Celebrating Dance Magazine Award Honoree Dormeshia

This week we’re sharing tributes to all of the 2021 Dance Magazine Award honorees. For tickets to our hybrid ceremony taking place December 6, visit dancemediafoundation.org. If you ask a tap dancer who their favorite hoofers are, it’s not likely they’ll omit Dormeshia. Her popularity even spreads by word of foot, so to speak: Some […]

How M.A.D.D. Rhythms Changed the Tap Scene in Chicago—And Beyond

Ask almost anyone in the know and they’ll tell you, as far as tap dance goes, that Chicago’s the place to be. The scene is teeming with extraordinary hoofers who are steeped in experimentation and individual artistry. Dancers seamlessly intermingle with Chicago’s top-shelf musicians at storied jazz clubs across the city. “Chicago is ‘The Second […]

“Aisha” by Starinah “Star” Dixon for M.A.D.D. Rhythms

To celebrate National Tap Dance Day earlier this week, Chicago’s M.A.D.D. Rhythms released two new dance videos, including “Aisha,” choreographed by the group’s assistant director Starinah “Star” Dixon. To a song of the same name, written by McCoy Tyner and performed by John Coltrane, the company members perform a joyful, romantic dance filled with infectious […]

How April Nieves Combines Her Passions for Tap Dance and Eastern Medicine

Dancers are no strangers to multi-hyphenate careers. But a tap-dancing acupuncturist remains a rarity. April Nieves is not only the assistant director of the Boston-based tap company Subject: Matter, she is also a licensed acupuncturist, herbalist and founder of The Sunny Side: Acupuncture and Healing Arts in New York City. One of the eight branches […]

This Dancer With a Neuroscience Degree "Taps" Into Both Sides of His Brain

Chicago Tap Theatre’s Sterling Harris is a study in dualities. An effervescent performer and budding choreographer, he’s an amalgam of his training in rhythm tap on Chicago’s South Side and in Billy Siegenfeld’s exuberant, theatrical Jump Rhythm technique via Northwestern University. “Sterling walks in the room and the energy shifts,” says CTT artistic director Mark […]