By Chris Bamford

Chris Horsey, on top of being tap royalty, is one of Australia’s top choreographers and performers. He is a major voice in the revolution of tap dance across the world. Horsey has recently been announced as the new Artistic Consultant for the Northern Tap Company in the UK.  His career has seen him travel the world and he has won numerous awards for his work. His dance company, Tap Works, has performed in many dance events throughout Australia and appeared on the very popular television show Gotta Dance in the UK with Adam Garcia.

Now Chris Horsey is putting Sydney back on the map for tap with his new professional full time course, specialising in tap dance. This is the first course of its kind in Australia, if not the world. I recently had the opportunity to chat with Chris to find out more about the Tap Works Professional Full Time Course. 

Tell us about your career as a performer and choreographer.

I trained in all forms of dance. There was a turning point in my life at about 17 or 18 years of age when I auditioned for Cats and 42^nd Street in the same month and got both jobs. I had to decide which one to do, and I chose 42^nd Street.  That really set me up for the rest of my life, in what direction I was going to go. I have always loved tap dancing, but that’s not to say that I haven’t worked in other areas quite successfully.  I was in the original cast of Chicago, which I auditioned for in New York, and I did West Side Story, which is a fantastic show to do. As I’ve got older I have really started to specialise in tap dancing and have enjoyed being a part of and a co-founder of both Hot Shoe Shuffle and Tap Dogs, which have been two of the most successful tap dance shows that Australia has offered. Now I am very much interested in working with tappers and exploring different ways of tapping, different angles, using technology and narrative, and modernising tap dancing.

Chris Horsey, by Gavin D Andrews

Tell us about your new tap course. What can a future student expect from the course?

The Tap Works Professional Full Time Course is for those who are passionate tappers. The course will develop existing skills and the curriculum will focus on taking those who have learnt a syllabus and developing them by exploring the different styles of tapping that there are, like Broadway, Hoofing and street tap jamming. Students will also study the history of tap to widen their knowledge. Another important part for the course is to develop teaching skills, as there seems to be a lack of tap teachers around that have done more than just learn syllabus. I think that’s important for the future of tap dancing and the future of dance schools. Syllabus is very important, but what my course will do is serve as an addition to syllabus work and develop performance skills. The only way to develop performance skills is to practise them and there aren’t many places to do that for tappers. If you’re a hip hop dancer, ballet dancer or contemporary dancer there are lots of companies you can join that will give you experience in performing those genres, but there really isn’t anything for a tap dancer.  This course will provide that place. It will get tappers on their feet four days a week, so they are constantly practising and honing their craft in different styles. We will also generate gigs. I have three gigs lined up next year for the company. The course will give the students the experience of working as a dance company, but in tap shoes. We will constantly work toward new performances and new ideas.

Will you be doing other styles in the course other than tap?  

There’s one thing I have noticed with dancers I have auditioned for shows, gigs and corporate acts over the last 20 years. There are some fantastic tappers out there, but it seems that a lot of them have really only concentrated on tap dancing and they don’t have the  core dance  skills  required to perform my choreography and  Broadway  tapping choreography. They don’t have classical skills, or hip hop skills, which are both very important to be an interesting tapper. So I have scheduled in 1 ballet, 1 hip hop and 1 jazz class per week and also a precision and music theory class. I am working on a program with a drummer. We are putting together a 1 lesson a week course.  It’s important as a tap choreographer to learn to work in different time signatures and to play with the beat, same as a musician would with a song. On top of that it is important for a tapper to learn how to jam and dance solo.

Are you the main teacher of the course?

I am the Artistic Director of the course and I will be teaching 2-3 classes a week. I am in the process of compiling a list of very impressive dance teachers who are willing to teach, including Darren Disney, Caroline Kaspar, Amanda ‘Foady’ Foad, Thomas Egan, Tracey Wilson, Mitchell Hicks and Shane Preston. Winston Morrison and Grant Swift from Melbourne Tap Dance have been very supportive and will be coming up from Melbourne to Sydney to teach their own, very unique, style of tapping. We will cover all styles of tap.

Do you feel this course is a tool that will reinvigorate tap in Australia?

It is a tool to reinvigorate the market. I think tap dance does come and go – it always has and always will. But I think with such a strong emphasis now on the performing arts it’s definitely needed. Dance is in all forms of media, such as movies and TV shows, but tap hasn’t been a part of it much, but it will be one day. I think this course will add to the cultural stew. There is room for this. The only reason it is not already here is that this hasn’t been done yet, but I’m doing it.

Is this course good for a student who has taken full time dance already, as an additional specialist course?

Yes!  But I think if you are really interested in tapping it doesn’t matter what age you are. You can come do this course. It’s not exclusively for people trained in syllabus, for those who have done full time dance, or for young teens. It’s for anyone who is passionate about tapping.

For further information visit www.tapworks.com.au

Capitol Theatre, Sydney
January 2011

By Nicole Saleh

Exploding onto the stage at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre are six sexy blokes in their trademark Blundstone boots, tapping out rhythms Aussie style with industrial strength and force. It’s the return of Dein Perry’s Tap Dogs, one of Australia’s most successful theatrical exports. Back home to celebrate their 15^th anniversary, Tap Dogs has withstood the test of time and is more dynamic now than when it first began.

Creator and choreographer, Dein Perry, has given tap dancing a unique Aussie flavour that was warmly welcomed home by the audience on opening night. The show is 80 minutes of hardcore tap cleverly delivered with great humour and brilliant tricks, moving tap away from its traditions and into the unexpected. Leading the pack is Adam Garcia, star of the film Bootmen and judge on the hit UK television show Got to Dance. Garcia reprises the role of the Foreman. He is casually dressed in jeans, a singlet and surprisingly a refined blue collared shirt instead of a chequered flanny that is synonymous with Tap Dogs. He opens the show with a strong solo and intricate crisp footwork that leaves you wondering how he can produce such fast and light beats with heavy workman boots. It’s not just about fast tapping for Garcia who also excels in a slow tap duet with Richie Miller that is delivered with amazing tonality and control.

Nigel Triffitt’s set design is like a playground for the dancers. Each of them helps construct the set from moving the floor and pulling ropes to erecting scaffolding, which requires great strength and stamina. The lighting design by Gavin Norris creates dramatic effect and the rock music scores of composer Andrew Wilkie are delivered with powerful force by two female drummers/percussionists; Lyndsay Evans and Genevieve Wilkins.

On stage it isn’t just the angle grinders creating sparks, but also the brilliant feet of tap technicians Sheldon Perry, Matt Papa, Donovan Helma, Jesse Rasmussen, Richie Miller and Adam Garcia. Their loud beats can be heard on different surfaces from timber, steel beams, the stage itself, and even electronic music pads that produce a fun sound when tapped on.

Overall, the Tap Dogs attack their dancing with fearlessness, strength and confidence, jumping on ramps, tapping on ladders and creating complex rhythms while balancing on narrow steel surfaces. Taking tap dancing to the extreme, Sheldon Perry performs an amazing tap solo while suspended upside down! Another highlight, led by the cheeky Jesse Rasmussen (2009 Australian So You Think You Can Dance top 20 finalist), is a sequence using an unexpected instrument; a basketball. The boys create cross rhythms bouncing the balls with the greatest of control in between their tap dancing beats.

It’s easy to enjoy a performance when the cast is also enjoying themselves on stage. Revolutionising tap dancing with its distinct Australian style, there’s no doubt this highly entertaining show will continue to achieve ongoing worldwide success.

Dein Perry’s Tap Dogs are back in Sydney for performances this January and February at the Capitol Theatre.
3 lucky Dance Informa readers won double passes and will be seeing the show this week!

Tap Dogs are currently taking the world by storm with their unprecedented tap show that combines the strength and power of workmen with the precision and talent of tap dancing. The show started with six guys from a steel town north of Sydney. Olivier Award-winning choreographer Dein Perry headed the team with designer/director Nigel Triffitt, and composer Andrew Wilkie and created Tap Dogs; an 80 minute reinvention of tap for the new millennium.

To get your tickets visit www.tapdogs.com

Dance Informa’s Nicole Saleh recently interview Tap Dogs’ Adam Garcia. Click here to read the interview.

Martin Zimmerman and Dimitri de Perrot – GAFF AFF
18 – 24 October
Playhouse, Sydney Opera House
www.sydneyoperahouse.com.au

Swiss performance duo Zimmermann & de Perrot are regarded as the most successful physical theatre company in the world.  Mikhail Baryshnikov saw them at the 2008 Pina Bausch Festival and booked them for his own theatre. In GAFF AFF they create a world that revolves quite literally on a turntable.  Like a modern Buster Keaton, rubber-limbed circus artist Martin Zimmermann navigates his way through a day’s existence to the music of Dimitri de Perrot’s live soundscape.

Win a Double Pass! Click here

Photo: Ralf Brinkhoff

TAP DOGS
Adam Garcia to star with Tap Dogs in Sydney 2011!
Dates: from 5 January for a five week season
Venue: Capitol Theatre 
www.ticketmaster.com.au 

The beat of their tapping feet has reverberated around the world for 15 years, and now Australia’s Tap Dogs is returning home for a strictly limited season.

The internationally acclaimed dance sensation has won 11 major international awards. Tap Dogs combines the strength and power of workmen with the precision and talent of tap dancing, and has been seen by over 11 million people worldwide and performed in 330 cities, and 37 countries across the globe.

 Win a Double Pass! Click here

NSW Permit Number: LTPM/09/00769 CLASS: Type B
http://www.danceinforma.com

By Nicole Saleh.

Tap dancing is where it all began for the talented Adam Garcia. With his first big break on London’s West End performing in the acclaimed Australian musical Hot Shoe Shuffle, Adam has since gone on to achieve success not only on stage but also in film and television. Garcia showed off his hot dance moves in the movie Coyote Ugly, created the lead role of Fiyero in the hit musical Wicked, was a dance teacher in the drama Britannia High, and most recently appeared alongside Kimberly Wyatt (former Pussycat Doll) and Ashley Banjo (Hip Hop crew Diversity) as a judge on UK’s popular television show Got To Dance.

Ready to return to his roots, Adam is hitting the West End stage but this time in Blundstone Boots, leading the cast of Tap Dogs.

In rehearsals on the eve of their upcoming UK and Australian tour, I got a behind-the-scenes preview of Adam in action. Not only does he bring his own charm and humour to the show, I was amazed at the footwork of this highly skilled tap technician. Intrigued to learn more, I caught up with Adam Garcia in between his busy rehearsal schedule.

How did you start Tap Dancing?
I started doing ballet from about the age of seven for no particular reason, other than my friend Morgan O’Neil asked me to come with him to his dance class. The class was a bit too far away and he left and I wanted to continue, so I went to my cousin’s dance school which was Dumbrell Academy (now Capital Dance). Glenn and Kerrie Dumbrell’s strong point was tap. I did ballet and jazz, and everyone did tap, so I started doing tap dancing.

Did you always want to be a dancer?
I didn’t ever think I’d be a career dancer. I simply did it because I enjoyed it as a hobby. When I was 15 or 16 I started getting jobs, but I still never thought that this would be a career, even when I went to London with Hot Shoe Shuffle.

Hot Shoe Shuffle was supposed to be a six month deferment from university and it turned into a year and a half. Then in London, I thought I probably wouldn’t get another job, I’d just backpack for a year and come back to Australia, but I ended up getting more work and so it sort of developed.

So do you think Aussie dancers need to move overseas for a career in dance?
Not necessarily. There are more opportunities over there, but equally there are good opportunities in Australia. Obviously the pool of jobs is much bigger in Europe or even America, but as the percentage of jobs increase, the percentage of people competing for them increases as well, so it’s never going to be easy. You have to be on top of your game!  

Is it true that this is your first season of Tap Dogs?
It is! I’ve never done Tap Dogs, so I’m not officially a Tap Dog until it opens.

What is it like to be once again working with Dein Perry (Tap Dogs Creator/Choreographer) since working together in the musical Hot Shoe Shuffle and the film Bootmen?
I grew up with Dein and he was a mentor of mine. My first big experiences in my life away from home were with Dein. He was a real father figure to me and we’ve been very good friends ever since. It was kind of odd, as I didn’t know how we were going to operate again, but we just know how each other works and we found it really easy, so it’s a delight.

How did you get ready for this role in Tap Dogs?
I hadn’t been tap dancing a great deal, so I had an extra two weeks tapping in London before starting rehearsals in Sydney. You need fast feet for this show and I thought “Oh my, are my feet going to be ready at all?” But they seemed to have mostly come good.

I did a fair bit of fitness work when I was in Los Angeles – lots of sprint training and a bit of muscle work. I played football two or three times a week and one of those games was a 90 minute full field soccer match. You’re constantly sprinting and never stop, and so it’s kind of the equivalent to doing an 80 minute show. It’s certainly challenging, but I’m getting there.

How important do you think Tap Dogs is to championing the art form of Tap around the world?
I think it is incredibly important, and not because I’m intimately attached to the show. There aren’t tap shows of this nature that are still continuing today. There are ballet companies and contemporary companies and their expression and narrative is done through dance. Tap shows don’t exist like that. Savion Glover obviously has his shows, but then there’s 42^nd Street and musicals where suddenly there is some tap dancing and then it ends. There is not a show that I have seen that is just a tap show, and that’s all it is. Tap Dogs is really the only one on an international scale. There’s no speaking, its music and tap for 80 minutes and that’s that!

The Tap Dogs trademark is the Blundstone Boots. Was there a need to adjust your tapping style for these shoes?
Actually in London when I was starting rehearsals I knew I needed to get some boots on because they are a lot heavier than tap shoes. I dug around in my cupboard and found the first boots we wore for the original Tap short for ABC TV (this short film launched what was to become the Tap Dogs and the concept of tapping in Blundstone boots). It takes a lot more deliberate dexterity to make the sounds. I had to remember how to use them, and it took about a week and a half to get really used to the boots.

What’s been a career highlight for you?
Definitely the Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony (Adam led over 1000 tap dancers performing to a global audience), and opening in the musical Saturday Night Fever in London (Adam played the lead role of Tony Manero). Even just opening in Hot Shoe Shuffle was kind of weird and crazy back in 1992. I had no idea about openings and I didn’t realise it was such a big deal. I even asked Dein if I could have it off as I had tickets to the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert and they were only playing one gig. We had another 30 shows after that and I couldn’t see what the big deal was!

You’ve been a judge on the successful UK reality television show, Got To Dance. What qualities do you believe make a great dancer?
Obviously feet are pretty important, and musicality. Musicality is not only about keeping time and doing the choreography, but it’s feeling the music and where moves should be. I think dancers learn that music carries with it an inherent rhythm, tone, style and nuance and that’s why people have different styles. They hear the music differently or feel the dance moves in a different way. When people really explore and give into what they feel and express it through the music, it makes a good dancer and a very watchable dancer.

The ability to let go is very important. There was a 10 year old boy on the show who is autistic and literally the music moved him and that’s the only way I could describe it. He just stood there and the music went, and he just went. That was one of the most beautiful things in the show.

Do you see yourself as an actor or a dancer?
Even though I’ve got acting, dancing always reels me back and I realise “oh yeah, you’re a dancer – deal with it”. For all my protestation about being an actor, people recognise me as a dancer, so I don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I love making movies, I like making TV, I love doing live theatre, I love doing musical theatre, I like doing dance shows and I like being a judge, so I’m just trying to do as much as I can.

What are your future plans after Tap Dogs?
A new season of Got to Dance (UK) starts at the end of the year so I’m excited about that. Chris Horsey (Tap Works Director) and I have been working on a show which we’re about half way through choreographing. He’s got his tap company up and running and we’ve got ambitions to complete the show and put it on stage finally, that’ll be nice!

Tap Dogs is now showing at the Novello Theatre London until 5^th September 2010, and returns to Australia at the Capitol Theatre Sydney from 5^th January 2011 for a limited 5 week season. For details visit www.tapdogs.co.uk

Photos: Ralf Brinkhoff