Here’s the story about this class…
I started teaching this themed “In The Cotton Club” class back in 2011 – I can’t believe it’s been 13 years 🤯
It was inspired by what my mentors, Harold Cromer, Deborah Mitchell and Karen Callaway Williams had taught me as a teenager, and by what I learned after jumping into the Lindy Hop scene.
1 year later, in 2012, I moved to NYC and auditioned for Dormeshia’s “Cotton Club Sophisticated Ladies” – and from there, I had the honor and privilege of performing at the re-located Cotton Club in Harlem on 125th street, each Monday night for many years. It was a dream come true for me to share that floor with Dormeshia, Claudia Rahardjanoto, and other tap dancers that I had looked up to as a kid.
In this class, I give history and background on The Cotton Club and some of the tap dancers who performed there. And then I share a piece of my own choreo in that old school style, emphasizing that the technique back then was crispy clean, the musicality was fire, the pocket was deep, and that the movement is based in vernacular vocabulary.
And here we are… 13 years later, and to this day, this class is one of my most requested classes to teach at tap festivals.
Music by Jon Batiste
Choreo by Hillary Marie
Class at Luthier Tap Festival 2024
Shoes by Dancing Fair
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