TAP CITY Festival Launches 7/6 in New York City

Tap City, the week-long International Tap Festival, will take place Saturday, July 6 to Saturday, July 13 with a series of events and showcases in Tap's home town, New York City. Drawing participants from around the world, Tap City, presented by The American Tap Dance Foundation (ATDF), will feature film presentations, awards, master classes and performance events by International Artists. The week's happenings will culminate at noon on Saturday, July 13, with 150 tap dancers hoofing it out in the heart of Manhattan atFather Duffy Square/Times Square in a free, public, outdoor celebration.

Tap City has become the premiere meeting place where hundreds of American and international tap dancers come to study, teach, and perform - to share new ideas and to collaborate on new productions, celebrating a vibrant and diverse global tap community.

"Our goal, in addition to giving audiences great entertainment- is to establish a higher level of understanding and examination of tap dance as an art form. The creation of an international tap dance festival in New York City secures the preservation of tap dance and perpetuates its continued growth as a thriving contemporary art form. The New York City Tap Festival also makes a lasting statement about New York City and its dedication to this uniquely American form of art. We pay homage to tap dance by producing a festival in the city known for much of its major development," said Tony Waag, Artistic and Executive Director of ATDF.

Tap City is committed to presenting new work and new voices from around the world. Tap dance, which began in America in the 1800's on plantations and on city streets, is now produced all over the globe. Thanks to the efforts of numerous U.S. tap soloists and companies (including the American Tap Dance Orchestra) who toured, taught, produced and promoted tap internationally, tap dance has been seen all over the world. Tap dance festivals and tap dance studios have sprung up as far away as Beijing!