The Festival Events

Visiting School Days (October 27 & 28)

Dance Workshops (Beginner to Advanced)

Living Legends Luncheon Honoring Ivery Wheeler

Competition w/ Cash Prizes!

Tapology Concert Featuring Jazz & Tap Superstars  Oct. 30 @ 7pm

         Historical Presentation w/ C. Daniel Dawson (Tendaji Talks Series) Oct. 31,  McCree Theater

The Living Legends

2016 GUEST HONOREE

 

Ivery Wheeler - Tapology Living Legend 

At age 14, Wheeler met Maceo Anderson of "The Four Step Brothers". In short order young Ivery become a hoofer performing in Anderson's groups, "Four Steps and a Miss" and later "The Third Generation Steps".   Wheeler has credits in monumental hit "The Cotton Club" and Broadway & Paris performances of "Black and Blue", Tony Award Winning musical.  Ivery Wheeler has been dancing for 50 years.  During the time, he's mentored Savion Glover and been claimed as friend and confidant to Dianne Walker. Honored as the 2016 Tapology Living Legend for giving back to youth through the art of Tap.

    

Dianne Walker - Concert and Workshops

Dianne Walker, jazz tap dancer known for her elegant and fluid style of dancing that is delicate yet rhythmically complex, was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  Walker received the Dance Magazine Award in 2012 for lifetime achievement in dance. Principal dancer in the Paris production of Black and Blue, as well as principal and assistant choreographer in the Broadway production; Walker is considered by many female tap dance artists as the transitional figure between the young generation of female dancers (such as Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Germaine Ingram, Ayodele Casel), and the "forgotten mothers of tap," such as Edith "Baby" Edwards, Jeni LeGon, Lois Miller, and Florence Covan.

    

 

Mable Lee - Concert      

Mable Lee, the sassy chanteuse and jazz dancer with the million-dollar legs who was regaled in the 1940s as "Queen of the Soundies".  She was a child prodigy who at age twelve, was performing in the first black-owned nightclub in Georgia, The Top Hat. 

Lee worked at such Harlem's nightclubs as Small's, Ubangie Club, and Club Sudan. And then went to London for eighteen months, where she performed at the Palladium. The London critics called her "the second Florence Mills."  During World War II, Lee performed in the first all-black USO unit; conducted by Eubie Blake and his sixteen-piece orchestra.

In 1969, she was the only woman to perform with Chuck Green, Lon Chaney, and James Buster Brown in "The Hoofers".  Since 1999, Lee has performed regularly in National Tap Dance Day's "Tap Extravaganza".  Like many performers from her generation, Lee has achieved that rare level of "entertainment" that identifies a true performer.  Concert & Festival Favorite!

 

The Choreographers & Instructors

Jason Samuels Smith

Co-starred in Dean Hargrove's "Tap Heat", a short film available on DVD. featured dancer in HBO/Universal Pictures's motion picture "Idlewild" starring Outkast. Debbie Allen has featured his talents in several productions including the AMC television series "Cool Women", Sammy (a tribute to the life of Sammy Davis jr.), and leading role of Soul Possessed with Patti LaBelle, Arturo Sandoval and Carmen DeLavallade.

Derick K. Grant

Performed the original production and national tour of Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk. Choreographer and director of the Imagine Tap! Grant has taught at the American Tap Dance Foundation and Steps on Broadway in New York City, The School at Jacob’s Pillow, Chicago Human Rhythm Project and the DC Tap Fest. He is a founder and co-director of Tap2You, a five-city tap convention and competition. 

 

Michelle Dorrance

Michelle Dorrance, founder and artistic director of Dorrance Dance/New York, is one of the most sought after tap dancers of her generation and "one of the most imaginative tap choreographers working today” (The New Yorker). A 2012 Princess Grace Award Winner, 2012 Field Dance Fund Recipient and 2011 Bessie Award Winner, Michelle performs, teaches and choreographs throughout the world. Awarded a 2016 MacArthur Fellowship for innovative approach to tap dance.

       

Maurice Chestnut

Joined Deborah Mitchell's New Jersey Tap Ensemble at age 9. Quickly recognized as a rising young star, he was featured on the Sally Jesse Raphael Show's "My Kid's A Star"; toured nationally with "Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk" and as special guest with jazz artists Christian McBride, Cyrus Chestnut, Thelonius Monk III, and the Geri Allen Trio.  Maurice has been a favorite choreographer at Tapology since 2010.

 

Alexandria Brinae Ali Bradley - Festival Co-Producer

An International performer, Bradley danced Broadway's "Shuffle Along", "STOMP", George Faison's Bubblin’ Brown Sugar starring Diahnn Carroll and was named as one of  Dance Magazine's "25 To Watch".  A recorded vocalist as well as producer for the Tapology Festival, Ali is known as a demanding choreographer and lead trainer for Tapology's Youth Ensemble.

 

Frances Bradley  - Festival Co-Producer

Featured Tap soloist for international touring company Illstyle & Peace Productions, was cast in Noah Racey's Pulse: The Beat of Song and Dance; and trained with Savion Glover.   Performs and teaches in New York and St. Maarten, teaching underserved youth.  Bradley also presented her art as part of a delegation to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland 

 

 

C. Daniel Dawson - Importance of Tap Across Continents, Through History 

His extensive knowledge of tap and its cultural roots, along with his ability to connect past and present, leave audiences thinking more critically about art and its influence on our daily lives.  Curated more than 70 exhibitions including Harlem Heyday: The Photographs of James Van Der Zee and The Sound I Saw: The Jazz Photographs of Roy DeCarava and was formerly a curator with the Jazz at Lincoln Center's curatorial team.  A multi-talented artist, Prof. Dawson has worked as a photographer, filmmaker, curator, arts administrator, consultant and scholar.

 

  

Clara Reyes - Afro Caribbean Dance

A talented Educator, Director and Choreographer, Ms. Reyes has a body of work that is diverse and all encompassing, ranging from youth productions to reviving dormant cultural traditions.  Reyes believes the arts offer healing, transformation and wholeness that enable us to find deeper meaning and richness in our existence.  M.F.A. in Dance & Choreography with specialization in dance education K- 12.  Certified in both Yoga and Somatic movement.

 

Shanzell Page

Trained with the off-broadway musical STOMP at the Orpheum Theatre in New York, Urban Bush Women and Miami Heat dancers.  Page worked at The School at Steps New York, Motor City Dance Factory and multiple Michigan studios.  Directs Tapology's Outreach program, providing tap classes year round to after-school programs, introducing youth to the excitement and discipline of rhythm and tap.

Kandee Thacker-Mann

Kandee Thacker-Mann Flint native. She is an advocate for tap dance in Dayton and organizes annual workshops featuring and collaborating with the legendary Dianne Walker.  She continues to spread her love of dance through teaching, choreography, and collaboration. She has instructed at the Ohio Dance Festival, as adjunct at Wright State, and currently Dayton Dance Conservatory.

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Information sourced in part from: IMDB; Performing Arts Encyclopedia-Library of Congress; Constance Valis Hill, Tap Dancing America- A Cultural History (2010);

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