Search results for: michelle dorrance

One of my favorite tap scenes from a movie is a crazy up-from-underneath-through-a-glass-floor shot of three guys in tuxedoes wearing oxford shoes without taps in a Busby Berkeley extravaganza from the 1930s. It shows up close the flying feet, stomping soles, and the seemingly floating torsos of three great dancers executing a breakneck wing combination. […]

In a tap class, everyone knows when you make a mistake. If your shuffle comes a beat late, other students can hear it. It can be pretty humiliating, and that’s why you need to take class at your own level.   I’ve been lucky to find a truly basic level at Steps on Broadway taught […]

Ladies, gather ’round—and bring your tap shoes! It’s time to make history with the first ever Women In Tap national conference. The conference will include master classes, panel discussions and a screening of the documentary film, “Been Rich All My Life.” The highlight of the weekend will be the “Women In Tap: The Legends” show […]

This month we’re taking you on a tour of different places, genres, and states of mind. In the feature pages you can join Charlotte d’Amboise on her Broadway roller coaster ride, admire the energy and versatility of the Hubbard Street dancers in Chicago, and be a fly on the wall when ballerinas meet their pointe […]

In 1997, I sneaked into a rehearsal for Savion Glover’s newly-formed company, NYOTs (Not Your Ordinary Tappers), and lay on the floor between two rows of seats in the theater to listen. I just assumed that the female voice amidst the conversations and laughter from the stage was someone from the technical crew or the […]

Last December a show called Tappy Holidays at Symphony Space in NYC celebrated a brilliant array of individual tap styles. There was Derick Grant, Jason Samuels Smith, Michelle Dorrance, Chloe Arnold and the two hosts, Ayodele Casel and Sarah Savelli. But it was a relative newcomer, Jared Grimes, who brought the house down with a […]

Electric performances, thought-provoking choreography, buzzy bodies of work—the artists on our annual list of dancers, choreographers, directors, and companies poised for a breakout share an uncanny knack for arresting attention. They’ve been turning heads while turning what’s expected—in a performance, from a career trajectory—on its head. We’re betting we’ll be seeing a lot more of them this year, and for many years to come.

This July, two beloved summer mainstays return, while a spate of made-for-the-moment programs have us grabbing our sun hats to catch some dance in the open air. Back to the Pillow Bryn Cohn + Artists performing on the Inside/Out stage in 2019 Grace Kathryn Landefeld, Courtesy Jacob’s Pillow BECKET, MA, AND ONLINE Jacob’s Pillow Dance […]