Tap, Hip Hop, African Dancing Workshop at Decidedly Jazz Danceworks: Featuring Josh Hilberman

I’m so thrilled to be able to pass this opportunity on from Joanne Baker at Decidedly Jazz Danceworks in Calgary, AB.  Joanne asked me to share the details of DJD’s Winter Workshop Weekend and it looks like it’s set to be an amazing time.  I would definitely recommend this workshop and if you are in Calgary YOU CANT MISS IT.. the instructors here are world class and it will definitely be an experience you won’t forget.  Here are the details.

Winter Wonderland Weekend: Feb. 6th & 7th, 2010 : ALL Levels Welcome

Tap dancer Joshua Hilberman performs, choreographs, and teaches internationally. Groomed by vaudevillians and old-time entertainers, and with an ongoing mentorship with tap pioneer Brenda Bufalino, Josh has performed all over the US and Europe, and been a featured faculty member at more than 75 tap dance festivals. Recognized with a lifetime achievement award by the Barcelona Tap Association, a Dance USA/National Endowment for the Arts grant for choreography, and the 2009 Presidential Scholars Teachers Recognition award, Hilberman’s travels in tap have entered a third decade.
Josh developed his teaching chops at the prestigious Leon Collins Dance Studio, and has been a faculty member at Roger Williams and Mount Holyoke Universities as well as the Boston Conservatory of Music and Dance.

Lisa La Touche
Originally from Calgary, Lisa has taught and performed at the Brazilian International Tap Festival, L.A. Tap Festival, The Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s Rhythm World, The St. Louis Tap Festival, The Vancouver Tap Festival, San Antonio 3rd Coast Rhythm Project, Munich On Tap, and the Eastern Canadian Tap Conference to name a few. She was Assistant Director and Choreographer for multiple years working with Bril Barrett’s M.A.D.D. Rhythms, and founded their International extension, M.A.D.D. Rhythms Canada. Lisa was recently featured in the May 2oo8 issue of Dancer Magazine as an emerging artist and is continuously pursuing new heights in her talents while establishing herself as a versatile artist in New York City. www.lisalatouche.com

Tasha Lawson
Artistic Director of Tri-Tone Productions, a dance company offering interdisciplinary solo and ensemble performance works in the mediums of Body Percussion, Tap, and Contemporary Dance. She holds Diplomas in dance Teacher Training and Dance Performance from Grant McEwan College and currently resides in Austin, Texas. She has delivered outreach programs for Third Coast Rhythm Project and has led numerous teacher training seminars for Festival Du Danse Encore. www.tashalawson.com

Michèle Moss Johnston
Michèle is a Co-Founder of DJD and continues to create work for the company. Michèle is presently a faculty member of the B.A. Dance Program at the University of Calgary. Her most significant research areas are the West African roots of jazz and the traditions of the West African Diaspora.

Sarisa F de Toledo
Sarisa has danced with Decidedly Jazz since 1994. She has been Artistic Director for several of DJD’s dancer-choreographed evenings as well as Artistic Director for DJD’s production Tinge and Tone (2008). Sarisa teaches for the DJD company and school, around Calgary and Alberta and most recently in Vada, Italy for La Bella Vita Arts.

Kaleb Tekeste
Kaleb is a local dancer, choreographer and teacher. Upon graduation from high school where he was an active member in the dance program, he continued dancing and teaching Hip Hop at various studios in and around Calgary. Kaleb is a member of the DJD Company, Original Rudes Crew and One Circle Dance Company.

Phone: 403-245-3533 / Fax: 403-245-3584 / www.decidedlyjazz.com

Canadian Dance Teachers Newtork of Canada Facebook Group

I joined a facebook group today that I thought you might be interested in.. It’s called the Canadian Dance Teachers Network. Just put that in the search bar on facebook if you want to join it.  Here’s a bit more info!!..

Looking for teaching work? Looking for dance teachers? Canadian Dance Teachers Network is here to connect dance schools & dance educators from across Canada.

Happy Tappin!!

My New Journey!! Prince George Here I Come!

Well I haven’t posted in a while.. life has gotten a little crazy here in the last couple weeks. I haven’t written much about myself as of late and was hoping to do some more work on tap and put some vids up… but life has opened an amazing opportunity in this past week.

I’ve been hired as a full time dance instructor / Choreographer at Judy Russell Enchainement Dance Center in Prince George, BC.   Looks like I’ll have a full schedule of tap, jazz, musical theater and more classes plus competition numbers and productions.

It’s kind of overwhelming as it all just came up out of the blue but I couldn’t be more excited. Judy is an awesome woman and I’m excited to start working with her.

So… who knows what this blog will turn into now.. I’ll be busy getting ready to start on Jan. 4th. Going home for xmas break to Calgary and Vancouver Island. .. The adventure continues!!..

(and ps.. met a really nice woman too <3)… Life is great!!

Free Bi-Weekly Tap Jam in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Shawn Byfield sent me me a link to the new Tap Jam in Toronto. The information below is copied from the facebook group.  If your in and around Toronto.. check it out!!.. You won’t be disappointed.

Every two weeks come down and hit with your Toronto tap family! We’re going to get together bi-weekly on Sundays at 7:30 pm. This is a jam for all levels of tap dancers who are interested in sharing, learning, listening, collaborating, and finding the means to further understand and play our instruments. Keep it simple. This is a group of love people, no intimidation!! If improvising is new to you, this is a safe place to check things out and try things out free of judgment. This is an awesome opportunity for us to promote vibrant tap community in our city! This gives us a great chance to grow, and also provides a solid spot for all tap dancers visiting Toronto to share and check out our scene. Hope to see you all there!! TORONTO BI-WEEKLY TAP JAM @ Shawn B’s new space: BDX 819 Yonge Street (just north of Bloor) 7:30 – 9:30pm Sundays: Nov 1st Nov 15th Nov 29th Dec 6th etc…

Review of Sammy Davis Jr. Autobiography. Yes I can!

Carrying on with some more Sammy Davis Jr. stuff, Barbara Duffy sent me another recommendation of A good Sammy Davis Jr. book.  I also found a review of the book on Amazon.  I’ve posted it below.

`This autobiography tells the story of Sammy Davis Jr. up until the sixties. It tells the now legendary story of his starting out as a four – year with the Will Mastin trio. It tells of a long – climb through many obstacles to get to the top of the show- business world. It tells of his contending with prejudice and discrimination especially during his time in the Army. And it also reveals his courage in confronting this, and in standing up for his own people. It does not tell the much sadder last part of Sammy Davis Jr. ’s story when he seemed to sink into drug and alcoholic addiction, and deteriorated morally as well as in health terms. It does not tell the story of the six- pack a day smoker’s final cancer.
It reveals the earlier more optimistic Sammy Davis Jr. He was usually referred to in his glory days as the greatest all- around entertainer show- business ever had. And in truth he was a terrific dancer, a quite good but not great singer, and just a remarkably energetic entertainer. He had humor about himself and about the world, about his one eye, about his being a black Jew. One interesting part of this book tells about his friendship with Jeff Chandler an actor who was Jewish and who died young. And how that influenced on Davis’s own decision to convert to Judaism.
Davis was a person who you radiated not only great energy but a great hunger to be approved of and loved. He received tremendous applause on stage but perhaps that did not fully satisfy his need. Raised without formal schooling, and always on the road he too had a restlessness about him as if he were never at home in the place he stood. There was something to my mind tremendously moving about this part of his stage identity. He needed the applause so much the urge of the spectator was to see him get the applause.
His private life was no great picnic and included three divorces. His daughter by the actress May Britt who apparently was a very decent person and a good mother, has written a memoir about her often absent father. His friends Sinatra, Dean Martin , the Rat Pack are all with the exception of Shirley MacLaine now gone.
In a way in his struggle to get to the top, his fighting against prejudice his ‘making it’ he exemplifies the American dream. But in the prejudice he suffered, and in the downfall of his latter years he also seems to exemplify an American tragedy.
He was enormously likeable and gave millions of people pleasure with his on- stage antics.
Thanks Sammy you truly were a star.
This book tells in detail the story of his early and best years. It may be too long but it does have much valuable material for anyone who takes an interest in his life.

Good Ol’ Time Tap Dancing Video. Tip Tap Toe

This clip was passed on to my the other day from Morri-Lynn from Vancouver. It’s a great look back at the good ol’ guys.

a Clip from my archive which dates 1950.
One of the greatest acts Featuring the team of Tip Tap and Toe…This is one of my favorite Tap clips. They did just dance , they performed and they didnt just Tap they danced…the song was an old number that Earl Hines had done with them called Riff Medly, this is a more modern arrangement of the same song.

Hope you Enjoy

Canadian Tap Legend, Heather Cornell, Teaching In Edmonton This Weekend!

This might be too little to late but there are still 6 spots available for Heather Cornell’s workshop this weekend in Sherwood Park in Edmonton. I’ve known of Heather for a while but met her this past September at the Vancouver Tap Festival.  All I can say is WOW.. She is an incredible talent, choreographer, improviser, teacher.. and best of all a super nice person who has dedicated her life to bringing more awareness to tap in Canada.. (oh and her kids.. ).. You won’t be disappointed, I can promise you that.  Below is the info. If you are interested check out www.Breaking-Barres.com

Title: Heather Cornell in Sherwood Park
Description: Dancefusion Academy of Dance and Breaking Barres are hosting an intensive featuring a legend in tap dance… Heather Cornell.
Date: 2009/11/29

Heather Cornell, choreographed the Tony-nominated Broadway comedy The Play What I Wrote, which ran at the Lyceum Theatre in NYC. She was tap coach and choreographic consultant for a new production of Kurt Weill’s The Three Penny Opera. The show, created by Atalaya Theater Company in Seville, Spain, premieres July 2006 in the Canary Islands and will tour internationally for 2 years.

She is the artistic director and principal choreographer for Manhattan Tap, a company she co-founded in 1986 as a New York-based ensemble of tap dancers and live musicians. She is known worldwide for her collaborations on original music for tap. In October 2000 she debuted her show Notes to Soné with composer Bob Telson (Gospel at Colonnus) and Argentinian accordianist Chango Spasiuk. In June of 1998 she premiered her full-length work Excursion Fare at New York’s Joyce Theatre, with a world music blend by Keith Terry and Crosspulse. She collaborated twice with the late jazz icon Ray Brown, and in 1997 performed in concert with his trio at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. She has collaborated with Manhattan Tap’s musical director, composer/pianist Keith Saunders since 1989. She has performed worldwide with her company at venues such as Riverside Theatre in London, England, The Apollo Theater in New York, and The Aspen Dance Festival in Aspen, Colorado, as well as on tours of North and South America, across Europe and in China.

Her TV credits include choreographic commissions and performances on a national KQED special with Honi Coles, Gregory Hines’ Tap Dance in America for Great Performances on PBS, and the Canadian Television jazz series Sounds Impressive. She made annual appearances from 1993 to 1996 on WNYC Radio’s Around New York, and has been featured on CBC radio’s Fresh Air.

Ms. Cornell developed her style as an apprentice to six of the first generation of American tap masters, and had the honor of performing in New York, Los Angeles and across Canada with Buster Brown, in Paris and New York with Eddie Brown, at the Apollo Theater in New York with the Copasetics and Silver Belles, at New York’s Lincoln Center with Cookie Cook, at the Village Gate Jazz Club with Steve Condos and at New York’s Town Hall with Chuck Green. In her early performing years she partnered with tap dancing clown Noel Parenti and in 1984 they headlined at New York’s first International Clown Festival.

Ms. Cornell is one of the leading tap teachers on the scene today. The blend of original material from her mentors, the development of her own style of concert tap, and her extensive work in collaboration with top musicians in jazz and world music results in a teaching style that is rich with tradition, experience, musicality, and inspiration. She established the Manhattan Tap Apprentice Program that is responsible for training today’s generation of tap artists including Max Pollak, Michael Minery, Roxanne Butterfly, Bob Carrol and Jeannie Hill, as well as cast members of Manhattan Tap, Stomp, Bring In da Noise, Bring In da Funk, Tap Dogs, Cool Heat Urban Beat, and Riverdance. She travels extensively, mentoring new tap communities, and teaching Master Classes and Residencies throughout the world.

She has been awarded grants in the U.S. from the National Endowment for the Arts and Meet the Composer. In 1989 she was the first tap dancer to receive a “B” grant from the Canada Council, and in 1995 she was the sole dancer chosen for a joint NEA/Canada Council 2-month residency.

Her latest collaborators are her daughter Soné (August 2000) and her son Eoghan (December 2002).

[Ms. Cornell is] a ‘living link’ to the original rhythm tap masters.
- Lisa Jo Sagolla, Ed.D., Columbia University.

Her signature style…musically sophisticated and deliciously languid… indolent and dazzling at the same time.
- Village Voice, New York.

Heather Cornell maintains a relaxed and low-key style that is beautiful. Totally unpretentious, her artistry and talent prevail.
- Banff Daily, Alberta, Canada.

[Cornell's choreography] explores so many genres of music and movement that the result is her own, indefinable idiom. It strikes the ear as a true dance and musical phenomenon. Nothing before it has been quite like it. Perhaps nothing to come will be either.
- The Chieftain, Pueblo, Colorado.

Mighty original, absolutely breathtaking.
- Backstage, New York.

Her solos are a rhythmic miracle.
- Michael Crabb, National Post, Canada.

Her dancing is a visual and aural link to some of the great tap masters.
- The Sunday Mercury, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

Autobiography of Tap Dancing Entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. Why Me?

After yesterdays post I was sent a recommendation of a great autobiography about Sammy Davis Jr.  It’s called Why Me? My friend Peg read it and said it was amazing.. If you want to get it Click here To buy from Amazon. Read more below about this book.

You name it and it sounds as if Sammy Davis Jr. has done it. In this sprawling, revealing, lively second autobiography (following the bestseller Yes, I Can , also coauthored with the Boyars) stories of money, sex, violence, drugs, booze, fame, luxury and extravagance spill out relentlessly. Superstardom, admits Davis, has always been his be-all and end-all, and the almost obligatory downside–failed marriages, sickness, age, his own personal IRS auditor–are featured heavily here, along with insider show-biz gossip. More up-tone tales involve life-long buddy and supporter Frank Sinatra, the Rat Pack, the Kennedys, Richard Nixon. At the core of the book is the extraordinary black experience of the last 50 years. Davis became a star in the ’40s at a Vegas hotel where he could headline but not sleep. In the ’70s, he slept in Lincoln’s bed in the White House, guest of the president. Even Mr. Wonderful (Davis’s first Broadway smash hit) couldn’t top that. Photos.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Video of Sammy Davis Jr. Tap Dancing at Six Years Old!

So my friend Ana sent me along a video that I wanted to share tonight. It’s a video of  Sammy Davis Jr. Tap Dancing at the age of six. You can sure tell he was destined for stardom at this young age. He’s already got that energy and pizzaz that make you “FEEL GOOD”.. Please see below for more info on Sammy Davis.

Samuel George “Sammy” Davis, Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American entertainer.

Primarily a dancer and singer, Davis was a childhood vaudevillian, and became internationally famous for his performances on Broadway and Las Vegas, as a recording artist, television and film star, and the only black member of Frank Sinatra’s “Rat Pack“.

At the age of three Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father and “uncle” as the Will Mastin Trio, toured nationally, and after military service, returned to the trio. Davis became an overnight sensation following a well received nightclub performance at Ciro’s after the 1951 Academy Awards, with the trio, became an recording artist, and made his first film performances later that decade. Losing his left eye in a car accident in 1954, he converted to Judaism and appeared in the first Rat Pack movie, “Ocean’s Eleven” in 1960. After a starring role on Broadway in 1956’s “Mr Wonderful“, Davis returned to the stage in 1964’s “Golden Boy“. Davis’s career slowed in the late sixties, but he scored a hit record with “The Candy Man“, in 1972, and became a star attraction in Las Vegas. In 1966 he had own TV Variety show called the Sammy Davis Jr. Show.

As an African-American and Hispanic, Davis was the victim of racism throughout his life, and was a large financial supporter of various civil rights causes. Davis had a complex relationship with the black community, and attracted criticism after physically embracing Richard Nixon in 1970.

One day on a golf course with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. “Handicap?” he asked. “Talk about handicap — I’m a one-eyed Negro Jew.” ^{[1] [2]} This was to become a signature comment, recounted in his autobiography, and in countless articles. ^[3]

After reuniting with Sinatra and Dean Martin in 1987, Davis toured with them and Liza Minnelli internationally, before dying of throat cancer in 1990. Davis died heavily in debt to the Internal Revenue Service, and his estate was the subject of complicated legal battles.

Davis was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP, and was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for his television performances. He was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 1987, and in 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

 

 

 

 

What’s Your Favorite Glee Moment? TV’s Number One Show for Performing Artists!

It’s opening night tonight of All Shook Up at Theatre North West in Prince George.. We’ve had better than expected results from the audience and we’re super excited about our 100% sold out run!.. In the downtime during this busy week I’ve been introduced, and now catching up, to top tv drama: Glee!.

What a great show!.. Funny and clever!.

Here’s an interesting vid of my favorite song so far.  How about you? Have any fav. Glee moments? Vids? ect. Post a comment below by clicking on “leave comment” below this post. Enjoy!