2013 Jersey Tap Fest Offers Over 30 Classes, Main Stage TAP 'N TIME and More, Now thru 8/25

Jersey Tap Fest, NJ's sole dance festival featuring world-class tap faculty and extravaganza, celebrates four years today, August 22-25, 2013 in Bloomfield, NJ. The four-day festival will offer more than 30 tap dance classes and a main stage celebration event TAP 'N TIME. The Garden State tap dance festival also provides the public various opportunities to participate and interact with tap dancing through a jam session, student showcase and faculty meet and greet.

TAP 'N TIME, held August 24, 7:30 p.m. at Bloomfield College's Westminster Arts Center, will showcase dazzling ensembles and young emerging tap dance artists. Directed by Hillary-Marie Michael, the TAP 'N TIME program will feature 14 top tap dance soloists,including Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards (2012 Bessie Award, The Hoofer Award from The American Tap Dance Foundation), Karen Callaway Williams (NJTAP, Riverdance), Jeff Foote (NJTAP), Hank Smith (Associate Professor at Bloomfield College), Kyle Wilder(NJTAP), Hillary-Marie Michael, Boston Tap Company, and more. The inspirational one-legged tap dancer Evan Ruggiero also joins the program with a special performance - amputated in 2010 as a result of bone cancer, Evan fashioned a peg-leg inspired by famous tap legend "Peg-Leg Bates" and continues to dance professionally defying all odds again and again.

"Tap 'n Time is guaranteed to be the best tap dance show that New Jersey will see this summer," says founder and director, Hillary-Marie Michael. "Jersey Tap Fest is the family dance festival. We celebrate local master tap dance artists and offer an unprecedented opportunity for tap enthusiasts to come and learn - not only technique but also history. We offer an opportunity to find a home for exploration and to leave with a renewed relationship to the tap community."

The festival has selected the top local talent to lead and teach the vast offering of classes, including Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Hillary-Marie Michael, Hank Smith, Kyle Wilder as well as Deborah Mitchell, Jason Janas, Josie Say (teaching a Lindy Hop master class), Karen Callaway Williams, Jeff Foote, Nicki Denner, Andrew Atkinson. The stimulating, demanding and rigorous program serves diverse students with great passion for tap dance in the tri-state area, and provides participants with opportunities to perform giving them valuable experience.

A native of New Jersey, festival founder Hillary-Marie Michael was recognized in Dance Studio Life Magazine's March/April 2012 issue as one of the youngest successful directors and producers on the tap scene. She joined New Jersey Tap Ensemble in 2006 and is featured in the documentary I Can Still Do That, mentored by and assistant to living legend Dr. Harold 'Stumpy' Cromer. As an acclaimed soloist and ensemble member, Hillary-Marie has been featured at the world renowned Apollo Theater, Mayo Arts Center, NJ State Theatre, NJPAC, SOPAC, The Copacabana, The Duke Theatre, F.I.T., Peter Norton Symphony Space, Banks Arts Theatre, Smithsonian Museum, and more. She has performed alongside Maurice chestnut at the Harlem Stage, in Lisa Latouche's group Tap Phonics, as a guest artist with the Boston Tap Company in their signature show Rhythm in the Night and made her television debut on "The Colbert Report." Hillary-Marie performs weekly at the Cotton Club as part of Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards' "Sophisticated Ladies." Hillary has taken to motivational speaking, sharing her entrepreneurial views and dreams for the younger generation at conferences such as TedXTalks.

An entertaining video of some of the top names in the tap industry participating in an on-stage ending jam session at the 2012 Tap 'n Time performance can be viewed here. Additional information on the festival can be found at http://www.jerseytapfest.com. Audiences can interact with the festival at Facebook.com/jerseytapfest and Twitter.com/hillarymariem.

Tickets will go on sales June 1, 2013 at www.jerseytapfest.brownpapertickets.com or by calling 1-800-838-3006. Prices for TAP 'N TIME performance range from $18 (students and seniors) - $22 (general). Tickets will also be available for purchase prior to show at the Westminister Arts Center box office. The venue is located at Bloomfield College, 449 Franklin Street, Bloomfield, NJ, 07003.

2013 Jersey Tap Fest Schedule:

Jersey Tap Fest | Thursday, August 22 - Sunday, August 25

Location: Broadway Performing Arts dance Studio, 357 Broad Street, Bloomfield, NJ
Registration and Schedule: http://www.jerseytapfest.com/registration.htm

10 percent Early Bird discount if register before July 1, 2013.

Jam Session: August 22, 7:30 p.m., $10

Shim-Sham Class: August 23, 2:30 p.m., FREE

Student Showcase: August 23, 7:30 p.m., $10

Faculty Brunch: August 25, 11:30 a.m., $10

Founded by Hillary-Marie Michael, Jersey Tap Fest provides repertoire and master classes to encourage today's young, emerging tap dance artists. The festival provides non-competitive opportunities of self-advancement and networking for the basic tapper, tap teacher, tap enthusiast, pre-professional and professional artist and tap master. The stimulating, demanding and rigorous program serves diverse students with great passion for tap dance in the tri-state area, and provides participants with opportunities to perform giving them valuable experience. Jersey Tap Fest is focused on serving tap dance, teaching its history, preserving its percussive traditions and promoting tap as a cherished American art form.

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