Cancel vacation plans, mark your calendars, and fly across the pond if you have to for the 11th Annual North Carolina Rhythm Tap festival!
The festival will be held June 12th - 14th, 2009 at The Ballet School of Chapel Hill and will include classes, discussions, a participant showcase, a tap jam, and a one in a lifetime Saturday evening performance at the ArtsCenter in Carrboro.
This year’s festival artists include Chloe Arnold, Brenda Bufalino, Michelle Dorrance, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Yvette Glover, Josh Hilberman, and Gene Medler.
Tickets for the once in a lifetime performance, which will be held Saturday, June 13th at 7:30 pm, can be obtained by calling the ArtsCenter box office at 919.929.2787 ($15/$10 for festival participants).
This year's festival will surely prove to be an unforgettable event to meet.
GOOD VIBRATIONS - Starring Michelle Dorrance and Derick Grant
The globe-trotting North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble will strut their stuff for local audiences at their annual shows at the Carolina Theater—located at 309 West Morgan Street in Durham—on Saturday, April 25th at 7 p.m. and Sunday, April 26th at 2 p.m.
The shows, entitled “Good Vibrations”, will feature the company members performing their varied repertory, accompanied by live music.
In addition, NCYTE alumna Michelle Dorrance will take a break from performing in the national tour of STOMP to dance in the show.
Derick K. Grant, a nationally renowned tap dancer who was an original member of the cast of “Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk,” will also perform.
Contact the Carolina Theatre Box Office (919) 560-3030 or the Chapel Hill Ballet School (919) 942-1339 and get your tickets now before they're sold out!
For more details, click the read more button to read the full press release.
The North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble (NCYTE) presents performances featuring cutting edge contemporary choreography and traditional rhythm tap as it was danced in its prime. Imagine Stomp, Riverdance, vaudeville, Fred Astaire and Bring In Da Noise all on the same bill — that’s NCYTE!
The company has performed or collaborated with the Greensboro Symphony, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Mallarme Chamber Players, the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra and many jazz musicians around the nation and world. It has toured internationally in Beijing, Stuttgart, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Vienna, Berlin, Heidelberg and Helsinki and regularly appears at the two largest tap festivals in the United States, the New York City Tap Festival (Tap City) and Chicago Human Rhythm Project.
Book NCYTE today for your next event mailto:
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or call 919-967-8655.
The North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble (NCYTE.org) sent 5 youth members (ages 11-17) and their director Gene Medler to Beijing, China from Dec. 17-24 to perform in the production of JUBA! The show was created by Lane Alexander and the Chicago Human Rhythm Project and the 70 member cast incorporated 5 youth tap ensembles from across the United States and some of the best adult tappers in the business today.
This all happened at the invitation of the Chinese government and in recognition of Rhythm Tap as one of the true American dance styles. Three shows were sold out at the Beijing Exhibition center from Dec. 21 – 23. The Chinese couldn't translate JUBA! So they affectionately named the show "Christmas Dancing Shoes".
Katie Taylor
(Cary, NC)
Caroline Vance
(Durham, NC)
Kyle McConaughey (Chapel Hill, NC)
Austin Shank
(Chapel Hill, NC)
Jared Kirkpatrick
(Chapel Hill, NC)
"It's a rare opportunity for any young person to be so vastly exposed to the small, dynamic group of individuals that make up the international tap community.
I consider myself incredibly privileged to have been able to come of age in NCYTE, where I learned to stretch the limits of my creativity, and open myself up to connect with people across the world who shared so much love for this dance form.
I will always credit a large part of who I am to that experience.
Every youth should be so fortunate to be a part of something so intimate, yet so enormous."
Danielle Purifoy, NCYTE Alumni '02
