Preview
CALGARY TAP SUMMIT
MADD Rhythms Canada
Runs June 30 to July 3
Vertigo Playhouse (Tower Centre)
It’s time to dust off the old tap shoes and unleash your inner hoofer (you remember the shoes; you used them on the linoleum to scare your parents). Yet another addition to all the festivals sprouting up in Calgary, the first annual Calgary Tap Summit promises to be as unique and upbeat as the clamorous shoes that define the dance.
The festival is spearheaded by Calgary’s Lisa La Touche, an artist dedicated to helping dancers express their rhythm addictions through her company MADD Rhythms Canada.
"It stands for "Making A Difference Dancing," she says of the name. "It actually started in Chicago. It was founded by a fellow by the name of Bril Barrett, who’s going to be coming to (the Summit) as well."
La Touche found a mentor in Barrett, whose credits include such shows as The Tap Dance Kid and Riverdance. "I’ve always admired his vision of promoting tap dancing and the kind of outreach (he’s done) for people who have always loved it," she says.
MADD Rhythms Canada, a division of MADD started by La Touche in 2003, has hosted workshops and shows, and has performed in festivals such as the Alberta Dance Explosions Festival of Choreography (being tap, they bring their own floors to dance on). Now the company has taken a bigger initiative by creating the Calgary Tap Summit.
"The goal is to see how this one goes, and hopefully there’s enough of a hype to create more," says La Touche. "It’s the most artists that I’ve brought (into Calgary) at one time, and the biggest scale that we’ve ever done this. And we’re trying to create a festival out of it, so instead of just classes, (dancers) have opportunities to attend seminars. So they won’t just learn steps, they’ll learn a little bit about the history and who these people are."
La Touche acknowledges that many of the artists are her mentors, and are happy to support her initiative in the art form.
"We have multi-generations of people, so (participants will) experience the story of tap and kind of get to live it a little bit," she says.
Along with Barrett, other established artists featured at the summit include Dr. Jeni LeGon, one of the first African-Americans to secure a long-term contract in Hollywood (her red shoes and costume are now housed in the National Museum of American History). LeGon’s career in American jazz has spanned almost seven decades, she has been inducted into the Black Filmmakers’ Hall of Fame, the Tap Dance Hall of Fame, and has performed on Broadway. Also coming are Van "The Man" Porter (of the Four Step Brothers, recognized as innovators of tap), George "Mo Leggs" Patterson III (of recent Bring In Da Noise, Bring In Da Funk fame) and Riverdance’s Martin "Tré" Dumas III. Jumaane Taylor, Tasha Lawson, Jennifer Bishop, Danny Nielsen, Kris Kelly and La Touche are the new artists involved in the summit.
Unlike many arts festivals, La Touche says the summit has not received any government funding, but is being paid for by her organization.
"I’ve always wanted to do something this big-scale, and over the past two years I’ve used small projects to kind of gear up to something like this. So, it has been self-inflicted, but we’ve had a lot of in-kind donations from people who are in it for the cause," she says.
"We really want to get known. We want people to recognize tap dance as its own art form, and get the respect that it used to have," she adds.
Although there aren’t many tap dance companies in Canada, La Touche says students in dance schools are interested in tap. She notes that the art form stems from African beat dancing, Irish dance and clogging. It’s also a dance form that makes its own music.
"There isn’t that much out there, but there are a lot of diehards," she says. "It’s an American art form, so that’s where everything is going on. Vancouver has a tap society, and Ontario has just recently over the last year started a few, so it’s still brand new in Canada. But yet people have been tap dancing in Canada for a long time, so these organizations were bound to start happening."
The Tap Summit culminates with a concert on Sunday, July 3 at 6 p.m. It also offers youth, intermediate and advanced classes and seminars. For more information, call 228-8892. |
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