| Tap City: the New York City Tap Festival | |
| Location: | New York City (various locations) |
| Founded: | July 2001 |
| Founders: | Tony Waag |
| Artistic Director: | Tony Waag |
| Date: | Held every year over 7 to 10 days in July |
Tap City, the New York City Tap Festival, was launched in 2001 in New York City.[1] Held annually for approximately one week each summer, the festival features tap dancing classes, choreography residencies, panels, screenings, and performances as well as awards ceremonies, concert performances, and Tap it Out, a free, public, outdoor event performed in Times Square by a chorus of dancers. The goal of the Festival is to establish a "higher level of understanding and examination of tap’s storied history and development.” [2]
Tap City was designed to bring attention to New York City’s tap community.[3] Its first iteration was held from July 7 through July 15, 2001, at various studios and performance spaces around Manhattan. Chaired by Hoagy Carmichael Jr., and Gregory Hines, the Festival began with an open jam session at the Broadway Dance Center in midtown Manhattan. Over the ensuing eight days, an international roster of over 90 performers appeared, which according to the New York Times, writing the day before the event, was to include "well-known tapsters like Jimmy Slyde, Prince Spender of the Four Step Brothers, Brenda Bufalino, Jane Goldberg, Lynn Dally, the Silver Belles and Gregory Hines. Many of the performers will also teach classes."[4]
Venues over the years have included The Joyce Theater, the Duke on 42nd Street, Symphony Space, Chelsea Studios, the Hudson River for a waterborne tap jam, and the amphitheater at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Highlights of the festival now include:
Film presentations and performances honor recipients of the Hoofer and Tap Preservation Awards and inductees into the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame.
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The Festival officially kicks off every year on the Circle Line with performances and a tap jam accompanied by a live jazz band.[5]
The festival includes at least one Mainstage event. Recent iterations include Tap Forward, which featured new work created and performed by soloists, contemporary tap ensembles, new talent and so-called "tap dance masters.”[6]
The festival finale, which features hundreds of tappers dancing in tandem in a free public, outdoors event.[7]