FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Philadelphia has always been a tap town and Jaye Allison brings back that tradition each year with her Philly Tap Challenge: On Fire!, a tap festival celebrating both the past and the present. This years program welcomes Emmy Award Winner, Jason Samuels Smith headlining the All-Star performing staff of JA’sPTC artists.

Other highlights for this festival include:
– 40+ Tap Dance & World Rhythm Courses plus History & Tap Store
– World-Class teaching/ performing staff of artists uniquely share with you
– Daily Evening Events include Philly TAP Concert Stage and Films
– Philly Tap Idol Contest, Live Music
– Family friendly environment

The festival will run from June 27 through June 30th at the  Dance Fusion Performance Center, 467 Conchester Hwy, Aston,Pa 19014.

JA’sPTC links today’s generations to Philadelphia streets and beyond from the 1930s- 2013, empowering our posterity. Intermediate and advanced level workshops in various Hoofing, Classic Tap and Flamenco techniques and styles for all ages, plus World Rhythm Courses in Hip-Hop, Dunham, Funk Step and DanceHall styles. This year’s world class teaching staff of performing artists includes:  Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Joseph Webb,  Maurice Chestnut, Robert F. Burden, Karen Callaway Williams, Lee Howard, Sarah Reich, Marcus Carl Franklin, Rochelle Haynes, Jeff Foote, Corinne Karon, Justin Ballasy, Reggie ‘Tapman’ Meyers, Hillary-Marie Michael, Gail & Jenn Oldfield, Libby Spencer Dancers, David Pershica, Kat Richter, Anna Rubio, Raedient Movement, Peggy Lieby, Clyde Evans, Tim Yue and Jaye Allison.

Since 2004, director Jaye Allison has organized and collaborated with Philly Hoofers to make the Philly TAP Challenge Festival a premier Tap Dance event.  The festival offers up Philadelphia’s rich tap history of cyclonic feet and rarely seen talent as well as living legacies.  Ja’sPTC is devoted to recognizing the treasure chest Philadelphia holds for Tap, epitomized by such local legends as The Nicholas Brothers, The Condos Brothers, Baby Edwards, Honi Coles and National Treasure,  and LaVaughn Robinson.

Notably, Tap Dance on Film is highlighted  each night at 7:30pm.  In the mix this year are Best Short Film (Outside of Ohio) for Greater Cleveland Urban Film Festival winner Philly’s own Johnnie Hobbs’ NOSTALGIA,  Been Rich All My Life – The Silver Belles Documentary, PBS’ The Nicholas Brothers Biography and The Virtual Quilt Slideshow- Celebrating Women in Tap and Chorus Dancer history with personally collected archival pictorials circa 1930-2009

Each evening event costs as little as  $10 to witness or participate in the showcases! There is a different star-studded show each evening. And of course, up for grabs is the Philly TAP Idol title chosen by the audience, but qualified by the pros! The Philly TAP Concert will feature an All-Star cast of professional performers, with a finale by Emmy Award winner Jason Samuels Smith.

Despite the lack of funding this year, Jaye Allison hopes to make a permanent home for Tap dance here in the Delaware Valley, proclaiming “Tap Dance Lives!” She is excited to welcome these international artists and to have everyone “bond with them on common ground, the dance floor”.

Detailed Schedule, Info and sales available online at www.phillytapchallenge.com
Fees:  $225 Full Festival Pas;s $75 1-Full Day Pass; $20 Kids under 8 Full Day pass;  $10 Evening walk-ins.
Get a Free Festival T-Shirt with June 1st $30 Early Registration Deadline!

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Philly Tap Challenge Evening Showcases
Thursday, June 27, 2013 at 6:30pm
Friday, June 28, 2013 at 6:30pm
Saturday, June 29, 2013 at 6:30pm
Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 6:30pm
Dance Fusion Performance Center, 467 Conchester Hwy, Aston, PA 19041
Information: www.phillytapchallenge.com

Pamela Hetherington

pamelamh4@gmail.com

Cell: 215-882-1022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CROSS-RHYTHMS - An Evening of Tap Dance

June 8, 2012, 8:00 pm, Performance Garage, 1515 Brandywine Street, Philadelphia, PA

Philadelphia, PA (May 3, 2012): CROSS-RHYTHMS – An Evening of Tap Dance, will be presented one night only on June 8, 2012 at the Performance Garage, 1515 Brandywine Street, Philadelphia, PA.  Produced by tap dancer and choreographer Pamela Hetherington, the concert will feature professional tap dancers Michele Dunleavy, Germaine Ingram, and Darrell Williams, along with Philadelphia-based modern dancer Leah Stein and London-based Bharatanatyam dancer, Suparna Banerjee.  Live musical accompaniment will be provided by the Jon Katz Quartet and other special musical guests.  Tickets are $20.

A cross-rhythm is a simultaneous use of two contrasting rhythmic patterns which cannot be separated without compromising the song.  The evening performance is organized around intricate pairings – both of dancers and of art forms.  Interdisciplinary duets will demonstrate the connections between tap, modern dance, and Bharatanatyam dance.  The evening will also celebrate the interplay between tap dance and jazz music with a restaging of Manhattan Tap’s seminal 1986 piece, “Scrapple from the Apple,” choreographed by Manhattan Tap founder, Heather Cornell.