Tap City

Tap City is the New York City Tap dance Festival, dedicated to the love of tap dance all over the world. Founded in 2001, and now celebrating its sixth year anniversary, Tap City features classes, performances, and residencies for anyone from beginners to professionals.

Performances for Tap City have been held at the Duke Theater on Forty Second Street, and at the Joyce Theater on Broadway. These prestigious venues have heard quality tappers such as Brenda Bufalino, Tony Waag, Warren Craft, Nate Cooper, Karen Callaway Williams, Jeannie Hill, Josh Hilberman, Leela Petronio, Jason Samuels Smith, DJ Supreme, Dianne Walker, Lynn Schwab, Mable Lee, Susan Hebach, Omar Edwards, Baakari Wilder, Max Pollack, Lynn Daly, Barbara Duffy, Rusty Frank, Germaine Salsburg, Margaret Morrison, Harold Cromer, Jimmy Slyde, and many more, as well as up and coming groups such as the Tap City Youth Ensemble, created in January, 2006.

Tap City takes place during a two to three week period, usually in July, where people from all over the tap dance community come together, as in other tap dance festivals (Chicago, Los Angeles, and many more). There are many different types of classes that are offered:
* Adult Residencies, for which there are performances after three days of classes at the Adult Showcase.
* Youth Residencies, for which there are performances after three days of classes at the Youth Showcase.
* Adult and Youth Master classes, with different teachers from all over the world who teach completely different styles of tap.
* Hip-Hop Classes are sometimes offered.

In 2005, Tap City hosted its first Pre-Professional Program, where kids from 12 to 21 years old came together in two groups. These kids took three hours in the mornings for four days to rehearse, with their assigned groups and teachers, a dance which was then performed on the fifth day. In the afternoons, they took an array of classes from Hip-Hop, Improvisation and Percussion to Broadway Styles. Then, on the fifth day, they had rehearsal and then two shows which was the culmination of the four days of hard work.

There are also shows associated with tap city, such as Tap Internationals (a celebration of tap dancers from across the globe), Tap Forward (an evening of contemporary choreography), and Tap & Song (celebrating traditional vaudeville and classic tap dancing). There are also free events for people taking classes, such as an hour and a half devoted to old, collected movie clips of tap dance throughout the years. Awards are handed out such as the Tap Dance Preservation Award, the Hoofers Award, and the Toe-Knee Award.

External links

* [http://www.atdf.org/tapcity.html Tap City official page]