manhattan Motion, New Jersey’s Theatre Arts Dance Academy, and workshops and festivals in Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, and New York including The New York City Tap Festival. She currently teaches regularly at Ballet Arts and Steps in New York City.

Photo by Lois Greenfield

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Randy Skinner is an award-winning director, choreographer, and performer whose work has been seen on Broadway, National and International tours, and Regional theatres. He received Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, and Astaire nominations for his choreography for 42ND STREET. He also choreographed the opening number for the 2001 Tony Awards television broadcast. Other shows include STATE FAIR (Outer Critics nomination), AIN'T BROADWAY GRAND (Tony and Outer Critics nominations), AFTER THE NIGHT AND THE MUSIC (MTC/Biltmore Theatre), DO RE MI, OF THEE I SING, and FACE THE MUSIC (the last three for City Center Encores), Irving Berlin's WHITE CHRISTMAS, GOTTA DANCE! (City Center), HAPPY DAYS (Los Angeles), STORMY WEATHER (with Leslie Uggams/The Prince Music Theatre), ABBY'S SONG (City Center), PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ (Kennedy Center), ON THE 5TH (Takarazuka Revue Company, Japan), LUCKY IN THE RAIN, GEORGE M, BABES IN ARMS (all three at Goodspeed Opera House), HELLO DOLLY, STRIKE UP THE BAND, PAL JOEY, and LONE STAR LOVE (Lucille Lortel nomination). He has received the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award, the Los Angeles Dramalogue Award, the Connecticut Critics Award, and the Cleveland Times Theatre Award. Among Mr. Skinner's performances are roles in A CHORUS LINE, GYPSY, DAMES AT SEA, HELLO DOLLY, PAL JOEY, ONCE MORE WITH FEELING, HIGH SPIRITS, WALKING HAPPY, and BABES IN ARMS, directed by the legendary Ginger Rogers. His "taps" can be heard on the recordings LUCKY IN THE RAIN, SONDHEIM AT THE MOVIES, 110 IN THE SHADE, and STRIKE UP THE BAND.

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Dr. Jimmy Slyde is one of the world's great tap masters whose career spans almost six decades. His remarkable trademark style was developed in the duo the Slyde Brothers, with his former partner, Jimmy ‘Sir Slyde’ Mitchell. In addition to his Tony-Nominated role in Black and Blue, he has appeared with the Original Hoofers in 1000 Years of Jazz and the films The Cotton Club, Round Midnight, About Tap, and Tap. He has performed in major tap festivals, concert halls, and clubs throughout Europe and the U.S. He was the originator and host of weekly tap shows at New York's jazz clubs, La Cave and La Place. He was a featured performer at a special White House performance on American dance, hosted by Savion Glover, and at Carnegie Hall's Tribute to the Nicholas Brothers. Tribute was paid to him in 1993 at the Miller Theatre, where the New York Tap Dance Community gathered to celebrate his 45 Years of Foot Poetry-In-Motion. Most recently, he received a historic honorary degree of Doctor of Performing Arts in American Dance from Oklahoma City University.

Photo by Debi Field

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Hank Smith is a multidisciplinary artist and director/choreographer working with text, movement, music, video and improvisational tap dance. In 1998 he created a series of performance/conversations with tap dancers called, The Story of Tap at Dixon Place, NYC. He has received a Fellowship from the New Jersey Council on the Arts and a BAX10 Arts and Artists Progress Award, from the Brooklyn Arts Exchange. Holding an M.A. in African American Culture and Performance from New York University, he is Assistant Professor of Digital Video at Bloomfield College, Bloomfield, NJ. During the 2004-2005 season he returns to Dixon Place with The Story of Tap, Part II.

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Jason Samuels-Smith (performer, choreographer, director) has emerged as a multi-talented leader in the Art form of Tap. 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. Mr. Samuels-Smith most recently received the Gregory Hines Humanitarian in addition to past honors including a Certificate of Appreciation by the City of Los Angeles for creating the First Annual Los Angeles Tap Festival in 2003; a Proclamation declaring April 23rd "Jason Samuels Day" from the City of Shreveport, Louisiana; the "Ivy of Education" from Brainerd Institute; the "President Kenny Award" from Stony Brook; an Alpert/McDowell Residency Award; and an Arts International Grant among others.  Mr. Samuels Smith most recently appeared as a special guest on Fox's hit series "So You Think You Can Dance" and is currently working as a choreographer for a new reality show scheduled to debut this coming season. Films include co-starring in Dean Hargrove's "Tap Heat", a dynamic award-winning short film touring film festivals worldwide (available on DVD); Outkast's feature film "Idlewild"; and Debbie Allen's AMC television series "Cool Women" to name a few. Performances include Sammy (a tribute to the life of Sammy Davis jr.), and in a leading role of the star-studded production of Soul Possessed; the Tony Award winning Broadway cast of Bring in Da'Noise, Bring in Da'Funk in principal and lead roles; starring in the critically acclaimed production of Imagine Tap!. Mr. Samuels Smith continues to tour the US and beyond with India Jazz Suites, a dynamic collaboration with Kathak Master Pandit Chitresh Das, his own tap company A.C.G.I (Anybody Can Get It), JaJa Productions Band featuring jazz-influenced hip hop music, and Charlie's Angels: A Tribute to Charlie Parker which features some of the best women performers today. 

Photo by Michael Higgins

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Melinda Sullivan has just finished touring the country in the first national tour of Disney’s High School Musical.  Other musical theatre credits include the 25th Anniversary Tour of CATS.  Her company work has taken her throughout the country and includes the Jazz Tap Ensemble, Chloe Arnold’s Syncopated Ladies, Tapsounds Underground, the Pacific Festival Ballet, and Emmy-award winner Jason Samuels Smith’s A.C.G.I., performances including the NY City Center Fall For Dance and at the Sadler Wells Theatre in London. Melinda is a recipient of the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Award in Non-Classical dance.  She has been featured at both the New York and Los Angeles Tap Festivals.  During May of 2003, Melinda appeared on the cover of Dance Spirit Magazine, and more recently again in Dance Spirit as one of the chosen “20 Tappers Under 20”.  In television and film, her tapping has been seen on Star Search, One on One, and the acclaimed short film Tap Heat, choreographed by Danny Daniels, starring Arthur Duncan and Jason Samuels Smith. 

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Tap City Youth Ensemble In celebration of our 20th Anniversary Year, the America Tap Dance Foundation is proud to announce the founding of two new exciting performing groups for young dancers:  The Tap City Youth Ensemble and Junior Repertory Ensemble. These new performing groups for advanced tap dancers ages 9 to 19 give serious tap students the opportunity to work with professional choreographers to learn classic and contemporary tap repertory.  The Ensemble meets weekly for a three hour rehearsal/company class directed by Susan Hebach and will hone skills through special master classes and regular performances at New York City venues, including Tap City 2006 – The New York City Tap Festival. 

Photo by Debi Field

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Tapestry Dance Company is a professional, non-profit dance organization founded in 1989 by rhythm tap dancer Acia Gray and ballet/jazz artist Deirdre Strand for the purpose of developing a foundation in multi-form dance performance and education.  Initially a performing company of three, the organization has expanded to a professional company of seven resident artists, a diversified administrative and production support staff and a pre-professional and adult training facility in Austin, TX sharing the unique Strand/Gray training syllabus. Tapestry Dance Company shares the power of dance through numerous events and programs including The Annual Soul to Sole Festival, the TDC Academy housed in a beautiful 12,500 sf facility in Austin, TX, educational outreach programs such as Rhythm, Dance, Music & You! and numerous productions, master classes and workshops in modern, jazz, ballet and rhythm tap touring internationally. The company is also proud to have hosted numerous dance and music artists such as Fayard Nicholas, Arthur Duncan, Brenda Bufalino, Gregory Hines, Sarah Petronio, Bill Evans, Dianne Walker, James Clouser, Tina Marsh and the Creative Opportunity Orchestra and many, many others.  As member of The Texas Commission on the Arts, The Mid-American Arts Alliance and Heartland touring programs over the past 18 years, the multi-form choreographic works and training of Tapestry Dance Company have been lovingly woven throughout the U.S. and abroad to include Cyprus, Britain, Austria, the Czech Republic, Spain, Ireland and Canada. The company is currently touring the National Endowment for the Arts: American Masterpieces: Dance sponsored production of Acia Gray's The Souls of Our Feet – A Celebration of American Tap Dance.  The second touring installment of this criciallly acclaimed production will once again include Ms. Dianne Walker as well as new special guest Dr. Arthur Duncan.  

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Tony Waag - Producer/Director of Tap City, the New York City Tap Festival. In 1986, he founded the American Tap Dance Foundation (formerly the American Tap Dance Orchestra) with Brenda Bufalino and the late Charles ‘Honi’ Coles. As Executive Director and a featured dancer, he toured with the ATDO extensively throughout the United States and around the world. From 1989-1995, he co-created and operated, with Brenda Bufalino, Woodpeckers Tap Dance Center. As a soloist, he has performed internationally, making guest appearances at the International Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Rio de Janeiro’s Tap Encontro 99, The Moscow International Tap Festival, several National Tap Dance Day Extravaganzas in NYC, and numerous other concert events throughout the country. In 2000 and 2001, he performed as Master of Ceremonies to sold-out audiences across the country in Hoagy Carmichael's Centennial Celebration Tour! He has also performed on PBS's Great Performances – Tap Dance In America, WNEW's P.M. Magazine, Good Day New York, and The Regis & Kathie Lee Show, and has been featured in national television commercials for both Seagram's and Renault. Tony teaches master classes internationally, and is currently working on a musical film project entitled “Footage” based on his 25 odd years in the field.

Photo by Lois Greenfield

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Karen Callaway Williams recently completed a three year run with Riverdance, as the only female tap dancer and dance captain in Riverdance – On Broadway. Other Broadway credits include Duke Ellington’s Play On. Karen was also featured in Essence, interviewed on Showtime’s Bojangles, The Legacy. As well, she has been a special guest on Sesame Street. A graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, she is also an alumna of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center Certificate Program in NYC. Upon arriving in NYC, Karen became a member of DancEllington Dance Company, and worked with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. She was also the lone female tap artist at Lincoln Center’s The Majesty of Tap, with tap legends Bunny Briggs, Jimmy Slyde, Chuck Green, and Lon Chaney. Dance Magazine heralded her as “a graceful dream with taps as happy as a song.” In addition to performing, Ms. Williams has established herself as a prominent tap instructor in schools such as The Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and the Professional Performing Arts.

Photo by Debi Field

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