Tap Kids Electrifies Audiences Nationwide
Put on your dancing shoes because Tap Kids may be coming to a city near you. Lisa Hopkins, creator, director and choreographer of Tap Kids, says "Nothing makes me happier than seeing audiences dancing out of the theater. If we inspire even one person in each venue to tap, we have done our job."
Sixteen fabulous feet have been lighting up the stage at Performing Arts Centers across the nation. Since January 2006, "TAP KIDS" has performed in about 25 cities, and the show regularly tours all over the country and has twice visited Mexico. Tap Kids has also performed in Amsterdam for the queen of Holland, and the company will return to Holland this fall for a three-week stint. The show made its national television debut on the 40th Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Labor Day Telethon in September 2005 and were seen by close to 15 thousand kids at The Mann Center in Philadelphia.
The kids in the company range in age from 14 to 21, and four of the original dancers remain with the company. This season the popularity of the show forced Hopkins to double cast the show when it played simultaneously in Arizona and Nebraska. "I stood with the Arizona cast gathered around the cell phone wishing the Nebraska cast good luck. It was an incredible feeling realizing that at that moment 16 of my kids were working!"
The show loosely traces the day of the school dance. The show will feature such vignettes as a character receiving advice about how to ask a girl out to the dance, a character's anguish of not being noticed at the dance and detention with four characters trying to figure out the meaning of remorse.
Tap Kids began as a workshop in Tarrytown, N.Y., in 2000, and the workshop has been held every year since. Eligible dancers must be between the ages of 9 and 21, and they apply by videotape audition. Only 60 kids are accepted into the workshop.
Hopkins and her partner, Philip Stern, at New York Stage Originals, saw the amazing talent of the kids who attended the workshop and decided to create a show to feature that talent. Stern and Hopkins co-conceived the concept, and Stern wrote all the original music for the show.
Tap Kids, which debuted in 2002 at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, has an ongoing apprentice company that allows them to train young dancers on the road. Some of the apprentice dancers are invited to shows in different cities to learn the professional side of the show.
Hopkins says that in addition to being technically proficient, able to improvise, and learn choreography, the kids must be able to act as the show is scripted and one of the characters sings a ballad in the show.
"These kids are pretty fierce and really do share a passion for what they do," said Hopkins. "They're incredible tap dancers, and not just because they are young." According to Hopkins, the show is unique because it involves dancing, music and theater. The music is diverse--ranging from funky to big band swing, to contemporary jazz and other genres. Hopkins said the music and the choreography covers the gamut.
The kids in the show aren't necessarily from New York. They travel to New York for the audition, and then they fly from their own states to the shows in the various cities. Most of the kids attend school during the week and then travel for performances on the weekends. Hopkins said the teachers are supportive and understand that these kids are pursuing their dreams and that this will likely be a career path for them.
Since the group is not together all the time, Hopkins said when they come together on stage, a unique energy arises. "We're ultimately a big family," said Hopkins. "I consider all these kids my kids."
For more information about TAP KIDS visit www.tapkids.com or call New York Stage Originals at (914) 332-0229.