ALL THAT TAP XIX

CULMINATES ST. LOUIS TAP FESTIVAL AT

TOUHILL PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, JULY 31, 2010

Omar Edwards (photo by Denise Winters)

ST. LOUIS, July 15, 2010.....Some of the brightest lights in the tap dance world will sparkle on the stage of the Touhill Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 31 in ALL THAT TAP XIX, the crowning glory of the 19th St. Louis Tap Festival—the only regional event that preserves the great legacy of tap dance by bringing veteran masters to St. Louis while showcasing the best of today’s talent.

Tickets for ALL THAT TAP XIX are $15, $20 and $25. They are available by phone via the Touhill box office at 516- 4949 (toll free, 866-516-4949) or online at touhill.org.

Performing in St. Louis for the first time in ALL THAT TAP XIX is Max Pollak from Vienna, Austria, the first person to merge American rhythm tap with auth-entic Afro-Cuban music and dance. Based in New York since 1991, Pollak tours internationally per-forming his “RumbaTap” and has frequently taught tap in Cuba for the past 12 years. In 2001, he founded Cuba’s first tap festival in Havana. He has written about tap for publications in Germany and the U.S. including Dance Magazine, made five documentary films, and recorded 10 CDs with instrumental musicians. (Max Pollack photo by Lois Greenfield.)

Returning to St. Louis is arguably today’s greatest female tap dancer, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards. As Dance Spirit magazine says, “She performs with grace, elegance, precision and speed—not to mention that she can hit as hard as any of the guys!” She will be joined by her husband, dancer/musician Omar Edwards.

St. Louis’ own award-winning Carolbeth True Jazz Trio provides the live soundtrack for the show.

Some of the other featured performers are flamenco and jazz artist Shannon Calderon of Oklahoma City, “Israeli Hoofers” Avi Miller and Ofer Ben with their flashy and funny tap personalities, and St. Louis tap prodigy Logan Miller, all showcasing tap’s phenomenal variety and power to please. The veteran masters being honored are Dr. Jeni LeGon, who counts among her mentors Fats Waller and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, and Broadway veteran Gene GeBauer, who has danced for Gower Champion and Alvin Ailey.

ALL THAT TAP is the culmination of the six-day St. Louis Tap Festival that runs from Monday, July 26 through the 31st and includes workshops, a tap jam improvisation, a panel discussion, a participants’ showcase, and a salsa class and party, all at the Sheraton Clayton Plaza Hotel, 7730 Bonhomme. For more information, check tapheritage.org or call the St. Louis Tap Festival hotline at 314-531-8277.

The St. Louis Tap Festival was founded in 1992 by Robert L. Reed, internationally known master of flash and acrobatic tap. The event is produced by the Robert L. Reed Tap Heritage Institute, Inc. The Institute is located at ArtSpace in Crestwood Court in the cooperative ALL THAT DANCE studio.

This is the lineup of artists performing in ALL THAT TAP:

•  Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, part of nearly every major tap show and film since the ‘80s; featured principal in European tour of Black and Blue; first female performer in Noise/Funk; choreographed Michael Jackson’s music video Rock Your World; tap spokesperson for Capezio; tap advisor for Dance Magazine

•  Omar Edwards, dancer/entertainer/musician; regular on Showtime at the Apollo; husband of Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards; has toured to more than 20 countries with his Afro Feet Music and Beyond company; native of Brooklyn, New York

•  Max Pollak, created internationally recognized “RumbaTap” melding Afro-Cuban music and dance, American jazz, body percussion, tap; founded Cuba’s first tap festival; plays drums and percussion; named in “25 to Watch in 2007” by Dance Magazine; 2008 recipient of New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Choreography

•  Shannon Calderon, director of Las Americas Dance Troupe, Everything Goes Dance Company, and the ZUMBAMBA! festival in Oklahoma City; teaches jazz, tap, ballet, Latin and flamenco

•  Avi Miller and Ofer Ben, “The Israeli Hoofers,” founders of Tap Tel-Aviv, co-producers of seven Israel Tap Festivals, now based in New York and operate workshops and classes in their Tradition in Tap

• Logan Miller, 21-year-old Arnold resident, protégé of Robert L. Reed, in 2007 awarded $50,000 scholarship to New York’s Hofstra University where he will be honored this year with his own live show

• Robert L. Reed III, son of Robert L. Reed; toured with Savion Glover in 2003 international Noise/Funk; headliner in 2nd annual Duisburg Tap Festival in Germany; teaches at All That Dance

•  Robin Reed, daughter of Robert L. Reed, has performed and taught at the Detroit Tap Festival, Christiane Matallo’s Tap Festival in Brazil, and New Zealand Festival of the Arts; teaches at All That Dance

•  Nora Clark, 21-year-old native of rural Vermont where she danced professionally age 6-18; graduated 2010 from Columbia College in Chicago, where she is principal dancer and choreographer for M.A.D.D. Rhythms

•  Mary Jo Clark-Cange, St. Louis teacher and performer of Irish dance; medaled in regional, national and world championships; toured with Riverdance for two years; founded Clark Academy of Irish Dance in 2008  

•  Germaine Salsberg, one of New York City’s most influential tap teachers; for more than 25 years on faculty of Broadway Dance Center; conducts workshops in Canada, Mexico, Austria, Finland

•  Gene GeBauer, veteran of 20 years as a Broadway hoofer; danced for Gower Campion, Hanya Holm, Alvin Ailey; founded tap program at University of Iowa; now based in Denver and teaching throughout Colorado

Not performing in ALL THAT TAP but teaching during the St. Louis Tap Festival are Melba Huber and Dr. Jeni LeGon. Huber is the founder of McAllen Dance Theatre Company in McAllen, Texas, and author for the International Tap Association and Dancer Magazine. For her 50-year-plus contributions as a tap teacher and author, she was honored by Savion Glover at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in 2006 and by Tradition In Tap in New York in 2005. LeGon is a Chicago native who broke into the business at age 14 at the Uptown Theater with the County Basie Band. She was mentored by Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Fats Wallter and danced in theater, nightclubs and film including movies with Bing Crosby and Lena Horne. She has been teaching and performing in Vancouver since 1969.

(Photo by Gigi Weaver)