Vancouver International Tap Festival keeps the rhythm going with online programming

In-depth residencies with stars like Michela Marino Lerman and Derick Grant, oral-history research, and dance jams help the BIPOC-forward event continue hoofing

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      Of all the dance forms, tap may be one of the best-suited to our new Zoom era of broadcasting from home.

      “You can put your board down and do your thing, and you’re not worrying about pictures falling off the wall,” says Tosh Sutherland, a well-known local hoofer who’s production manager at this year’s virtual edition of the Vancouver International Tap Dance Festival.

      With that in mind, his event has been able not just to pivot some of its performances to a livestreamed format, but also to offer educational programs like its five- and three-day-long residencies. Star artists lending their skills to the in-depth sessions will include Derick Grant, an original company member and “dance captain” of Broadway’s Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk who Sutherland describes as a powerful dancer whose passion for tap is infectious, as well as Michela Marino Lerman, whose mad skills recently earned her a coveted 2019 Hoofer Award, as well as Andrew Nemr, a protege of Gregory Hines whose dancing can be seen in numerous TED talks. Local bright lights Danny Nielsen, Lindsay Sterk, and Sutherland himself also join the roster.

      Classes will allow students to ask questions of the teachers and tap out their own video rhythm for feedback. “One of our mandates is to use tap dance as a vehicle of communication and community, so one thing we really wanted to keep was the interaction aspect,” Sutherland says.

      Tosh Sutherland says BIPOC voices are top of mind at the Vancouver Tap Dance Society, which is putting on the celebration for its 21st year.

      Even those who don’t own a pair of tap shoes can look on in awe at some of the improvised performances; don’t miss the electricity of August 25’s online tap jam with livestreamed musicians. “You can hang out and just join our Zoom,” Sutherland invites.

      The fest will also stream weekend workshops with Nathan Bugh, Dan Reynolds, Star Dixon, Bryn Kinders, and Lisa La Touche. In addition, it’s offering its 2020 Summit free online, with an array of research curated by Nemr from experts as far away as England. A highlight will be an appearance by Cassie Mey, a dancer and the oral-history producer at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts’ Jerome Robbins Dance Division, where she’s collected 50 interviews on the roots of the form.

      “Cassie Mey has gone out and collected recordings of influential people in tap-dance history,” says Sutherland. “It’s so important to have those voices heard.”

      That programming is a reminder that tap continues to celebrate its strong roots with Black artists and people of colour at a time when BIPOC voices are at the forefront of a global conversation.

      “That is top of mind at our organization,” stresses Sutherland of Vancouver Tap Dance Society, which is celebrating its 21st year of putting on the late-summer fest. “We want to educate people on not just the steps. The steps are a vehicle to express yourself. We also want to dive into the history and where it came from and look at the contributions from all these other cultural groups to create tap dance. I’ve been a tap dancer now for well over a decade, and that has always been the number-one thing: honouring where it came from and honouring the people that came before you and passing it along.”

      And clearly, a mandate that strong is not going to let little things like COVID-19 and social distancing stop it from carrying on the beat.

      The Vancouver International Tap Dance Festival takes place online from Monday to next Sunday (August 24 to 30).

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