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2009 Tapology honoree
Germaine Ingram of Philadelphia. Festival Honoree – Performer, Documentarian, Attorney and was Asst Superintendent for Philadelphia Schools. Ms. Ingram has taught tap in workshops in the U.S. and Europe and to dance and theater majors at Philadelphia's University of the Arts. She has choreographed for musical theater, as well as for her ensemble with Robinson. Germaine will be leading Advanced and Intermediate Workshops. She also participates with the Visiting Schools Day program to introduce youth to tap as a lifestyle and an enduring form of our American heritage. |
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Dancer, singer actor, mentor, legend. These are just a few of the titles that can be associated with Arthur Duncan. Having traveled the world from Cairo, to London, to Switzerland, even hosting his own variety show in Australia. Arthur Duncan is much more than a song and dance man. In the mid 1960’s, Arthur Duncan was the first African American to regularly appear on the long running televisions series. The series was the Lawrence Welk Show. |
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Mable Lee, is often described as irrepressible and exciting. At 80+ years young, Mable Lee is still entrancing audiences with her own special style. She will present for the Visiting Schools Day program to introduce young students to the wonders and history of tap. She also presents for the Senior Citizens outreach portions of the program. |
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Currently the Artistic Director of TapDancin’ Inc, of Boston, Dianne also works in conjunction with major dance organizations in Dallas, Minneapolis and Tokyo to facilitate collaborations and work opportunities for tap dance and dancers. Dianne Walker is considered a pioneer in the resurgence of tap dancing. Her twenty-eight year career spans Broadway, television, film and international dance concerts. Throughout the world of tap, she has been dubbed the “Ella Fitzgerald” of Tap Dance”. The Boston Herald called her “America’s First Lady of Tap” and in Dallas, “The Ballerina of Tap”. |
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Reggio "The Hoofer" McLaughlin |
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Reggio travels nationally and internationally as a tap dancer, choreographer, instructor and educator. He creates special art programs for Chicago's Department on Aging, Global Roots OutReach for children in low income schools and performs at the children hospital. He is the producer and writer of his annual Christmas Show called The Nut Tapper |
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Nelida Tirado Flamenco dancer. She has worked with the "Noche Flamenca and was featured flamenco star in the highly acclaimed show "Riverdance" on Broadway and the show “Jarocho” touring Mexico and China. Summer of 2005, she represented as a solo artist, Compania Maria Pages in The Aichi Expo in Japan. She was recently chosen to participate in The E-MOVES choreography showcase at Harlem Stage and presented her first solo concert June 2007 “Flamenco Pa’ Dos” with guest artist David Paniagua at The Peter Jay Sharpe Theater at Symphony Space. |
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A native of Boston, Derick K. Grant has been tapping for 28 years. Under the direction of two time Tony Award winning director George C. Wolfe, he was an original company member and Dance Captain for BRING IN ‘DA NOISE, BRING IN ‘DA FUNK at both The Public Theater and on Broadway. Mr. Grant recreated Savion Glover’s choreography and starred in the role of ‘da beat for the first National Tour of BRING IN ‘DA NOISE, BRING IN ‘DA FUNK. |
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With a father from Romansh-Switzerland, a mother born in Morocco and a love-story with american jazz-tap-dancing which kept her in New York for 18 years, French born Roxanne Butterfly (now partly established in Barcelona) perfectly fits the definition of a world-class citizen.
In 1992, while baptizing her “Butterfly”, bebop tap- master Jimmy Slyde could not possibly imagine that her light-footed “Papillion” would so radically transform the landscape of tap, a language born out of African - American slavery on the plantations. Neither could he think she would take his beloved art-form all the way back to the African Mother-Land through the exploration of her own Mediterranean roots. Underground tap-dance icon Roxanne Butterfly, has been an instrumental force in helping transform the stereotypical presentation of tap in the contemporary performing arts world. |
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Michelle Dorrance starred in Stomp, choreographs complex rhythms and phrases to the works of jazz musicians like Thelonius Monk. A graduate of Gallatin School of Individualized Study, Michelle is a sought-after ensemble dancer with a wide range of companies, including Glover's Ti Dii, Barbara Duffy and Company, Max Pollack's Rumba Tap, Heather Cornell's Manhattan Tap, and she's appeared in Cintia Chamecki's fusion concert piece Ritmico. |
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Natasha Graham is a native of Flint, Michigan and a recent graduate of Clark Atlanta University where she earned her B.A in psychology with a minor in allied health. Currently, Natasha lives in Atlanta, Georgia where she is an administrative assistant at Therell High School by day and a full time dance instructor by night. Dancing since the tender age of two, she teaches ballet, tap, jazz, and hip hop at 3 dance studios and local community centers. A skilled and patient teacher, she teaches on average 23 classes a week.
Ms. Graham had the opportunity to open for artists such as B2K and Mario while exhibiting her art of dancing as well as singing ability. She has choreographed pieces for other dancers who have opened for Bow Wow and Lil Romeo. |
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Alexandria Bradley a native from Flint, MI is a practioner of music. She expresses her love and knowledge through her voice and feet. She has performed at the “Cannes Film Festival” in France in 2001, the 2002 Winter Olympics, The Nijinski Awards Show in Monaco, France and “Improvography” at the Joyce Theater in New York City along with many other performances throughout the country. She performed as a vocalist/tap dancer in the Atlanta, GA production of “Bubblin’ Brown Sugar” starring Diane Carroll. In 2004 she was in a production as one of the main acts singing and tap dancing in Hamburg, Germany for 4 months.
Photo by Ben Johnson © |
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A Flint, MI native Frances began her training under the guidance of her father, Bruce Bradley, at Creative Expressions Dance Studio. She served as an instructor and choreographer for the Bradley’s Flintstone Hoofers. A 2006 graduate of Philadelphia’s University of the Arts with a BFA in Illustration she worked recently for the world renowned Mural Arts Summer Program in Philadelphia. Other notable performances would include: “Tap Masters Honorarium” in Oklahoma City, Savion Glover’s “Footnotes” in Detroit, MI, The 2000 National Tap Dance Day “Tap Extraganza” in New York City, “Bubblin’ Brown Sugar” in Atlanta GA and the West Oak Lane Jazz and Arts Festival in Philadelphia. |
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Cherisse Bradley is a dancer and vocalist - one of the Original Flintstone Hoofers. Cherisse is currently working as a vocalist and dance teacher in New York, continuing to use her skills to reach out to other youth. Cherisse has appeared in Debbie Allen's "Chocolate Nutcracker". She danced and trained with tap legend Chester Whitmore and was a member of the vocal group Attraction. She trained and taught at Creative Dance Studio in Flint. |
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Alfred Bruce Bradley, performing artist and educator, is a Flint Michigan native, Mr. Bradley is the founder of Tapology Tap Festival for Youth, The Flintstone Hoofers and co-founder of Creative Expressions Dance Studio. In the Detroit area he teaches tap at the Fem Fatale Dance Studio, The Motor City Dance Factory and Miss Harriett’s Dance Studio.
Bradley is a graduate of Alabama State University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and began his theatrical training. Upon returning to the Flint area after college he became actively involved with the McCree Theatre as a performing artist. As a result of his work through the McCree Theatre he was given the opportunity to work professionally in the hit Off Broadway musical “One Mo Time” in the lead role as Papa Du which resulted in an extended run at The Village Gate in Toronto, Ontario.
Other notable performance experiences would include the off Broadway musical “Staggerlee” , “Rollin With Stevens and Stewart”, “A Raisin In The Sun”, the Broadway hit musical “Black and Blue” it’s world tour in which he teamed with his mentor and teacher, the late great Lloyd Storey from Detroit, MI to perform the “Class Act”. He has performed “David Danced For The Lord” from Ellington’s Sacred Works with the Duke Ellington Orchestra at the Cleveland Tri City Jazz Festival. Mr. Bradley can be seen as a regular in the Flint Institute Of Music’s production of “The Nut Cracker” as Drosselmeyer and is also a member of the Flint Institute of music’s Jubilee Chorale singers. |
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