Boston Celebrates 2009 International Tap Dance Day
May 15, 16, 17, 2009

Tap Dance thrived during the Great Depression, and given the recent months of economic turmoil it should come as no surprise that Dance Inn Productions 2009 celebration of International Tap Dance Day features the largest and most diverse gathering of world-renowned New Englanders in their biggest Tap Day Extravaganza to date.

Thelma Goldberg, Josh Hilberman, and the Committee to Celebrate Tap Day have assembled a line-up of Broadway veterans and sparkling ensembles. New England born and bred with show-biz experience that has taken them worldwide, Dianne "Lady Di" Walker ("Black and Blue", "Tap"), Sean Fielder ("Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk", and Aaron Tolson ("Riverdance") headline the May 16 Tap Day extravaganza.

With an elegant piece of classic choreography, we pay tribute to the late, great, Rosemarie Boyden, a true treasure of tap in New England who influenced countless dancers in her nearly 50 years of teaching.

Rounding out the concert, the savvy Tap City Youth Ensemble pays a visit from NYC, to join Goldberg's nationally recognized Legacy Dancers, Tolson's New England Tap Ensemble, and Fielder's Boston Tap Company. Emceed by Hilberman, this show features the best and the brightest of the New England tap scene.

Friday night, May 15th

Opening Night Tap Jam at the Regent Underground - participants and special guests of this year's National Tap Dance Day celebration will strut their stuff in the intimate, downstairs performance space of the Regent Theatre. All ages are welcome to join in on the stage or in the audience. Light refreshments will be available.

May 15 - 8:00 p.m. -10:00 p.m.

$10 - call Dance Inn Productions at 781-863-5360 for reservations - seats are limited. Reservations are recommended. Tickets will be sold at the door if seating is available.

Musicians: Peter Tillotson on bass, Yoko Miwa on piano, Scott Goulding on drums

Hosted by Ryan Casey, a participant in the 2009 Young Arts Scholarship Program presented by the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, where he was awarded a Tap Scholarship that he will use at Gallatin College at NYU. Ryan is a senior at Lexington High School where he holds a 3.83 GPA and is on the National Honor Society. He is a member of the Legacy Dance Company, under the direction of Thelma Goldberg and is also a dancer in the New England Tap Ensemble, under the direction of Aaron Tolson. A regular participant in jams and festivals throughout New England and New York, Ryan will host an exciting evening of tap improvisation and choreography featuring the best of Boston's tap scene.

Saturday, May 16th, 8PM Tap Day 2009 Concert at the Regent Theatre

Tix: $22/$18 Box office: 781-646-4849
www.RegentTheatre.com

May 15-17 at the Regent Theatre, Arlington, and the Dance Inn, Lexington

Masterclasses for youth and adults, taught by Fielder, Tolson, Walker, Julia Boynton, Drika Overton, Josh Hilberman, Kelly Kaleta, Brian Jones, Kathy Partridge, Jamie Larowitz Sherman, and Charlie Holbrook!

To register for workshops or for more information about Tap Day 2009: Download the registration form or call 781-863-5360

Biographies

Our mission at the Boston Tap Company (BTC) is to educate and entertain through art as way of life. Promoting respect for ones self and others while creating a firm foundation of cultural history by means of art as a universal language. BTC produces a positive, productive and respectful way of expression that encourages confidence amongst all. At the Boston Tap Company we believe "The Only Way to Be Different is to be yourself".

Julia Boynton has performed with Brian Jones' All-Tap Revue, Heather Cornell's Manhattan Tap and co-founded StopTime, a N.E. jazz-tap quartet. She has taught tap in Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela and closer to home at the New Orleans Center for the Performing Arts, the Florida Dance Festival, Jacob's Pillow, Harvard Summer Dance Center, M.I.T., Boston Conservatory, Emerson College, Boston College, the Leon Collins Studio, and the Jeannette Neill Dance Studio. Julia is currently on the faculty of the Dance Program at Harvard and the Dance Division of the Boston Conservatory, and is producer of the Beantown Tapfest, Boston's annual summer tap festival.

Ryan Casey has been dancing since the age of five at The Dance Inn under the direction of Thelma Goldberg, where he has studied tap, jazz, ballet, hip-hop, contemporary, ballroom, and Jump Rhythm Jazz. He is a member of the Legacy Dance Company and Dance Captain of the New England Tap Ensemble, directed by Aaron Tolson. He has performed throughout Boston and New York at such prestigious events as Deval Patrick's 2007 Artists' Ball and Tappy Holidays!, and recently performed at Miami's Colony Theatre as a recipient of a youngARTS scholarship from the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts. With the MA Principals' S.I.L.S. (Scholarship, Integrity, Leadership, and Spirit) Award and MA School Superintendents' Award for Academic Excellence under his belt, in addition to an Excellence in the Study of Foreign Languages Award from Lexington High School, he will be attending NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study in fall 2009.

Sean Fielder started dancing at the age of three and by the age of 7, he realized that was so in love with tap that nothing was going to stop him from dancing. He began dancing at the Roxbury Center for the Performing Arts and by the time he was he was ten years old, Sean had performed in his first professional show called the "Jazz Tap Hip Hop Festival" with a Boston company called "Dance Umbrella".

Shortly after his 18th Birthday, Sean Fielder auditioned for Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk, a musical that debuted Off-Broadway at the New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater in 1995.

It moved to the Ambassador Theatre on Broadway and closed after 1135 performances on January 10, 1999. At the 50th annual Tony Awards, "Noise/Funk" won over major contender "Rent" in several categories including Best Choreography, Best Direction of a Musical and Best Featured Actress. In 1997 Sean was picked for the national tour of "Noise/Funk". Although Sean stared the tour as an understudy, he quickly worked his way to playing the lead role.

During the tour Sean performed for: Hillary Clinton, Jay Leno, Sinbad, CNN World News and many more. Sean has since toured with names like Debbie Allen, Dick Clark and recently performed in the 2007 presentation of the "Bean Town Tap Festival" and the "Urban Nutcracker".

Sean started a Boston based Non-Profit dance company called "Boston Tap Company", which has performed at Mass Moca with Dianne Walker and friends, Boston University, The South End House and the Robert White Community Center.
Sean's motto is: "The Only Way To Be Different Is To Be Yourself."

Susan Hebach considers herself a graduate of "Woodpeckers Tap Dance Center" where she was fortunate to study with a diverse group of master tap artists such as her mentor, Brenda Bufalino, and other inspirational teachers such as Barbara Duffy, Robin Tribble, Margaret Morrison, Josh Hilberman, Lynn Dally, and Diane Walker to name a few. As a choreographer, she enjoys developing new works and collaborating with fellow dancers of "The Tap Collective" , a tap company she founded in 1996. Her choreography has been featured in events such as "VII Nit de Claque" in Barcelona, Spain , to the offbeat "Vaudeville 2000" at LaMama ETC Theater and "The Elegance of Comedy of Tap", hosted by Bill Irwin at NYC Town Hall. Susan directs her own children's tap program, "Tap Dance for Young People" in NYC. She has also served on the dance faculty for Oklahoma City University and Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri as visiting guest artist. Susan is honored to have been part of Tap City since 2001.

Tap dance artist Joshua Hilberman has been creating and performing original theatrical productions in New England and around the world for over 20 years. His two-man tour de force, "Heeling Powers," with pianist Paul Arslanian, won raves in 2008-2009 in Boston and NYC. Recognized as a dancemaker with the National Endowment for the Arts/Dance USA 2005 National College Choreography Initiative Award, Hilberman's work has been presented on companies from Decidedly Jazz Danceworks (Calgary) to Tapestry (Austin) to the nation's foremost youth ensembles. Further propaganda can be found at www.Hilbermania.com.

Brian Jones celebrates thirty-four years as a tap dancer and choreographer in 2009. Known for his tap dance company (The All-Tap Revue) and his partnerships with Susan Boyce (Jones & Boyce) and Donald Suthard (Street Tap), Brian has toured as a modern-day vaudevillian from Hawaii to Europe. He has shared the bill with The Persuasions, Wally Rose, Robert Goulet, Ethel Merman and The Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. Crediting his eleventh-grade English teacher with opening his eyes and ears to tap, Jones has continued in the great tap tradition to hand down from one generation to the next this uniquely American dance form.

Kelly Kaleta started her dance training in Western MA at the age of 6, studying ballet, tap, jazz and hip hop before graduating from high school. While attending Boston University, she began teaching in the Boston area and throughout Massachusetts. She now teaches up and down the east coast and Canada, doing master classes and conventions, workshops and performances. She is a faculty member and choreographer for Gil Stroming's Break the Floor, a bi-annual workshop in NYC, which culminates in an off-Broadway show. She has done choreography for the Legacy Dancers and many competition groups, and her students have received numerous awards. In 2006, she was a cast member of Imagine Tap!, choreographed and directed by Derick Grant, and most recently can be seen in Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, a film making it's world debut at this year's Tribeca Film Festival, in which she choreographed & performed. She is super excited to be back in Lexington for this year's National Tap Day celebration!

Thelma Larkin Goldberg, Executive Director, started The Dance Inn in 1983 while on a leave of absence from teaching in the Boston Public Schools. Her early dance training was in Cambridge with Grace Bates and Joan O'Brien. She taught dance while earning her B.S. Ed. From Lesley College and then taught special needs students in Boston while earning her M.S. Sp.Ed. from Regis College. In addition to being the Artistic Director and Tap Coach of the Legacy Dancers, Thelma is on the staff of the NYC Tap Festival and has been directing the Pre-Professional Program since it began in 2005. She continues to study with master teachers and is an active participant at numerous tap and jazz festivals. Thelma is also Executive Director of Dance Inn Productions, Inc., a non-profit organization whose mission is to pass on the artistry and traditions of dance. Through Dance Inn Productions, she produces several community dance events, including Rhythm at the Regent, the annual International Tap Dance Day celebration in May, the Tom and Catherine Larkin Youth Ballroom Program, and weekend workshops with master teachers. She continues to teach numerous classes a week while supervising and mentoring her young staff.

Jamie Larowitz Sherman - A veteran of the New York City tap scene of the 1980's and early 90's, Jamie performed with the Peggy Spina Tap Company for nearly ten years before moving to the Boston area and switching her focus to teaching. While dancing in New York she studied with many of the first generation tap masters and received the personal guidance of the great James "Buster" Brown -- her most important influence as a dancer and teacher. In recent years, she has been asoloist in Duke Ellington Sacred Music Concerts with Boston jazz composer/pianist Mark Kross and his "Five Piece Trio". She has performed at the New York City Tap Festival, as a guest artist/choreographer with modern dancers Beth Soll & Co., and in ensemble performances at local tap events featuring her "casual but intricate" choreography (as noted by DanceMagazine.com). Jamie directs Accent On Rhythm, and has produced improvisation, music and repertoire workshops, tap jams, and a lecture & film series. She also teaches weekly technique classes in her Lexington studio.

The Legacy Dance Company was founded in 1988 by Thelma Goldberg and Rebecca (Galarza) Robichaud as a means to provide more serious dance training and performance opportunities to dedicated and talented young dancers. Since its beginning, the emphasis has been on excellence through training and performing, focusing on both technical expertise as well as joyful dance presentations. Throughout the year, from the annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer performance at the Hatch Shell to the annual Holiday Benefit show, to the Special Olympics Opening Ceremony, these dancers share their joy of dancing with others, and in the meantime, help to raise money for worthy causes. Highlights of their 20 years include performing Brenda Bufalino's "Buff loves Basie" and "In the Mood", Josh Hilberman's "C-Jam" and "Lacapella" and Billy Siegenfeld's "No Way Out" and "Bombs over Baghdad." These tap and jazz professionals and others are reinforcing our rhythm-based curriculum and are helping to reinforce our commitment to train multi-disciplined dancers for today's dance world.

Glenn Leslie (Dancer & Choreographer) recently completed 10 years as a company member with Chicago-based dance company Jump Rhythm Jazz Project.  In 2007 Glenn received the Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Achievement for Individual Excellence On Camera/Performer for his work in the multiple-Emmy-Award-winning documentary Jump Rhythm Jazz Project: Getting There, produced by HMS Media for Public Television.  With JRJP, Glenn led many choreographic and teaching residencies as well as intensives (including several for The Dance Inn), workshops, and master classes in Jump Rhythm Technique all around the country.  Glenn has been an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University since 2000, teaching jazz and tap, and has been on the faculty of Dance Center Evanston since 1999.  Glenn’s choreography including his most recent duet work First Comes Love, his ensemble work Out of a Rut & Into a Groove, and his solo homage to Gene Kelly G. K. Lovejoy have been performed at numerous festivals around the country, including Dance Chicago, Tap City, Duets For My Valentine and at National Tap Dance Day celebrations in Chicago and Cincinnati.  Out of a Rut & Into  a Groove is in the repertory of Tappers With Attitude.  Prior to his career in concert dance, Glenn worked in musical theatre, including tours of Europe with Rhythm, Oklahoma!, and West Side Story, and U.S. productions of Singin’ in the Rain, Forty-Second Street, Dames at Sea, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, to name just a few.  Glenn has also served as choreographer for such shows as Anything Goes, My Fair Lady, and West Side Story.  More about Glenn can be found at www.glennleslie.com.

New England Tap Ensemble's mission is to provide an outlet to perform while showcasing the talent of tap dancers from New England-who strive for excellence and artistic creativity. N-E Tap is also designed to use performance as a structure to produce a well-rounded artist who will have a successful and rewarding career in dance and who is looking for more than class and competition. Members are encouraged to express their individuality while still working together as a unifying group. Additionally a goal of N-E Tap is to stimulate an interest in tap dance and foster a sense of appreciation of tap as an art form by enlightening the community through public service and performance.

Drika Overton's career has spanned over 25 years and includes work as a performer, teacher, choreographer, producer, and presenter. She is the creator and artistic director of the internationally recognized Portsmouth Percussive Dance Festival and MaD Theatricals, a unique collaboration of nationally and internationally recognized jazz and tap artists creating the critically acclaimed productions Clara's Dream a jazz nutcracker, and Music Hall Follies: A Vaudeville in 9 Acts with special guest artists Bill Irwin and Fayard Nicholas. Since 1990 she has produced and performed in concerts to promote jazz and tap to wide audiences throughout the region. In 2003 Drika created The Portsmouth Vaudeville Project, a community project that included the Intergenerational Jazz Project and documentary, as well as the documentary 4 Theatres: Remembering Portsmouth in the Age of Vaudeville which aired on NH Public Television and at film festivals around the country.

Drika has shared the stage with such acclaimed artists Savion Glover, Jimmy Slyde, Buster Brown, Brenda Bufalino, Dianne Walker, and Keith Terry. She has been a featured soloist at the Duke Theater in New York as part of the New York City Tap Festival; the Southeastern TapExplosion in Atlanta; RhythmExplosion, Bozeman, MT; the Bates Dance Festival; the New England Artist's Congress; The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange Shipyard Project; on Public Television; and at numerous jazz clubs, concerts, and festivals.

Drika has received four Spotlight on the Arts Awards from the Seacoast Newspapers as Best Dancer and for Best Dance Production for Clara's Dream a jazz nutcracker, a production also featured in the BBC documentary "Fascinating Rhythms." She has received an Artist Fellowship and New Works grants from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts as well as grants from the Greater Piscataqua Community Foundation, Art Builds Community! funded by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, and The New England Foundation for the Arts. In 2007 she was awarded the New Hampshire Governor's Arts Award for Distinguished Arts Leadership. In 2007 Drika was selected to participate in the first New England Dance Lab, a Regional Dance Development Initiative of the National Dance Project. Also in 2007 New England Presenters commissioned her and composer Paul Arslanian, with support from the New England Foundation for the Arts, to create a new touring project. Off the Beaten Path: A Jazz & Tap Odyssey was created in collaboration with Brenda Bufalino and Josh Hilberman and toured New England in 2008-2009.

Drika teaches master classes and residencies at schools, colleges and universities, studios and festivals throughout the United States. Most recently she was commissioned to teach and choreograph work for dance companies at Rhode Island College in Providence and at Auburn University in Alabama.

"You don't forget her performance, it is always dynamic. Drika's clear taps hit very interesting, fresh and inventive syncopations when she is dancing her own choreography. Her tall and very expressive body punctuates the rhythms her feet are playing. The last time I saw her dance to classical music in choreography created by Dean Diggins to the Goldberg Variations, she seemed to float effortlessly across the floor with the control and sensitivity that only a master tapper can achieve with a lifetime of practice and performance." - Brenda Bufalino

"Her dance style is fluid, intensely musical, long-legged-long-armed, long blonde hair flying, reflecting a passion for jazz tap rhythms and counterpoint. She has a wicked sense of humor and whimsy that adds a layer of spice to her work." - Dean Diggins

Kathy Partridge has been a part of the Boston tap scene for more than two decades. Her choreography has been featured at the Boston AIDS Walk, at the annual Tapestry celebration of National Tap Dance Day, at The Space in Kittery, Maine, and in classes at the Dance Inn. She has performed with Beth Soll and Company in an innovative tap-modern collaboration; with Brian Jones' All Tap Revue in Boston and Providence; at First Night Boston; and at numerous jams and club venues. In 2004, she organized The Rhythm Section to showcase some of her new choreography and looks forward to continued collaborative ventures with excellent dancers.

Demi Remick is a thirteen-year-old seventh grade student who attends Gilford Middle School in Gilford, NH. She has been tap dancing since the age of three. Demi is currently a member of Boston Tap Company, under the direction of Sean Fielder, and studies tap dance privately with Pam Raff. She was previously a member of New England Tap Ensemble where she studied with Aaron Tolson. Demi has traveled to different parts of the United States to study the art of tap dance, including to Chicago several times for Rhythm World, the summer workshop of Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Tap Kids Summer Intensive 2008 in Tarrytown, New York, Tappy Holidays in New York City 2006-2007, Shake‘n’Break Tap Intensive 2008-2009 in NYC, several years to the Beantown Tap Fest, and most recently the DC Tap Festival in Washington, DC. She has also attended the Tapestry and Rhythm at the Regent programs, sponsored by the Dance Inn, for the past several years. Demi has won the PTA Reflections Art Program’s Dance Choreography Award for 2008 and 2009 for the state of New Hampshire, with her original tap dance choreography. In her 2009 competition career, Demi has earned the titles of ADA Teen Dancer of the Year in Lowell, Can Dance Lowell Junior title winner and Junior Overall High Score winner, Teen Miss Starquest, IDC Junior Solo Challenge Champion, and Dancers Inc. Junior Solo high score. Demi enjoys playing the drum set in her spare time.

The Tap City Youth Ensemble is a project of the American Tap Dance Foundation. TCYE gives intermediate and advanced tap dancers ages 10-19 the opportunity to work with master tap artists & choreographers to learn and perform classic and contemporary tap choreography. The company is under the direction of Susan Hebach, with mentorship from Brenda Bufalino, Margaret Morrison and Tony Waag. The TCYE meets on Sundays from September through June on Sundays for rehearsals in NYC. The repertory currently includes works by Guillem Alonso, Brenda Bufalino, The Copasetics, Barbara Duffy, Michelle Dorrance, Jared Grimes, and Josh Hilberman, among others. The Tap City Youth Ensemble performs in a wide range of New York venues including formal concerts, school shows, hospital performances, and "Tap City" - The New York City Tap Festival each July. Some performance highlights for TCYE include "Amateur Night at the Apollo", "Manhattan Restoration Project" annual fundraiser with Bette Midler, the "Tap Extravanza", "Global Shoes" at the Long Island Children's Museum, and "Tappy Holidays" at Symphony Space, and "Sound Check" a tap dance concert series at Judson Memorial Church.

A native of Manchester, New Hampshire Aaron Tolson has been tapping for 24 years. He is one of two national spokespersons for SoDanca, a consultant and writer for Dance Spirit Magazine, a Professor of Dance at Plymouth State University and the Boston Conservatory as well as the assistant choreographer, co-creator and assistant producer of Imagine Tap! - a show created with Derick Grant

Aaron started dancing at the age of ten in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Four years into his dance career he was performing in the Great Tap Reunion at the Apollo Theatre. Soon Aaron found Julia Boynton in Boston and she guided him in the direction of tap as a lifestyle. He went to St. John's University obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications all the while honing his tap technique in Manhattan. His senior year of college landed him in the New York Shakespeare Festival tap program, also known as Funk U! Soon Aaron became a company member of Manhattan Tap and worked with the show Tap Dogs. Jumping feet first into choreography, he landed a job with Absolut with a tour called Absolut Tap! He choreographed a piece for their second tour and was a dance captain for all of the teams for two years.

In 2005, Aaron completed a six-year run with Riverdance the show where he was a featured soloist. It brought him to Broadway and Radio City Music Hall and was also the captain of the Tap Dancers. He still scouts and trains in new tap dancers for the show. Since then, Aaron has performed and taught at the Beantown Tap Festival, LA Tap Festival, Brazil Tap Festival in addition to performing with Brookline Chorus' Duke Ellington Sacred Concert, The Late Show with Liam O'Conner in Dublin, Ireland.

Most recently, Aaron choreographed, produced and directed Something to Tap About, featuring New England Tap Ensemble. Aaron formed New England Tap Ensemble in May of 2007 to promote the art of tap in the community while fostering a sense of individuality in a professional artist.

Dianne "Lady Di" Walker, a pioneer in tap dancing's resurgence has a 30 year career spanning Broadway, Television, Film and International Jazz Dance Concerts and Festivals. United States Artists has recently announced Ms. Walker as the recipient of the USA Rose Fellow 2008, Dance. Ms. Walker is touring with the show, "The Souls of Our Feet", produced by Acia Gray, and funded in part by the NEA, American Masterpieces Program. She has been dubbed the "Ella Fitzgerald" of Tap Dance. Savion Glover and his contemporaries affectionately call her, "Aunt Dianne," acknowledging her unique role as mentor, teacher and confidante. Ms. Walker holds a Master's degree in Education, and has taught at Harvard, Williams College, University of Michigan, UCLA, Bates, and Wesleyan. She serves on the board of several tap organizations, and served 10 years on the board of the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Grant awards include The National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Jacobs Pillow, and New England Foundation for the Arts. She received Oklahoma City University's 1998 "Living Treasure In American Dance Award," adding to a long line of awards and lifetime tributes recognizing her contribution to the art form and excellence in teaching. She began her dance training in Boston with Mildred Kennedy-Bradic and later, Leon Collins, Jimmy "Sir Slyde" Mitchell and Jimmy Slyde. In 1979, she began a professional dance career under the watchful eyes of her esteemed mentors. She is grateful to many musicians and tap dance legends that have given to her so generously throughout her career such as Gregory Hines, Honi Coles, Cholly Atkins, Tina Pratt, Barry Harris, Max Roach, Alan Dawson, Ruth Brown, Nicholas Brothers, Peg Leg Bates, Arthur Duncan and many others. Leon Collins passed away in l985, leaving Dianne to continue as one of the Directors of his school. It is with a great sense of pride that she continues to share this rich legacy with her students. Dianne is Artistic Director of "TapDanZin, Inc." (Boston), and is currently collaborating with schools in Minneapolis and Tokyo.