Dorrance Dance (US)

Michelle Dorrance (Artistic Director, Choreographer) is a New York City-based artist. Mentored by Gene Medler (North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble), she was fortunate to study under many of the last master hoofers. Career highlights include: STOMP, Derick Grant’s Imagine Tap!, Jason Samuels Smith’s Charlie’s Angels/Chasing the Bird, Ayodele Casel’s Diary of a Tap Dancer, Mable Lee’s Dancing Ladies, and playing the bass for Darwin Deez. Company work includes: Savion Glover’s Ti Dii, Manhattan Tap, Barbara Duffy and Co., JazzTap Ensemble, and Rumba Tap. Solo work ranges from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to commissions for the Martha Graham Dance Company, Vail Dance Festival, American Ballet Theatre, and New York City Center. Michelle made her Broadway choreographic debut with James Lapine’s Flying Over Sunset at Lincoln Center Theater in 2021. A 2018 Doris Duke Artist, 2017 Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow, and 2015 MacArthur Fellow, Dorrance is humbled to have been acknowledged and supported by United States Artists, The Joyce Theater, the Alpert Awards, Jacob’s Pillow, Princess Grace Foundation-USA, The Field, American Tap Dance Foundation, and the Bessie Awards. Dorrance holds a B.A. from New York University and is a Capezio Athlete.

Dorrance Dance is an award-winning tap dance company based in New York City. Led by Michelle Dorrance, the company supports dancers and musicians who embody and push the dynamic range that tap dance has to offer. The company’s mission is to engage with audiences on a musical and emotional level, and to share the complex history and powerful legacy of this Black American art form through creation, performance, and education.

Founded in 2011 by artistic director and 2015 MacArthur Fellow Michelle Dorrance, the company has received countless accolades, rave reviews, and has been presented by Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, The Joyce Theater, Sadler’s Wells London, New York City Center, The Kennedy Center, Spoleto Festival USA, Vail International Dance Festival, Danspace Project, The Bolshoi’s DanceInversion International Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Lincoln Center Out Of Doors, Seattle Theater Group, Singapore International Festival Of Arts, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, National Arts Centre Ottawa, American Dance Festival, Colours Festival Stuttgart, Maison de la Danse Lyons, Fira Tàrrega, Danse Danse Montréal, Staatstheater Darmstadt, Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre, Carolina Performing Arts, Cal Performances at Berkeley, Boston’s Crash Arts, Fire Island Dance Festival, and many others.

www.DorranceDance.com
@dorrancedance
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Dorrance Dance is generously supported by the Mellon Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, MacMillan Family Foundation, Shubert Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, The Evelyn Sharp Foundation, The Hyde and Watson Foundation, and Harkness Foundation for Dance.

Rehearsal and development for this performance was supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. These performances are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. This program is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the city council. Dorrance Dance is a recipient of a U.S. Small Business Administration Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, made possible by the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Charles D. Schumer.

Christopher Broughton (Dancer) is from Los Angeles and began dancing at age 11. Under Paul and Arlene Kennedy at Universal Dance Design, he was a member of the Kennedy Tap Company and received the national NAACP ACTSO Award twice. He is a current member of nationally proclaimed New York-based tap dance company Dorrance Dance, under the direction of MacArthur Genius Grant award winner Michelle Dorrance. His noteworthy performances include Capezio’s 130th Anniversary, New York City Center’s Cotton Club Parade; Juba! Master’s of Tap and Percussive Dance at the Kennedy Center; and Broadway’s Tony and Astaire Award–winning production After Midnight and Jelly’s Last Jam.

Elizabeth Burke (Dance Captain/Dancer) has performed full time with Dorrance Dance since its inaugural 2010-2011 season. Prior to this, she spent 11 years under the tutelage of her mentor, Gene Medler, in the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble, and she’s also an alumna of the School at Jacob’s Pillow. Elizabeth is a sought after educator and performer at dance festivals across the US and abroad, and enjoys collaborating choreographically with, and performing in the work of, fellow North Carolinian Luke Hickey. She thanks Amelia Peden for their singular support, and Go Heels.

Warren Craft (Dancer) a NYC tap dancer and founding member of Dorrance Dance, studied ballet at JKO and SAB, tap improvisation with Ayodele Casel at Fazil’s, and was introduced to butoh dance theatre by Ko Murobushi and Yuko Kaseki at CAVE in Brooklyn. Warren was a contributing choreographer for the 2019 award winning film In This Life, directed by Bat-Sheva Guez, starring Robbie Fairchild, and was nominated for a Bessie award for his work alongside the incomparable Bill Irwin in Bill’s Harlequin and Pantalone, performed at New York City Center.

Jeffrey Dawson (Local Guest Performer) is a tap dancer from Vancouver, BC. He has performed in the award-winning show “The Souls of Our Feet” with Tapestry Dance Company in Austin; with Jason Janas’s Co.MMIT at the Chicago Human Rhythm Project; and in Danny Nielsen’s production “On Foot” in Vancouver. Most recently, he was invited to be the Artist-in-Residence at the 2023 OC Tap Festival, and premiered an original 25-minute work at the festival in July of 2023.

Luke Hickey (Dancer) is a NYC based tap dance artist and choreographer, named by Dance Magazine among ‘25 To Watch’ in 2020. Hickey credits his knowledge and achievements to the incomparable brilliance of his mentor, JUBA Award recipient Gene Medler (North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble). His choreography has been presented by Jacob’s Pillow, Birdland Jazz Club and the Chelsea Factory, to name a few. Luke is honored to be a company member of Michelle Dorrance’s Dorrance Dance.

Addi Loving (Dancer) is honored to be at DanceHouse! Hailing from North Carolina and St. Louis, she trained under Gene Medler and later had involvement with the MUNY St. Louis. She most recently joined Dorrance Dance on their spring tour. Now stationed in New York, Addi is currently in school with hopes to further her dance career. She attended the School at Jacob’s Pillow in 2019 and is delighted to return alongside Dorrance Dance!

Claudia Rahardjanoto (Dancer), born and raised in Berlin, Germany, started her professional dance career at the Deutsche Oper Berlin at the age of nine. At fifteen, she fell in love with tap dance under the tutelage of Sven Göttlicher and Marie-Christin Zeisset and moved to NYC in 2003 to pursue a career in tap dance. A Dorrance Dance member since the company’s inception, Claudia hopes to continue to share her love and passion for music and the art of tap dance through her teaching and performing worldwide.

Gregory Richardson (Musical Director/Musician) is a multi-instrumentalist focusing on upright and electric bass. He’s the co-creator of Music From The Sole, an Afro-Brazilian tap dance and live band show that is currently in residence at Lincoln Center Education. He’s played drums, keys, and guitar with the band Darwin Deez at the world’s largest music festivals in the UK, Australia, Japan, Germany, and Austria.

Leonardo Sandoval (Dancer), Brazilian tap dancer and choreographer Leonardo Sandoval is renowned for blending America’s great tap tradition with Brazil’s rich rhythmic and musical heritage. A member of Dorrance Dance since 2014, he also directs Music From The Sole, a tap and live music company, with composer Gregory Richardson; the company recently appeared at the Joyce Theater, Vail Dance Festival, New York City Center, Boston’s Celebrity Series, and Works & Process at the Guggenheim. Leonardo was recently commissioned to create a new work to mark composer Philip Glass’ 85th birthday celebrations. He is a 2021 Dance Magazine “25 To Watch” and 2022 NYSCA/ NYFA Artist Fellow in Choreography, and received a 2022 Vilcek Foundation Prize for Creative Promise.

Kathy Kaufmann (Lighting Designer), is a New York City native, and two time Bessie recipient. She is resident designer at the esteemed Danspace Project at St. Marks Church, and has taught at Sarah Lawrence and NYU. She designs regularly for Dorrance Dance, Joanna Kotze, The Bang Group, Mariana Valencia, Rebecca Stenn, Ephrat Asherie Dance, Vicky Shick, and Music From The Sole.

Christopher Marc (Production Manager/Sound Designer) is a NYC-based Sound Designer & Production Manager from Minneapolis, MN. He has designed and engineered sound for Michelle Dorrance, Music From the Sole, Variety Life Productions, Lincoln Center Restart Stages, Luke Hickey, and Michael Jellick, as well as regional and off-broadway productions with the Kennedy Center, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, IJB Productions, Aquila Theatre, and Mills Entertainment. Christopher also designs/builds custom floors for percussive dance and is owner/operator of @CMarcAudio.

Artistic Director Michelle Dorrance
Executive Director Andrea Nellis
General Manager Hillary Kooistra
Production Manager/Sound Designer Christopher Marc
Development Manager Amanda Hameline
Associate Producer Gabby Benavides
Company Manager Taylor Craft
Dance Captain Elizabeth Burke
Musical Director Gregory Richardson
Lighting Designer Kathy Kaufmann
Financial Administrator Evan Aanerud, Arts FMS
Artist Representative Barbara Frum, outer/most

During the winter of 2012-2013, when this piece was created, I was asked to consider my influences, lineage, legacy – “the web of connections that new generations of artists trace with the past through their work” – and I would argue that no dancers call upon specific individual influences of so many of their masters and their form’s innovators (our ancestors, if you will) more directly and more often than tap dancers. Their personalities and unique styles live deeply within most of us.

I have had the honor of studying with and spending time with a great number of our tap and vernacular masters before they passed away: Maceo Anderson, Dr. Cholly Atkins, Clayton “Peg-Leg” Bates, Dr. Bunny Briggs, Dr. James “Buster” Brown, Ernest “Brownie” Brown, Harriet “Quicksand” Browne, Dr. Harold Cromer, Skip Cunningham, Arthur Duncan, Gregory Hines, Miss Mable Lee, Dr. Jeni Legon, Dr. Henry LeTang, LeRoy Myers, Dr. Fayard Nicholas and Dr. Harold Nicholas, Donald O’Connor, Dr. Leonard Reed, Dr. Jimmy Slyde, and Dr. Prince Spencer. I would also like to honor two of our living masters whom I am constantly influenced by: Brenda Bufalino and Dianne Walker.

While we are exploring new ideas in this show, we are also constantly mindful of our rich history. Dr. Jimmy Slyde was the inspiration for my initial exploration of slide work in socks (in the original full evening work) and his influence continues to guide us. In order to tap dance on the original wood floor of St. Mark’s Church, we had to turn away from aluminum taps towards using different surfaces on the soles of our feet. Leather soles and wood taps pre-date aluminum taps as they were used in the late 1800s when the form was still called “Buck Dancing” or “Buck and Wing”. There is a bit of a historical reference in some of the leather-soled work we explored, in that we explore the sounds of early tap dancing (imagine Bill “Bojangles” Robinson on the balls of his feet) before introducing the power of the rich bass in the heels. Tap master, John Bubbles, the game changer, is known for revolutionizing the syncopation and sound of tap dance in this way. We invite you to experience tap dancing with a fresh pair of eyes and ears, with both an acknowledgement towards the past and a look into the future.

– Michelle Dorrance

“One of the most exciting dancers to ever step on the world stage,” Joel Hanna is a Global artist known for his alchemy with Irish dance, Tap, Flamenco and Martial Arts. From legendary venues and for dignitaries around the world he is praised as “Breathtaking” – (BBC), “Utterly Winning”- (New York Times) and was NY Times “Pick of the Year”. He toured Riverdance: The Show; Dancing on Dangerous Ground, choreographed/starred in Fire of Dance; created Revolution: Sweat, Dance, Rock & Roll.

Arun Gandhi, activist/grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, says “Joel Hanna is being the change we all wish to see in the world” for creating “Fighting For Change”, a women’s rights program in India.

Troy McLaughlin holds a B.F.A. in Jazz Dance from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Highlights: The Lion King, Starlight Express, The Radio City Rockettes, Tap dancer 2010 Olympics, Schmigadoon, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, and several tv/ film/theatre projects. Troy is a professor at Capilano University in Musical Theatre and Acting for Stage and Screen Programs.He has choreographed & directed musicals, industrials, tv/film, cruise ships and dance companies worldwide. Troy McLaughlin’s Dance Works: I HAVE A DREAM, S.T.I.L. (Stuff That I Like), and tap/flamenco WESTSIDE STORY and GREASE with Karen Flamenco Company.