tapdance.info

The Wonder Kids, a documentary about Paul and Arlene Kennedy’s tap dancing school (Universal Dance in LA), makes its Easy Coast premiere on September 19th at the Village East Cinema and will feature a pre-show dance featuring narrator Dick Van Dyke, Savion Glover, and an all-star cast of dancers from the film. According to the press release:…written, produced and directed by Jim Petersen and Pamela J. Richardson, “The Wonder Kids” is the inspiring story of a tiny dance studio that set out to save the art-form of tap-dancing, and not only produced many of the world’s greatest dancers, but saved the lives of thousands of inner-city kids in the process.Here’s the trailer:The Wonder Kids Movie Trailer

…

The new documentary, Hollywood Singing and Dancing contains a lot of archival footage you’ve probably already seen, but the new commentary by some of Hollywood’s musical legends, along with extended footage, makes it worth watching (look for it in your TV listings). From the promo:For once, musical numbers are seen in their entirety, such as Fred Astaire’s breathtaking tap dancing up the wall and across the ceiling and tiny Shirley Temple mimicking her beaming old black partner as they cleverly tap dance up the wooden staircase and back down again.
…

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!
…

The movie Idlewild, featuring new music by Outkast, is now set for an August 25th release date. The movie-musical features lots of dance choreography by Tony winner Hinton “The Tap Dance Kid” Battle and, reportedly, a climactic dance scene featuring Jason Samuels, Chloe Arnold and others.…

Artists and tap dancers Jenai Cutcher and Mica Scalin are having a Women In Tap Shoes happy hour to benefit their ongoing film documentary efforts. They invite everyone to “bring your own propaganda – promote yourself, your classes, your gigs, and your blog.” Check out some of their video clips of Ayodele Casel, Brenda Bufalino, and Sarah Petronio. They promise “Forty Fabulous Flying Feet, Astonishing Acrobatic Action Heroes, and Beer,” at this happy hour benefit gig, Tuesday, April 25th, from 6-8pm at Slainte, 304 Bowery (btw Houston and Bleeker) in New York City. You can contact them via email at tapdancefilm@gmail.com or check out their film blog.…

Actress and dancer Kelly Brook stars and tap dances in the retro-style musical short, In The Mood, which will be shown at various film festivals in 2006. Set in 1940′s London, Kelly will be playing Eva Schmidt, a German spy posing as a dance teacher at an academy in Mayfair, England.…

Miss Thang, LLC is looking for tap dancers to play the leads in a feature film to shoot in Chicago. The film, entitled The Rise and Fall of Miss Thang, is the story of an irresponsible party girl who begins a journey to re-discover her tap dancing roots when she is forced to cope with her mother’s expensive gambling problem. We are seeking dancers for the following roles…

DEE ‘MISS THANG’ —African American, twenties, professional level tap dancer. Dee’s father was tap dancing legend and he taught her everything he knew. At 13 years old, Dee quit dancing when her father died leaving her and her mother in debt. Dee, now in her early twenties, is a club kid who hangs out dancing and drinking with her friends. Her life seems to be going nowhere when she meets a new friend that encourages her to tap again.NICHOLAS — African American, mid to late twenties, professional level tap dancer. Nicholas is a master tap dancer who runs his own studio and dance company in Chicago. He meets Dee while tap dancing on the streets and makes it his mission to prove to her that she has a future as a tap dancer.MELVIN — African American, fifties or sixties, professional level tap dancer. Dee’s late father. Was once a famous tap dancer that appeared on Broadway and variety shows.Please submit your demo reel and a letter detailing
your acting experience to: Miss Thang, LLC
431 Iowa Avenue
Aurora, IL 60506For more information you can check out our website at www.missthangmovie.com or e-mail us at missthangmovie@yahoo.com. …

Happy Feet, an animated family feature about a tap dancing penguin that can’t sing, is due out in November 2006. Directed by George Miller (he did the Babe movies), it’s set in Antarctica, and follows a group of Emperor Penguins who must each sing a unique song to attract a soul mate. It focuses on the plight of Mumble (Elijah Wood), who, despite being the offspring of Elvis (Hugh Jackman) and Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman), can’t sing to save his life, but is apparently one of the best tap dancers in the world. It also features the tap dancing of Savion Glover.…

If you haven’t already seen the 14 minute tap short, Tap Heat, featuring Jason Samuels-Smith and Arthur Duncan, it may be coming to a film festival near you. Current showings include June 20th at the Los Angeles Film Festival, June 26th at the Boston International Film Festival, and various cities in Australia and New Zealand during July and August as part of the ReelDance Film Festival.…

The Japanese samurai flick, Zatoichi, is set for a July 23rd release in the U.S.. The movie features a big ensemble tap dance finale choreographed by Japanese tap dance quartet, The Stripes. Why a tap dance finale in a samurai movie? Director and star Takeshi Kitano explains…

In this interview with Zatoichi director and star Takeshi Kitano, Kitano explains why there’s a tap dance finale and why he’s not in it.

“The idea to end the film with dancing was there from the get-go,” he explains. “Many traditional popular Japanese movies would wind up with a Hollywood-style happy ending where characters would just burst into song. I wanted to dare to depict a cliché, but in a new way. And in Japan, we have a clog-dancing tradition as part of Kibuki theatre, where kimono-wearing, clog-clad dancers will rhythmically stamp their feet. I decided to reinterpret this through the latest African-American tap style, which is also the style of The Stripes. And they’re my own tap-dancing teachers; I’ve been studying with them for a couple of years now.”

“I could have [been in the finale scene]. But I didn’t, and I shouldn’t. This is the celebration of the meek and the weak – you can’t have a killing machine like Zatoichi joining in: in many ways he’s as bad as the bad guys.”…

Dean Hargrove’s 14-minute film Tap Heat has its UK Premiere at the Constellation Change Screen Dance Festival in London on March 11th. The film features Jason Samuels Smith and Arthur Duncan. Check out the Constellation Change 4th Screen Dance Festival pages for details.…

The hot Japanese tap dance group, The Stripes, appear as tap dancing farmers in the latest Japanese samurai flick, Zatoichi. Zatoichi, a well-known Japanese television and film character, is as famous in Japan as the Indiana Jones character is in the United States.

IMDB link for Zatoichi…