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Thank You, Gregory! a tribute to the legends of tap, will delight all audiences. The production explores and continues the rich and diverse kaleidoscope of tap dance that Gregory Hines adamantly promoted and revered. It features live performances by eight of the most skilled, versatile, and dynamic contemporary hoofers, one pianist accompanied by musical score, and integrated multi-media projections and narrative. The production will be segmented in two acts with an intermission.

The evening will present a thoughtful and carefully crafted educational journey to reveal the multiplicity of the art form of Tap Dance, its curious development and unusual history, and most importantly the advocacy that the late great Gregory Hines brought during his life time. Hine’s significance as an artist transcends tap dance. He used tap as a vehicle for communicating ideas and bringing peoples together. Hines’ dedication and passion was the link between the past, present, and future, as he tirelessly reintroduced tap dance to an entire nation!

The production explores the unique individuals that made tap dance the most unusual and entertaining of American art forms. The production begins with a film montage featuring the icons of tap, created by live video digitalizing pioneers Forward Motion Theater. A “Flip book” of images will segue and link different key icons like 30’s and 40’s greats Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Eleanor Powell, and Fred Astaire through Gregory Hines. Both the audience and the performers will be watching this footage to take part in a collective education.

Some of the program highlights are:

A medley of dances choreographed to classic American songs including “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” “42nd Street,” “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” and “Singing in the Rain.” The suite represents, and pays homage to numerous Hollywood Icons of the Silver Screen that paved the way in bringing tap dance into the public eye. This classical suite will be followed by a Funk style version of “I’ve got Rhythm” arranged by Derek Grant.

Some of the tributes will honor icons like Fred Astaire and his famous dancing partners; the Hollywood Ladies like Ann Miller, Ginger Rogers, Shirley Temple and Juanita Pitts; The Eccentrics like Dick Van Dyke and Ray Bolger; the “Class Acts;” the “Flash Acts;” the Kings of Tap; Honi Coles and the Copasetics; the novelty acts; the Women of the Tap Renaissance; Paul Draper and the Classical Approach, and a tribute to contemporary choreography.

The grand finale will end the tap tradition of the legendary, and fun Copasetic Chair dance and the Shim Sham Shimmy, also known as the hoofers national anthem, where the entire audience is invited to join.

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Production Team Biographies

Ann Marie DeAngelo, (Director) former principal with the Joffrey Ballet, was featured in Backstage as a “multiple-career artist”. She founded her own experimental dance troupe in the late-80’s called Ballet D’Angelo, which toured extensively in Europe; was the founding Artistic Director of Ballet de Monterrey in 1990, the first privately funded arts organization in Mexico; Associate Director of the Joffrey Ballet. She has produced and directed several dance shows, as well as five Gala benefit evenings for Career Transition For Dancers, at City Center in New York City.

Ms. DeAngelo has created nearly 40 works including full-evening pieces, Zeitgeist I & II; The Last of the Best (reviewed by the Woodstock Times as “an off-beat musical comedy”); and Gypsie Band. Choreography for ballet companies include the Joffrey Ballet, National Ballet of Cuba; Ohio Ballet; Pittsburgh Ballet Theater; Oregon Ballet Theater; Ballet Pacifica; Nevada Ballet Theater; BalletNY, and ABT Studio Company. She has created several woks for Ballet de Monterrey, including their first contemporary work, Paradise that starred Hip Hop pioneer Mr.Wiggles, in a leading role. She has created works for various universities including Goucher College and Marymount Manhattan College. In 2003, Ms. DeAngelo created a one-act ghost story based on The Bell Witch with original music by Conni Ellisor. Reviewed as the “…perfect Halloween ballet…”, it was recreated for The Nashville Ballet for their October 2008 season. The work uses 3-D scenic design with 3-D glasses for the audience. The Bell Witch was nominated for a “Benois de la Danse” Award and in 2004, a segment was performed at the Bolshoi Theater, Moscow. DeAngelo participated in the inaugural season of The National Choreography Initiative in 2005, and was one of six choreographers chosen for Dance Break 2006, a high-profile showcase for choreographers in the Broadway community.

Under the umbrella of DeAngelo Productions Ms. DeAngelo projects included: “The Variety Show – Jugglin’ Styles”, with award winning artists: juggler/illusionist Michael Moschen; environmental visionary Joanna Haigood; performance artist Ann Carlson; Mr. Wiggles, and US Team rhythmic gymnast Charlene Edwards; The Hamptons Dance Festival and “An Evening of Jazz and Dance” for Boys Harbor, hosted by Chevy Chase; the “dance project” for the Richard Rodgers Centennial 2002. And as producer/director of benefit evenings for Career Transition for Dancers - Shall We Dance, hosted by Bebe Neuwirth, Dancing on Air, featuring Chita Rivera; That’s Entertainment, hosted by Liza Minnelli, One World, featuring James Earl Jones, and Dance Rocks!, where she has also been a contributing choreographer. On Broadway! A Tribute to the American Muiscal, was conceived and directed by Ms.DeAngelo, and hosted by Angela Lansbury. The evening paid tribute to the choreographic icons of Broadway, with performances by Cheyenne Jackson, Jane Krakowski, Bebe Neuwirth, Noah Racey, Tommy Tune, Karen Ziemba, with presenters Mikhail Baryishnikov, Kelly Bishop and Brooke Shields.

Ms. DeAngelo has taught, for numerous dance companies, universities and summer courses; and continues to teach workshops to non-dancers “Bringing Performance to Life”- most recently at Rancho La Puerta. She has also taught ballet, and been a movement coach to Bette Midler.

Her non-profit company, DeAngelo Dance Projects/Projecdance inc., develops, and produces collaborative works between artists. Current ones in progress are “In the Mix”, featuring cross-genre artists, and “Speaking Dance”, an educational event series.

For more information on Ms. DeAngelo please go to: wwww.annmariedeangelo.com

Tony Waag (Writer & Stager)) is Artistic/Executive Director of the American Tap Dance Foundation (formerly known as the American Tap Dance Orchestra) which he founded in 1986, along with Brenda Bufalino and the late Charles "Honi" Coles.

Waag is responsible for the administration, booking, promotion, marketing, and fundraising for the American Tap Dance Foundation. Under his leadership, Waag has secured funding for the organization with the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the Heckscher Foundation for Children, the Tsunami Foundation, and The 42nd Street Fund. As a featured artist with the company, he has also performed in hundreds of productions including premiere performances at the Apollo Theater, the Joyce Theater, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Dance Theater Workshop, the legendary Cotton Club, Avery Fisher Hall, the Walter Reade Theater, LaMama E.T.C., Town Hall, the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Theater, Symphony Space, the United Nations, the Atlanta Arts Festival, the Utah Arts Festival, the Colorado Dance Festival the Lincoln Center "Out-of-Doors" Festival, and in various national film and television specials. International appearances include USIA tours of Turkey, Poland, Cyprus, Latvia and Estonia, the Bermuda Arts Festival, tours of Germany and Italy with Brenda Bufalino, the International Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, Encontro 99 in Rio de Janiero, the Campinas Tap Festival, Brazil, the 9th Annual Nit de Claque Festival in Spain, the Vancouver International Tap Festival, recent tours of Armenia and Romania with his Tap City on Tour production and other solo appearances in Paris, Singapore, and Moscow.

In 2001, Waag renamed the American Tap Dance Orchestra as the American Tap Dance Foundation and created Tap City, a tap feast with premiere performances of all styles of tap by artists from around the world, and features an extensive training program for adults, teens and children, city wide events, tap jams, student showcases, panel discussions, lectures and film screenings. The festival assures the Big Apple's position as the tap center of the world, a dream that Tony shared with the late Gregory Hines, an active and influential board member from the organization's inception.

Mr. Waag has received numerous grants towards the presentation and preservation of tap dance as a unique American art form. In 2002, Waag initiated the first International Tap Dance Hall of Fame honoring the contributions of legendary tap dancers by preserving their legacies for future generations to enjoy. He also created the annual Tap Preservation and Hoofer Awards, the Gregory Hines Youth Scholarship Fund, and the Gregory Hines Collection of American Tap Dance Archives which are now housed at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

In 2005, Waag directed and performed as master of ceremonies for “Thank You Gregory”, a tribute to the masters of tap dance, at the Zellerbach Theatre in Philadelphia. He currently directs on-going training programs and workshops for tappers of all ages and levels, which has developed into an extensive year-round program.

From 1989-1995, he co-created and operated, with Ms. Bufalino, Woodpeckers Tap Dance Center which became a model for numerous tap organizations and tap studios worldwide creating, producing, and presenting various educational programs for adults and children year-round, as well as annual winter tap intensives with master classes, courses and workshops taught by leading International artists and master tap dancers.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Waag is now on a search for a building in New York City that can be turned into "Tap Central" - floors and floors of tap classes, performances, films, lectures, and archives for the entire community to enjoy!

Randy Swartz (Producer) has presented more than 175 different companies in almost 1,500 performances since 1973. Mr. Swartz founded the Philadelphia Dance Alliance in 1970 as a service organization for dance in the city; was a founding member of the International Ballet Competition, serving as executive director of the first competition in Jackson, Mississippi in 1979, and served as the American judge at the International Ballet Competition in Osaka, Japan in 1983, 1987 and 1995. In 1979, he founded American Ballet Competition, a non-profit organization that sponsors American participation in international competitions.

In 1983, he founded Dance Affiliates to present world-class dance in the Delaware Valley and has served as the artistic director of Dance Celebration annual dance series at the Annenberg Center for the past 27 years, having earned a “Best of Philadelphia Award” in 1999. Dance Affiliates has commissioned a dozen world-premiere performances and sponsored outreach activities including master classes, workshops, symposiums, residencies and special student programs for more than 25,000 children and aspiring dancers.

Mr. Swartz has served in a variety of capacities on boards, panels and university academic staffs; continually travels to various countries to view and critique dancers, choreographers and dance companies; and also acts as a private consultant and mentor to choreographers and dance companies both nationally and in Canada, offering advice and direction about touring in the United States.

Performer Biographies

Chloe Arnold (Dancer/Actress/Director/Choreographer) has established herself across several fields of the industry today, and is kindly referred to by Debbie Allen herself as (her) “protégé”. She most recently choreographed the opening number for the 2008 Jerry Lewis/MDA telethon and was featured with the Jazz Tap Ensemble at the Joyce in New York City. Ms. Arnold has also participated in the hit show Imagine Tap, Outkast’s feature movie Idlewild, Beyonce’s Upgrade You video as her dance double, Sean Paul’s music video for the movie Step Up and at City Center, NYC in Jason Samuels Smith’s ACGI. Currently co-director of the Los Angeles Tap Festival, Chloe was Associate Choreographer for ABC’s American Celebration, Debbie Allen’s Pearl in Los Angeles, and is choreographer for her group Syncopated Ladies. Performance credits include Debbie Allen’s Brothers of the Knight, Soul Possesed, Sammy (the life and times of Sammy Davis Jr.), Savion Glover’s All Star Tap Revue, and The Oneness Awards honoring Michael Jackson.

Film and television appearances include UPN’s The Parkers, One on One, Nickelodeon’s Brothers Garcia, The Jerry Lewis Telethon (Emmy Award Winning number), Dean Hargrove’s short film Tap Heat, and the AMC documentary Cool Women. Currently on faculty at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in LA, Chloe has taught at the Broadway Dance Center in NYC, P. Diddy’s Summer Youth Program, NYCDA, Brazil, Japan, Germany, and more. Through teaching and performing internationally, Chloe passionately hopes to inspire others. Ms. Arnold graduated from Columbia University with a degree in film where she also studied theater, has directed short films and independent music videos, and has produced over 20 shows.

Maud Arnold made her stage debut at age 4 with Savion Glover, acting in his piece "The Real Deal" which was presented in Washington, DC and on Broadway for Frank Hatchett's Broadway showcase. Maud has been a featured faculty member and performer for the LA Tap Fest since 2004. She teaches annually in Debbie Allen's Dance Institutes in Dallas and Houston, Texas. She performed (and was also Debbie Allen's understudy ) in Debbie Allen's Kennedy Center production of "Brothers of the Knight", Jared Grimes' "Broadway Underground", Irving Street Rep's "Sophisticated Ladies," "Tap Extravaganza," and Neil Berg's "Broadway Song and Dance." In 2004, Maud was featured as "One of the Top 20 Under 20 Tap Dancers" in Dance Spirit Magazine.

Her television credits include "Secret Talents of the Stars" as a dancer for Mya, the opening number for the 2009 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, NBC's The Today Show, and the annual Fourth of July Celebration on the Mall with Ray Charles. Maud has also worked on numerous music video projects as assistant to the director with artists such as Lil Wayne, Jennifer Lopez, Keri Hilson, Busta Rhymes, Keyshia Cole, and more. Maud has worked as a stand-in and double for Beyonce for a Direct TV commercial as well as the "Single Ladies" and "If I were a Boy" music videos.

A recent graduate of Columbia University in film, Maud hopes to pioneer new Tap experiences for the tap and film community. She hosts tap jams throughout New York City and teaches in high schools and dance studios in the tri-state area. She and her sister Chloé Arnold are currently producing and directing their First Annual DC Tap Festival to take place in April 2009.

Born and raised in Berlin,Germany, Claudia Rahardjanoto was trained in ballet, jazz and later in tap. She fell in love with tap dancing immediately and has extensively studied tap with Sam Weber, Andreas Dänel, Sven Göttlicher and Pascal Hulin.

She has danced in numerous tap dance-shows in Europe (Germany, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, Holland) and has been on tour with several touring productions around Europe as well as the United States (Magic Of The Dance, Dancing Feet, Dancing On Common Ground).

After moving to NYC in 2003 to continue her education and pursue a career in dance in the US, Claudia has since appeared on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon with Andrew Nemr's CPD Plus, appeared on MTV's TRL as part of a Happy Feet-segment with Robin Williams and Elijah Wood and has been invited to dance in an evening called Dianne Walker and Friends. Claudia has collaborated with actor David Sochet on Shakespeare’s Sonnet No.12 for Sonnets On Tap , is a member of Bridges Vocal Ensemble and most recently has made her NY debut as a solo singer for ‘On Tap @ Joe’s Pub’.

Claudia has been extremely blessed and fortunate to have met and spend valuable time (on or off stage) with masters like Dr.Jimmy Slyde, Dr.Bunny Briggs, Dr.Henry LeTang, Dr.Buster Brown, Dr.Harold Cromer, Mable Lee, Dianne Walker, Ted Levy, and others, and is grateful for all that they have shared and passed along.

Since being in the US, she has had the chance to learn from and dance with Dianne 'Lady Di' Walker, Michelle Dorrance, Roxane Butterfly, Max Pollak, Jared Grimes, Barbara Duffy, Susan Hebach, Andrew J. Nemr, Michael Minery and alongside the fabulous Miss Mable Lee as one of her Dancing Ladies. Claudia is currently teaching at Steps On Broadway, Broadway Dance Center’s CTP and the American Tap Dance Foundation.

Melinda Sullivan has just finished touring as an original cast member of Disney's High School Musical. Her theatre credits are 25th Anniversary Tour of CATS, Atlanta TOTS, Pittsburgh CLO, and numerous Town Hall Broadway By the Year performances. Melinda is a company member of Emmy-award winner Jason Samuels Smith's tap company, Anybody Can Get It (ACGI), with recent performances including the NY City Center's Fall For Dance and at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London. Her other company work includes the Jazz Tap Ensemble, Chloe Arnold's Syncopated Ladies, and Noah Racey's New York Tap Ensemble. Melinda is a recipient of the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Award in Non-Classical dance for her solo performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. In television and film, her tap dancing has been seen on Star Search, One on One, and the acclaimed short film Tap Heat, choreographed by Danny Daniels. Upcoming projects: High School Musical 2 onstage, The Underlings (pilot).

Mrs. Sumbry-Edwards career includes acclaimed runs on Broadway and off-Broadway in shows such as Black and Blue, the Tony Award Winning Bring In Da’Noise, Bring In Da’Funk, International Tour of Bring in Da’Noise, Bring in Da’Funk (dance captain/principal dancer/understudy to the lead role), and Imagine Tap! (featured soloist). Other performances include the national tour of Wild Woman Blues and Debbie Allen’s SAMMY (the life and times of Sammy Davis Jr.). Film credits include “TAP” with Gregory Hines, Spike Lee's “Bamboozled” (Assistant Choreographer), and “The Rodgers and Hart Story: Thou Swell, Thou Witty”. Mrs. Sumbry-Edwards’ choreography has been featured in TAAP:The Art & Appreciation of Percussion and was also utilized in Michael Jackson's music video “Rock My World”. She was also spotlighted in a commercial for Tops and is was most recently featured on MTV’s hit television series MADE.

Award winning actor, dancer, and poet Joseph Monroe Webb has showcased his talent in the Tony Award winning Broadway production, Bring in 'Da Noise Bring in 'Da Funk with notable tap dancer Savion Glover. Following his Broadway success, Webb ventured into acting an appearance in the Martin Scorsese film Bringing Out The Dead, and appeared in numerous print and television ads. He has also performed on talk shows including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and Live with Regis and Kathy Lee. Joseph is a 2001 graduate of Marymount Manhattan College with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theater Arts. Joseph Webb is a Full Time Lecturer at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, NY, and has been on the staff of Harlem School of the Arts for the past six years. He also was a special guest artist at the 25th Anniversary of Gala Des Etoiles Dance Gala in Montreal Canada in September 2008. Most recently Mr. Webb and his band was apart of the Red Hook Festival in Brooklyn, NY. He also was a guest teacher and performer at the D.C. Tap Fest and a special guest artist at the 2009 Clifford Brown Jazz Festival in Wilmington, Delaware.

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