Tap Legacy Foundation, Inc.

Preserving and Advancing the Art of Tap Dance.

News

You Have to Stand for Something

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The tap dance community today consists of members from many different nations, ethnicities, professions, ages, etc. One of the most challenging things our community has faced over the past years, which actually parallels a global trend, is the setting and agreement of community values, standards, and even common terminology. As an organization that was founded by tap dancers in support of the oral tradition we thought it important to put down a few core values for ourselves and share them. When everything else is pushed aside, these are what remain for us.

We believe that…

  1. Every member of our community should have access to all the information, collected materials, and stories that informs the understanding of our tradition’s history.
  2. Every member of our community should be rightfully recognized and credited for their contribution, be it small or large, in the areas of production, performance, education, documentation, and preservation.
  3. Tap Dance is part of a large family of percussive dance expressions. Any curation that we institute is designed to focus our interest around tap dance and related American vernacular dances, and not to exclude the fundamental relationship between all human expressions of percussive dance.

When dealing with values, there is always the issue of perfection. Have we achieved these values? Of course not. If we had, our organization wouldn’t need to exist. These values are what we are working towards. They are what guide us as we continue to explore ways of supporting the oral tradition in a cultural landscape that is continually changing.

Over the next few weeks we’ll do a deeper dive into each one of these core values, so you can see why we believe them to be so important to our community. In the meantime, now you can see a little more about what guides us.

Tap Dance Day

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In 1989 the federal government of the United States signed a bill recognizing May 25, 1989 as National Tap Dance Day. The date was chosen on account of it being Bill “Bojangles” Robinson’s birthday. Since then celebrations for National Tap Dance Day have spread across the country and internationally. While many tap dancers know about the day and why we celebrate very few know how the date came to be.

A few years ago we put together this resource to share the story of the establishment of what is now simply Tap Dance Day. We hope you enjoy this unique resource!

A New Resource – The List

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One of the ways oral traditions are explored is through the people involved. Finding old stories, making connections, watching video recordings, all comes back to the people and their names.

Who’s in the story, who used to dance with who, and who are we watching right now. Knowing the names of the people can help us on our individual explorations of the tradition. For instance, looking through the index of biographies of jazz greats for the names of tap dancers may yield unique stories not found elsewhere. But, we need the names that we should be looking for first.

To that end we are excited to announce a new resource. A community sourced list of tap dancers, individuals and acts, listed in alphabetical order. We envision this list of contributors both large and small, to be a living document that will continue to grow as contributors are remembered, discovered, and newly recognized.

Visit the List here and submit a name using the form at the bottom of the page.

2017 Annual Report

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Since our earliest beginnings Tap Legacy™ has been committed to serving the tap dance community. As we have undertaken a major refocusing in the past two years, we’ve come to realize that we’ve been operating in a somewhat opaque manner. We’re changing that today.

Today we’re releasing our 2017 Annual Report, which you can view here, and posting a link on our website that you can share with others.

As we move forward we are committed to having a community based on trust, and a major part of that is sharing what we are doing more transparently.

We’re thankful for your continued support as we navigate the ever changing landscape of the tap dance world, and discover the best ways to support the oral tradition.

A Global Circuit of Tap Dance Festivals

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Many of you might have already seen the recently released TED Talk by Tap Legacy™ co-founder Andrew Nemr. In his talk, Andrew points to evidence of the flourishing global tap dance scene today. This included seeing tap dance featured in popular music concerts, major theatrical shows on Broadway, the awarding of a tap dancer with a MacArthur Genius Award, and the global circuit of tap dance festivals. While members of the live studio audience were witness to a slide that included a sampling of the many festivals currently running, the edited video didn’t give the slide much screen time.

We want to be sure that everyone can see how many organizations are currently doing the work of sharing the art of tap dance through practical education, performance, and community engagement. Above, you will see the slide that was included in the original talk, and below is a list, with links to each organization.

We want to thank each organizer who gave us the permission to use their logo in this talk. While this is still only a sampling (yes, there are even more festivals than what is listed below), we can clearly see the reach and breadth of the global tap festival phenomenon.

From Right to Left, top to bottom:

Notable exclusions from the slide (we didn’t receive permission in time to use their logos in the talk) include the Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s Rhythm World, the Los Angeles Tap Festival, the Tokyo International Tap Festival, and the Vancouver International Tap Festival.

As mentioned above, so many festivals are part of the current tap dance scene. Do you know of a festival that used to be produced or is currently running that isn’t listed here? Put the name of the festival in the comments for everyone to see, and be sure to include the organizer(s)!

Digital Archive Prototype Unveiled during TED Talk

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This past summer, Tap Legacy co-founder Andrew Nemr spoke at the TED Resident’s Salon, the final event for the inaugural class of TED Residents. Each resident presented an idea that was central to their project. While working on development of the Tap Legacy Digital Archive during the residency, Andrew’s talk, presented while he tap danced, centered around the idea of tap dance as oral tradition. Andrew shared personal stories, the unique attributes of oral traditions, the challenges oral traditions like tap dance face during times of cultural shift, and a possible solution.

TED Resident's Salon, July 12, 2016, New York, NY. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Tap Legacy Board Member Michael Jagger and Tap Legacy Digital Archive collaborator Mike Thibault at the TED Resident’s Salon, July 12, 2016, New York, NY. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED

Oral traditions are rooted in cultural identity, the stories of a people, and the traditions, activities, and rituals that embody those stories. Institutional support is primarily designed for preservation, not the support of an ongoing oral tradition. However, during times of cultural shift the continuity of unsupported oral traditions can be endangered. Tap Legacy™ has been working on a solution that would fill the gap between well established institutions and a community’s oral traditions.

Andrew Nemr speaks at TED Resident's Salon, July 12, 2016, New York, NY. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Andrew Nemr speaks at TED Resident’s Salon, July 12, 2016, New York, NY. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED

At the end of his talk, Andrew unveiled a prototype of the Tap Legacy Digital Archive platform. Developed in collaboration with Michael Thibault, the platform will feature timeline, graphic data visualization, and community engagement functionality. The prototype is a working model that envisions all the functionality of the Digital Archive currently in development.

If your interested in learning more about this initiative sign-up for our newsletter or contact us directly.