Dancer Biographies
The cast of "Tap City” will be drawn from the following list of performers who have been featured in the New York City Tap Festival.
Brenda Bufalino, a trailblazer in the renaissance of tap dance, performs and teaches throughout the U.S. and the world. As a master teacher, historian, author, lecturer, and choreographer she is recognized as a resource authority on the evolution and development of tap dance, one of America's few indigenous art forms. She produced and directed the award winning documentary film, "Great Feats of Feet" in 1975, featuring Charles "Honi" Coles and the Copasetics. She has appeared as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Apollo Theater, the Smithsonian Institute, the Kennedy Center, and in concert halls around the globe. She has also appeared Off Broadway in "The Courtroom,” directed by Bill Irwin. She collaborated and performed in concert with the late Charles "Honi" Coles, touring America and Europe. They co-choreographed the Morton Gould "Tap Concerto" and performed it with the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the Norwalk Symphony. In 1986 Ms. Bufalino formed the American Tap Dance Orchestra with Tony Waag and in 1993 they founded a sister company, the International Tap Dance Orchestra.
Michelle Dorrance has been tap dancing since the age of three and performing since the age of eight under youth tap trailblazer Gene Medler at the Ballet School of Chapel Hill and toured extensively with the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble to festivals in St. Louis, Chicago, Vienna and Berlin. Michelle has worked with Heather Cornell's Manhattan Tap, Barbara Duffy and Company, Max Pollak's Rumba Tap, Tap City on Tour and was a founding member of Savion Glover's Ti Dii including performances at The Cannes Film Festival, the 2002 Winter Olympics and Improvography at the Joyce Theater in NYC. She has taught and performed at the North Carolina Rhythm Tap Festival, the International FeetBeat Festival in Helsinki, both the Dusseldorf and the Heidelberg Stepptanz Festivals, Tap Encontro in Rio de Janeiro, as well as workshops and performances in Moscow and Tokyo. Michelle's choreography has been performed internationally, and featured at Jacob's Pillow with Cintia Chameki's Ritmico, and at Birdland with members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. She has performed at the Joyce Theater & the Duke on 42nd Street as a part of the New York City Tap Festival, as well as in a commercial for Toyota Taiwan. Most recently Michelle has been honored to be a part of Ayodele Casel's Diary of a Tap Dancer, Mable Lee's Dancing Ladies, Harold Cromer's Opus One and Derick Grant's Imagine Tap! in Chicago. Michelle holds a Bachelor of Arts from New York University's Gallatin School, and is on faculty at Broadway Dance Center.
Nate Cooper has had a passion for the stage since he realized how good it felt to laugh. From his hometown in Pennsylvania, he graduated as class clown in 1995, and launched a career in percussive dance that was fueled by his devotion to the antic arts. The next ten years were spent learning, laughing and traveling with the dance and music company, Rhythm in Shoes where he created the role of "Spats" in the original RIS production, Novatown, and "Mister Rambleshoe" in collaboration with the Red Clay Ramblers in Rambleshoe. Among his other collaborators are Maestro Neil Gittleman and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. As Cooper picked up steam he sought out performers of like interest, leading him to the likes of Fred Garbo and his Inflatable Theater Company, Curtis Zimmerman and Woodhead & Waldo, just to name a few. More recent projects include a “Thank You Gregory”, a concert tribute to the masters of tap dance, at the Zellerbach Theatre in Philadelphia directed by Tony Waag, a solo show at the World Busker Festival in Christchurch, New Zealand, and a workshop with new age circus giant Cirque Du Soleil.
Barabara Duffy & Company Inspired by Gregory Hines to create a women’s tap group, Barbara Duffy started working with some of her best friends and fellow tappers in the year 2000. Barbara Duffy & Company has performed at Lincoln Center “Out-of-Doors”, Tap City 2001, 2002 and 2003 (Duke on 42nd Street Theater, NYC), where they “brought down the house with their musical sensitivity”, (Star Ledger, NJ) Barbara Duffy & Company continues to make appearances throughout New York City, including a recent tribute to Gregory Hines at Studio 54. They are also touring their evening length concert, Stages which is being developed into a full-length theatrical production.
DeWitt Fleming Jr. graduated at Marymount Manhattan College with a BA in Acting. His stage credits include: (Off- Bwy) “Dutchman”, “Highlights in Jazz”, ” Tribute to Tap Legends”, “Richard III”, and “Finnegan’s Farewell “ to name a few. He is an acclaimed tap dancer, and has performed throughout the United States. He was most recently seen in the Equity Showcase production of “Dance Bojangles Dance”, in which he played the lead. He is the host, and also co-creator of the new Off-Bwy hit “Broadway Underground”. DeWitt has danced with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and with artist such as Wynton Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, Victor Goings, and Suzanne Douglas. DeWitt is also a Percussionist. He plays the drum set weekly for numerous artists throughout the tri-state area. He is dance captain for The New Jersey Tap Ensemble, a member of The Young Hoofers, and Theater for a New Generation.
Derick K. Grant A native of Boston, has been tapping for 28 years. He was an original company member and Dance Captain for Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk at both The Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival and on Broadway. Derick recreated Savion Glover's choreography and starred in the role of 'da beat for the first National Tour. Derick began his training at the age of two at The Roxbury Center for the Performing Arts, and by the time he was eight years old, he has learned the "hoofin" style of tap from the master tap dancer Diane Walker. Derick furthered his training in Los Angeles at Universal Dance Design Studio under the tutelage of Paul Kennedy. Derick spent three years with the Jazz Tap Ensemble touring the world. He is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award for Upcoming Young Artists as well as The Helen Hayes Award (Washington D.C.) for Outstanding featured Actor for his role in Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk. Derick was featured at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts African Odyssey program, part of the Expresiones Latinas Festival and most recently created the production of “Imagine Tap!” which premiered in Chicago last summer.
Kendrick Jones, 21, began his dancing career at the age of five out of Flint, MI. There, he began his training with tap dance artists Alde Lewis, Jr., and Alfred Bruce Bradley of Creative Expressions. In his years of study he has shared the stage with some of the finest of tap dancers including Fayard Nicholas, Dianne Walker, Van Porter, Gregory Hines, and many more. Kendrick has performed at the Chicago Human Rhythm Tap Project, the St. Louis Tap Festival -as a scholarship student, and Showtime at the Apollo where he won and was named “King of The Hill” as the “Apollo Kids Grand Champion” for its 1999-00 season. He also danced alongside the great Gregory Hines at the Whiting Auditorium, Flint, during Hines’s National Tour in 2000, and later appeared in Ebony Magazine with him. Kendrick has performed at the New York City Tap Festival in 2002 & 2003, danced at the National Black Sports & Entertainment Hall of Fame Awards ceremony live on NBC, he also work-shopped in Lisbon, Portugal where he also danced before the Ambassador to the country. Kendrick has always dreamed of being a professional tap dancer, and tonight he dedicates his performance to all the legendary hoofers who made the art of tap what it is today.
Margaret Morrison is a rhythm tap soloist, choreographer and producer who has taught and performed at tap dance festivals across the United States, Brazil and Germany. She was hailed as a "consummate artist who breaks the mold" in her tap show "Body of Rhythm". She is a founding member, since 1986, of the American Tap Dance Orchestra, directed by Brenda Bufalino. She toured internationally with the ATDO for 15 years and appeared on the acclaimed PBS Special, Tap Dance in America with Gregory Hines. Jennifer Dunning of the New York Times called Margaret an "exciting virtuoso dancer," and her choreography "a tour de force" and "the witty highlight of the evening." Margaret’s choreography is performed by ensembles around the US and was featured at Avery Fisher Hall in 2000. As the Education Director of the ATDF, Margaret coordinates all of the training programs and workshops and co-directs the Tap City Youth Ensemble. She is a graduate of Barnard College, where she is currently on the faculty of the Dance Department, teaching tap technique and a history course "Tap as an American Art Form", and directing the Tap Ensemble.
Max Pollak, a native Austrian, received his most important training in the conservatories, clubs, and streets of New York City and Havana. He is an experienced musician who performs, teaches, and choreographs worldwide, and is sought after for his highly individual style utilizing tap, body rhythm, and vocals. Mr. Pollak is the first artist ever to merge authentic Afro-Cuban dance and music with tap and have it recorded on CD. He has established the first ever tap venture in Cuba called “RumbaTap”, which includes a dance studio, multinational performance company, and international tap festival in Havana. He has worked with Ray Brown, Danilo Perez, Muñequitos de Matanzas, Chucho Valdez, Gregory Hines, and Jimmy Slyde, among others. He has appeared as a soloist on Broadway in Tamango’s Urban Tap, and toured the globe with Manhattan Tap, Feet 2 The Beat, Cool Heat-Urban Beat, and Beat The Donkey.
Tony Waag is currently the Executive Producer of Tap City, the New York City Tap Festival which features an extensive training program for adults, numerous premiere performances, city wide events, tap jams and student showcases, panel discussions, film screenings, annual tap dance awards, and innovative children and teen programs. In 1986 he founded the American Tap Dance Foundation (formerly known as the American Tap Dance Orchestra) with Brenda Bufalino and the late Charles “Honi” Coles and managed the company for 17 years. As a featured artist with the company, he performed in hundreds of ATDO concert productions and in various national film and television specials. He has made numerous international appearances with ATDO, Ms. Bufalino and as a solo artist. From 1989-1995, he co-created and operated, with Ms. Bufalino, Woodpeckers Tap Dance Center, which became a model for numerous tap organizations and tap studios worldwide. He has received numerous grants towards the presentation and preservation of tap as a unique American art form.
Karen Callaway Williams recently completed a three year run with “Riverdance”, as the only female tap dancer and dance captain in “Riverdance – On Broadway”. Other Broadway credits include Duke Ellington’s Play On. Karen was also featured in Essence, interviewed on Showtime’s “Bojangles, The Legacy”. As well, she has been a special guest on “Sesame Street”. A graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, she is also an alumna of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center Certificate Program in NYC. Upon arriving in NYC, Karen became a member of DancEllington Dance Company, and worked with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. She was also the lone female tap artist at Lincoln Center’s “The Majesty of Tap”, with tap legends Bunny Briggs, Jimmy Slyde, Chuck Green, and Lon Chaney. Dance Magazine heralded her as “a graceful dream with taps as happy as a song.” In addition to performing, Ms. Williams has established herself as a prominent tap instructor in schools such as The Alvin Ailey American Dance Center & the Professional Performing Arts.
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