A living history of one of dance’s most accessible forms will be on display this weekend. On Sunday at 2pm, the Moss Theatre at New Roads School will host Classic Tap!, a tribute to tap dance’s masters of the stage via live performances and vintage film clips. Some of this generation’s tap specialists will be honoring mentors and icons of the genre, including Danny Daniels, Louis DaPron and Gene Nelson.
Along with professional performers like Rusty Frank, Darrin Contessa, Mark Marchillo and Joseph Navarez; the showcase features the Diane Davisson Dancers, a local troupe that has gone worldwide with its dance exploits.
Davisson, who has run the company for 37 years, prides herself on the fact that her performers have day jobs ranging from teachers and artists to graphic designers and realtors. Adding to the Classic Tap! show is a bonus to the family atmosphere the company created, with some dancers still with Davisson after all the decades.
"It’s something perfect, because people are doing that for themselves, it’s something that gives them great joy … when you’re an adult, you do it because you want to be there and it always lifts people’s spirits," Davisson said of her tap troupe. "People sometimes come in after a really hard, long day, or maybe they don’t even feel so good, [but] when they leave, they always feel better than they did when they came in."
The company has done full-length tap dancing shows at colleges, veteran gatherings and assisted living facilities, even reaching Brazil for one performance. The unique art of tapping your feet rhythmically is something Davisson calls "elemental," a form someone can pick up without needing the "dancer body" or extensive background.
"It’s different than say, ballet, where by the time you’re 30, you’re sort of over the hill," Davisson added. "Some of the very best tap dancers are older, and that’s so wonderful."
Combining the talents of her troupe with the professionals, Davisson called the show Classic Tap! as a rallying call for the timeless tap form, pioneered by the event’s honorees. She describes it as "what people who go to the movies and go to a Broadway musical" would expect to see, with a good bit of upper body movement that also tells a story.
One of history’s great tap storytellers was Daniels, who passed away in his Santa Monica home in 2017. Running a tap school in Santa Monica for decades, Daniels received four Tony nominations for his tap choreography, including a win in 1984 for The Tap Dance Kid.
Along with classic film clips of the honorees, the Classic Tap YouTube channel has unearthed interviews with Daniels speaking to pioneers of the art form, once thought lost in obscurity after being donated to the New York Public Library performing arts archives.
To view the interview clips, click here. To purchase tickets for Sunday’s event, click here.
thomas@smdp.com
