Tappers With Attitude Celebrate 15th Anniversary
The kids in the 1991 founding company of Tappers With Attitude Youth Ensemble chose the name because they wanted to show the public that they weren't just a bunch of old Broadway veterans or show hoofers. Ranging in age from 10 to 18 years, the pre-professional dancers represented schools from the D.C. Metro area. "They were a group of young and edgy dancers pushing the envelope of contemporary tap," said Director Vicki Moss, who joined the company six years ago as its Director. "They understood that they stood on the shoulders of giants and wanted a name that reflected an urban/contemporary sensibility." Founding Directors Yvonne Edwards and Renee Kreithen foresaw the direction this company would take and laid the base by giving them the best dance training available.
Now fifteen years later, their anniversary celebration, "15 Years of Rhythm," will showcase Tappers With Attitude Youth Ensemble and The Step Aside Tap Company, a later created repertoire company for established and emerging choreographers. Both will feature in a gala concert and reception in the Ina Kay Theatre of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland, on Saturday June 10, 2006. Tappers With Attitude alumni returning for the gala will include Baakari Wilder, Kindra Ingram, and Rita Wilson. Jazz legend Joe Harris and classical guitarist Myrna Sislen will be featured. Special guests Lane Alexander and Germaine Ingram will dance in the show.
Ingram's "Where to Run" and "Sit Down Servant" will be presented and Alexander's four part "West Side Story" suite will debut four sections: "Tonight," "Cool," "Maria" and "I Feel Pretty." Tappers With Attitude will perform three of Alexander's pieces and the other will be danced by The Step Aside Tap Company that was founded in 1995 by Knock On Wood faculty
member, Barbara Bingley. The mission of this company is to bring high
quality professional tap dance to venues and audiences and Cindy Hsu is the current Director.
Guest teacher Josh Hilberman has said that it is impossible for people who are not in the dance world to understand the importance and value of having two first-rate dance ensembles with the same home base. He believes Knock On Wood has made a huge impact in tap dance with the Tappers With Attitude Youth Ensemble, the Step Aside Tap Company, and its many other achievements through the years.
The official dance studio, Knock On Wood, was founded in 1994 by Yvonne Edwards and the now-retired Renee Kreithen. The studio is a full center for tap dancing located in Silver Spring, Maryland and has three studios with maple sprung floors that provide a home for both companies.
While inspiring the students, the teachers also come away impressed. "What a wonderful group of young people," said Dianne Walker. "I admire them not only for their dancing abilities, but I have always been impressed with their academic achievements as well. Over the years, it has been nice to watch them go off to college...some of them have organized tap programs in colleges where tap classes did not even exist. Knock on Wood Studio has certainly provided them with excellent dance training and I am sure that these dancers will be future leaders in our field. It is exciting to watch these young dancers develop."
Tappers With Attitude is presently composed of 31 dancers, ages 11 to 18, representing 24 different schools from the area. They are a pre-professional repertory company with more than forty pieces. Through the years many guest teachers have taught, encouraged and inspired the company members. Its roster of guest teachers and choreographers include some of the top names in tap: Lane Alexander, Brenda Bufalino, Heather Cornell, Barbara Duffy, Derick Grant, Acia Gray, Josh Hilberman, Jeannie Hill, Germaine Ingram, Glenn Leslie, Lesole Z. Maine, Gene Medler, Deborah Mitchell, Van Porter, Jason Samuels Smith, Step Afrika, Lisa Swenton-Eppard, Dianne Walker, Baakari Wilder and Karen Callaway-Williams. Co-Founder Yvonne Edwards, who is still active with the company, is no stranger to the tap world. Known as the "Tap Lady" in the Washington D.C. area, she has been teaching and choreographing for over fifty years. She has supported the Washington Performing Arts Society's "Artists in Schools" program and, in 1993, received the "Contribution to Dance in the District Award" from the D.C. Ensemble, D.C. Arts and Humanities, and D.C. Art Works. She has also received honors from the International Conference of Blacks in Dance. Her choreography
is in the repertoires of the Step Aside Tap Company, Tappers With Attitude,
and the Morgan State Dance Ensemble. Edwards has taught for many tap
workshops and festivals all over the country. She serves as the School Director and Assistant Director of Tappers With Attitude Youth Ensemble.
Victoria Moss joined Tappers With Attitude as Director six years ago with a background in dance education and arts administration. She is a former Director of Children's Programs at Chicago's renowned Old School of Folk Music. She has worked in artist-in-education organizations and as artistic director for a regional touring dance company in Chicago. Her passion is to nurture young artists who join her in believing that "roots give wings."
Associate Director of the Tappers With Attitude Youth Ensemble, Lisa Swenton-Eppard, is a second generation dance educator. Her mother had a dancing school in Maryland. She has had a career in many kinds of dance as well as competitions and pageants as a choreographer and participant.
"What I appreciate so much about working with TWA is that TWA wants to work," Lane Alexander states. "The kids are talented, of course, but talent isn't always the most important thing to me. Spirit, desire, love for the dance, energy, joy-these are the things that separate mere dancers from artists."
Besides celebrating the two groups and their many achievements andhonors, "Fifteen Years of Rhythm" also celebrates a dream come true for Washington D.C.'s "Tap Lady," Yvonne Edwards. Past performances have been held in Wolf Trap Center for Performing Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Cater Baron Amphitheater, The Kennedy Center, The Chicago Human Rhythm Project and the New York City Tap Festival. Congratulations to Edwards and the many others for their contributions through the years and who will be contributing to this special tap occasion.