Chicago Human Rhythm Project Presents Winter Tap JAMboree This Weekend

The Chicago Human Rhythm Project (CHRP), celebrating 25 years as the nation's premier presenter of American tap dance and international contemporary percussive arts, welcomes students and performers to its annual Winter Tap JAMboree this weekend, February 13-15, 2015, featuring master classes, auditions for the Tap Scholar Program and Nicholas Young's Institute For The Rhythmic Arts (IFTRA), a panel discussion and several Tap JAMs at the American Rhythm Center, Chicago's collaborative arts space in the historic Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 300, Chicago.

Winter Tap JAMboree faculty and schedule

Among those teaching classes are guests Cartier Williams, a leading tap choreographer and protégé of Savion Glover, and Nicholas Young, who received a 2014 New York Dance and Performance Award ("Bessie") for Outstanding Music Composition, along with some of Chicago's finest, including CHRP Founder/Director Lane Alexander-who recently received a Tap Legacy Award while performing with Rhapsody in Taps in Los Angeles-and Bril Barrett, Martin Bronson, Zada Cheeks, Matt Crowle, Starinah Dixon, Nico Rubio and hip-hop/break dancer Monty Rezell.

The weekend opens Friday, February 13 with a Welcome Party at 7 p.m., followed by a Tap JAM hosted by M.A.D.D. Rhythms. Classes for teens and adults take place Saturday, February 14 from 10 a.m. to 6:20 p.m. and Sunday, February 15 from 10 a.m.-3:50 p.m. Faculty members will participate in a panel discussion on a topic to be determined Saturday, February 14 from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. The weekend concludes with a Tap JAM Sunday, February 15 from 4 to 5 p.m.

Tap Scholarship Auditions and IFTRA Auditions

CHRP is offering up to $10,000 in tuition awards to dancers between the ages of 12 and 18 who compete in its annual Tap Scholarship Auditions Saturday, February 14 at 7 p.m. These scholarships will make it possible for deserving young tap dancers to attend CHRP's 25th Anniversary Rhythm World, the preeminent festival of American tap, taking place July 6-August 2, 2015, with a faculty of more than 25 master teachers/performers from around the globe. Participants must register for at least one Tap JAMboree class.

On Sunday, February 15, students may audition for Nicholas Young's Institute For The Rhythmic Arts (IFTRA), returning to Rhythm World after its debut in 2014. IFTRA is a three-week intensive integrating foot, hand and body percussion led by STOMP alumnus and tap dancer extraordinaire Nicholas Young, master percussionists John Angeles and Doug Feig, CHRP Founder and Director Lane Alexander, percussive artist Jumaane Taylor and more.

Master classes are $20 per class plus a $15 registration fee. Tap Scholarship Audition registration is $15; IFTRA Audition registration is $15. To register, visit chicagotap.org. The Tap JAMs on Friday, February 13 and Sunday, February 15 and the panel discussion on Saturday, February 14 are free to registrants. All events take place at the American Rhythm Center, Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 300, Chicago. For information and registration, visit chicagotap.org/Performance-Education-Detail-Festival/winter-tap-jamboree-2015.aspx.

Chicago Human Rhythm Project Founded in 1990, Chicago Human Rhythm Project (CHRP) builds community by presenting American tap dance and contemporary percussive arts in world-class and innovative performance, education and community outreach programs. During the last 22 years, CHRP has produced multiple community-based collaborations involving shared revenue programs, concerts and touring opportunities, including:

• annual National Tap Dance Day concerts, featuring an array of tap and percussive dance artists
• a shared revenue program designed to assist Chicago's budding tap community to build capacity through audience development, created in 2001
• Thanks 4 Giving, another innovative shared revenue program launched in 2005 as part of its annual Global Rhythms concerts at the Harris Theater, through which CHRP has partnered with more than 100 Chicago-based nonprofits to raise funds for a wide variety of service agencies
• participation in the 5th Anniversary Beijing International Dance Festival, assembling 70 artists to represent the United States
• establishment of the American Rhythm Center (ARC), providing a shared, affordable and sustainable education, rehearsal and administrative facility for several leading Chicago arts organizations in the historic Fine Arts Building
• curating the first ever, full-length performance of concert tap dance on a main stage of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 7, 2012

CHRP's vision is to establish the first global center for American tap and percussive arts, creating a complete ecosystem of education, performance, creation and community in a state-of-the-art facility uniting generations of diverse artists and the public.

Pictured: (left) Cartier Williams, photo by Oliver Sarkis; (right) Nicholas Young, photo by Guido Mandozzi.

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