TAP TREASURES Set for The NYC Tap Festival, 7/11-13

TAP TREASURES, a three-day, citywide tour of tap dance landmarks, Monday, July 11 through Wednesday, July 13, will mark the kick off to The American Tap Dance Foundation's Tap City, the week long tap dance festival (July 9-16) held annually in tap's hometown, New York City.

The Tap Treasures Tour, new to the Tap City Festival, will offer an opportunity to explore tap dance history in an intimate, behind the scenes look at the legendary theaters, rehearsal spaces and landmarks which contributed to the rich evolution of tap dance. The Tour will give a first hand look at each location and the role it played in the history and development of the art form.

The three Tap Treasures tours - uptown on July 11, midtown on July 12 and lower Manhattan on July 13, will include locations such as the legendary Apollo Theater, the "The New 42nd Street" (home to Fred and Adele Astaire, Bill Robinson, Ray Bolger and Ruby Keeler), The Village Gate, the former Woodpeckers Tap Dance Center, and ATDF's current home, the American Tap Dance Center. *Tap Treasures full program below.

"Tap Treasures reinvestigates and revisits eight historic locations in Manhattan that contributed to the evolution of tap dance. As we celebrate an almost forgotten history of this fascinating art form, let us not forget the people, the places and events that have influenced, perpetuated and molded our very own American art-form Tap Dance, born and raised right here in New York City." - Tony Waag, Artistic Director & Producer.

The Tap Treasures tour will culminate on Thursday, July 14 with ATDF's Tap Treasures Show, a contemporary showcase investigating tap dance's past and present in a professional "mash up" of tap dance, hip hop, "waacking," body percussion soft shoe and swing. The Duke on 42nd Street -Thursday, July 14 at 7pm and 9:30pm.

Tap Treasures is a program created through Engaging Dance Audiences administered by Dance/USA and made possible with generous funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Tap City, produced by the American Tap Dance Foundation, will return for it's 16th year July 9-16, with award presentations, master classes and performances by local and international artists in what has become the premiere meeting place for hundreds of American and International tap dancers to study, teach and perform.

For more information, visit http://www.atdf.org/TapTreasuresTC16.html