Taplife

  Welllllllll……That really isn’t true, but it seems you need a sensational opening line now-a-days to earn anyone’s attention. So there, I said it, but it’s not true. What IS true? Well, tap dance is musical. It can be a difficult skill to master. It has African-American roots. It was used as a form of communication to save lives in a time of slavery. It is a family—a…

Thoughts…UDMA Tap Dance Reflections, #UDMAnj

I was very lucky as a child to have danced at a studio that so heavily emphasized tap. Dancing in that studio and learning from my teacher, Joe Stanford, gave me a serious edge in my abilities as a tap dancer growing up. Without those skills, I never would have found myself on stage, in NY at the Union Square Theatre and touring the world as the first American to get a standing role the…

#Taplife Company – “Non Solum Percusso, Sed Vitae Ipsi”

#Taplife adds text reminders. Stay in the loop. National Tap Dance Day on Rockaway Beach, #Camplife in New Hampshire, In Good Company and the December Intensive.

Send one or more of the following codes to 81010 to get info on that event…

#LuckytobeAlive code is @nattapday #Camplife code is @tapcamp #IGC – “In Good Company” is code @ingoodco #DecInt – December Intensive is code @decint

Check out…

Some people think Tap Dance is dead but it can still be appreciated as both as a contemporary talent and socially relevant form of artistic expression. In today’s world of untruths, half truths and fake news one thing is for sure, Big Brother is watching and thanks to whistleblowers link Ed Snowden we now know just how much information is actually being collected on everyday innocent Americans. Hero or traitor Edward Snowden has become the face of the massive illegal NSA spying issue. No matter which side of the issue you fall it is always better to know and understand the reality we exist in rather than to ignore those realities. 

Thoughts I Express When I Judge a Competition

Straight forward list that you can apply before going to another dance competition:

The more energy you put into the floor, the more energy you get out of the floor

In a lyrical piece, think of yourself as the Ambassador of the emotional journey we are about witness through you

Don’t present disconnected movement; Engage in connected dance.

In a dance you should show me a complete thought, but…

Evolution of Tap Dance from a Different Perspective

ev·o·lu·tion noun: evolution; plural noun: evolutions

the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth.

the gradual development of something, especially from a simple to a more complex form.

Somewhere around 1999 – 2001 I started writing an article I called The Evolution of Tap…

2014 Summer Florida Tap Tour Recap

Hi – Been a while and I thought it was time to post something in the TapLife blog. For the past two years I have had an amazing time setting up and teaching a Summer Studio Workshop Tap Tour in Florida. Well, at least that was the idea. It didn’t take long for it to go from a few tap classes to performances with Noise Complaint and an appearance at a tap festival to become part of the experience.…

My Facebook Gratitude Challenge

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to do a gratitude Facebook Challenge. It felt really rewarding and positive. I also received many positive replies and private messages. I feel very lucky to have so many human beings enlightened by my words and experiences.  That said, I felt it would be a great idea to collect all the posts and put them here in one spot. Please enjoy my Facebook posts from that…

Sometimes you have to Judge: What is see at Competition

One of the things I truly enjoy doing is judging competitions. I always joke around about not judging people in life unless I am getting paid to do it, and that would be at competition. Since the first time I judged a competition, way back in the late 90′s, I have found myself sounding like a broken record when it comes to certain things…There are new things that have popped up over time and…

Being in an Audience, Serious Helpful Hints or SHH

I was invited to the movies this weekend and it sent me into a deep thinking mode….I wanted to go see the hottest new Summer feature but I didn’t want someone to ruin another movie for me. (Quickly, let me say that nobody can ruin anything for me but myself, it is just an expression that works well in this case…). I love going to the movies or at least I used to. Quiet, dark, exciting, and being…

I Love it When a Plan Comes Together

I am very excited that I will be performing LIVE, with Frank Persico, at the Bitter End, in NYC tonight….We are suggesting you arrive by 9:00pm EST sharp. Since arriving back in New York, a little over a year ago, I started plotting a path, which included organically watching and waiting for an opportunity where Frank and I could combine our talents and share them with our long time friends and…