Catch the Rhythm!
This month top world and local talent will tap back onto the Melbourne stage for the third Melbourne International Tap Festival.
Members of Australia’s energetic tap family are joining with some of the best international hoofers in the game during the Melbourne International Tap Festival, from October 15th to 20th.
An intensive week of performances and workshops will get Melbourne’s tappers deepening their skills and will thrill audiences with some of the newest, cutting-edge moves in the craft.
Famous tap greats Jason Samuels Smith and Chloe Arnold from the US will show how they’re two of the world’s best living tappers. And Melbourne’s own Grant Swift - the Festival’s Artistic Director will reveal how they’re helping Australia keep in time with the international tap community.
“The inspiration to start an international tap festival came from being so frustrated that so many dancers, teachers, students and people in general didn’t know who I was talking about when I would refer to great tap dancers of past and present. I figured the best solution would be to bring some of those tappers here to inspire and shed some light on the art form of tap down under”, says Artistic Director Grant Swift.
Emmy Award winner Samuels Smith is one of the great hoofers of today, at just 27. He is a talented choreographer, and is considered a truly gifted and highly respected teacher, musician and host. He is the co-director of the annual LA Tap Festival.
This year’s addition of Chloe Arnold will match Samuels Smith’s amazing style and experience. She has performed around the world and tapped alongside greats such as Gregory Hines and Jimmy Slyde, and Dance Informa’s own Deborah Searle has enjoyed classes with her in the US as part of New York City Dance Alliance, where Chloe is a revered member of faculty. (See Chloe’s tips for teaching tap).
They will headline two Gala Performance Shows of the Festival at National Theatre in St Kilda. In previous years, these shows have left spellbound audiences from around Australia. The week will be packed full of entertainment, workshops and jam sessions held at Jason Coleman’s new huge North Melbourne studio, Ministry of Dance.
“Dancers can expect a chance to be inspired and learn from two of the world’s leading tap dancers”, says Swift. "Jason and Chloe are both really quite exceptional and at the forefront of our art form, keeping it alive and thriving in the world. We also have a variety of Australian based tap soloists, teachers and troupes with international experience each with their own styles to pass on and share”.
“Every tap dancer should get on board with the festival. They can support the art form and learn so much in one week that they can benefit from and pass on, at a cost so much more affordable than having to travel to America", says Swift. "I slept on street corners in New York so I could get a glimpse of Jimmy Slyde or Savion Glover, and I lived on the street in New Orleans learning to survive on Bourbone Street in tap shoes......but there was no tap festival back then." |
