Chicago Tap Theatre presents The Hourglass in the Stop-Time Chronicles, the nation’s first superhero tap opera this July at the Athenaeum Theatre Studio. Co-created by comic book artist Andrew Pepoy (inker of Batman, X-Men and The Simpsons, among others) and CTT Artistic Director Mark Yonally, The Hourglass in the Stop-Time Chronicles follows The Hourglass, a superheroine endowed with powers she is still struggling to understand, as she battles the forces of evil embodied by Killjoy, Dance Macabre and the ominous Conductor.

Tap pro Ayodele Casel is performing a new work called Paddywak: A Tap Dance Concerto. Written by Rob Kapilow, it's a Concerto for kids.
"What Kapilow did was take Casel's experience teaching children how to tap dance as well as recordings of tap dancing by Casel and wrote a 16-minute concerto,"
according to this article in the Vancouver Sun.

Celebrated choreographer Henry LeTang (sometimes written with a space, "Le Tang") passed away this week. He was 91 years old. A top dance choreographer since the mid-1940's, he was best known in his later years as the primary choreographer of the Broadway hits Eubie!, Sophisticated Ladies, and Black and Blue. He also choreographed mainstream movies such as Tap, Cotton Club, and the TV movie Bojangles, and was tap dance instructor to Gregory and Maurice Hines, among many others.
Wikipedia: Henry LeTang
New York Times obit: Henry LeTang

Happy Feet, the animated movie about a tap dancing penguin, is now on DVD. DVD extras include a private tap dance lesson with Savion Glover, two new fully animated sequences - Mumble Meets a Blue Whale, and A Happy Feet Moment; Two music videos - Gia's Hit Me Up, and Prince's The Song of the Heart; and a classic cartoon - I Love to Singa. Buy it from Amazon.

Tap dance takes a sultry and sophisticated turn when Chicago Tap Theatre combines live jazz musicians with unique and innovative ensemble choreography in Mixology: A Fizzy Cocktail of Tap Dance and Live Music.

Film maker Stacie Hawkins is moving to Los Angeles and is taking her first finished feature, "The Rise And Fall Of Miss Thang," along with her. The film features several choreographed dance routines by the likes of Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards and Martin "Tre" Dumas III, according to this article. See video clips on the MySpace Page. The trailer is below!

As part of National Dance Week, Soundancing presents The MIDITAP (tm) experience. Attendees will be invited to dance on the amazing MIDITAP (tm) Floor. Dancing on this floor with or without shoes is life changing.
Royce Gallery
2901 Mariposa St, San Francisco CA
6:30-7:30 April 26, 2007 (doors open 6 PM)

A regular tap jam is now happening in London featuring a jazz trio and dancers from across the UK. Check out the tap jam web site, their photo gallery and MySpace Page.