Our Mission

The American Tap Dance Foundation (ATDF) is a non-profit 501c3 organization committed to establishing and legitimizing Tap as a vital component of American dance through creation, presentation, education and preservation.  ATDF is recognized as a local, national and international leader in the field and continues to further three main objectives: 

• to perpetuate tap dance as a flourishing contemporary art form on a National and International level.

• to provide a basis for the growth of tap dance by teaching new generations through comprehensive educational programs.

• and to preserve the artistry of the early generations of tap masters.

Our Programs

Since 2001, the ATDF has produced Tap City, the annual New York City Tap Festival. Each year, Tap City offers expansive adult, pre-professional and youth training programs with internationally renowned teachers and numerous diverse premiere performances & city-wide events. The festival attracts hundreds of dancers, teachers, students and masters from all over the world. Students and professionals from Brazil, Spain, Germany, Israel, Japan, France, Australia, Russia, and at least 28 nations value this opportunity to study and perform in an atmosphere devoted to celebrating tap dance. Each year, the Festival’s “Hoofer” and “Tap Preservation” Awards are given to a tap dancer, educator and/or organization for their outstanding achievement, and contribution made to the field. In 2002, the ATDF created the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame to honor legendary tap dancers by preserving their legacy. 

On January 2, 2010, the American Tap Dance Foundation opened the doors to its current home, the American Tap Dance Center. A milestone accomplishment since more than 20 years ago, the Foundation pioneered one of New York City’s first tap dance studios, Woodpeckers Tap Dance Center. Now the foundation has a home for the close to 10,000 students, teachers, performers, scholars, historians and the general public each year thanks to an expansive list of programming, including: on-going Tap Classes for Youth, Teens and Adults; the Tap City Youth Ensemble; the Gregory Hines Youth Scholarship Fund, seasonal New Tap Choreography Showcases, occasional studio events, jams, talks and film presentations, a thriving Artists in Residence Program and an extensive Tap Teacher Training Program.

Most recently, the ATDF donated its extensive film, print, audio and photo archives to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Our History

The American Tap Dance Foundation started out as the American Tap Dance Orchestra. It was originally founded and created in 1986 by dancer/choreographer Brenda Bufalino. With the help of Tony Waag, and the late Charles "Honi" Coles, the ATDO created an original approach to tap dance with a concert orchestra of taps. Committed to celebrating one of America's few indigenous art forms, the ATDO created new concepts in contemporary tap employing a wide spectrum of musical tones and rhythms in the manner of a conventional orchestra.  As with instrumental soloists in a big band, individual dancers contribute their own virtuosity to the choreography, so that the whole becomes the sum of each dancer's unique style. The choreography for the ATDO, though encompassing tap’s tradition, expands the ideas of routines and flash, five-minute entertainments into whole evenings of work. Conceptually developed themes were woven into fugues and counter-rhythms with atmospheres and poetic qualities that offered a complete art experience. 

Continuing to explore contemporary tap dance, the ATDO made significant contributions to theatre and dance by creating and presenting monumental new work. Programs such as "The American Landscape", "Touch, Turn, and Return", "The Four Seasons/Jazz Version", "The Gershwin Suite", "Wrap Around Sound", and "Gertrude’s Nose" (a tap opera), brought tap dance to a higher level of appreciation.

Performance highlights include PBS' "Great Performances /Tap Dance in America", A Night of Tap at the Apollo Theatre, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the International Festival of the Arts at Central Park, the legendary Cotton Club, the Joyce Theater, Dance Theater Workshop, and the Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival. 

The ATDO also toured extensively in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.  Other ATDO highlights include the Atlanta Arts Festival, the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon, the Utah Arts Festival, and the Colorado Dance Festival. 

International appearances included performances in Turkey, Cypress, Poland and the Baltic States (through the United States Information Agency), the Bermuda Arts Festival, a tour of Germany, a national televised Gershwin special in Rome, Italy and the "Nit de Claque" Festival in Reus, Spain.

Contributing to the evolution of tap dance, the ATDO also presented numerous educational programs year round at the legendary Woodpeckers Tap Dance Center from 1989-1995. Programs there included ongoing youth and adult classes, workshops and tap intensives with master tap dancers, concert performances, tap jams, film presentations and lecture demonstrations.

In 1995, the ATDO created a sister organization, the International Tap Dance Orchestra.  The purpose of the ITDO was to re-introduce tap on an international scale while expanding the original concept of the American Tap Dance Orchestra.  The ITDO dancers were as diverse as the many countries from which they came, including Germany, Holland, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Japan, and the United States. Ms. Bufalino and ATDO dancers joined the ITDO for a tap dance festival October 13th - 21st of 1995 in Furth, Germany.

In 2001 with a new generation of tap dancers and enthusiasts, the Orchestra was renamed the American Tap Dance Foundation, Inc. under the artistic direction and leadership of Tony Waag.