The American Tap Dance Foundation's Tap Teacher Training Program Returns With A Virtual Offering July 11-17

The American Tap Dance Foundation's TAP TEACHER TRAINING, an intensive program of rhythm tap classes with new teaching ideas for tap dance instructors, will return virtually this summer, July 11 through July 17.

Co-directed by Susan Hebach and Margaret Morrison, the teacher enrichment program features expert faculty with top tappers including Brenda Bufalino, Barbara Duffy, Thelma Goldberg, Dexter Jones, Lisa La Touche, Toni Noblett and guest artists.

Based in the Copasetic Canon, ATDF's Tap Teacher Training supports tap teachers with a comprehensive approach to technique, repertory, jazz musicality, composition and rhythm tap skills. Designed for experienced tap dance instructors as well as dancers who wish to become teachers, the program includes the essential skills needed to teach rhythm tap, with composition and a music intensive for teaching and choreographing at all student levels. A training manual plus written, audio and video materials are included.

The Training program also offers students an additional 10 months of independent work and mentorship, beyond the week of virtual classes. The Training culminates in a Certificate awarded by the ATDF.

"We feel this program is unique - it's the only online training course for tap dance teachers that actually mentors after its conclusion," said Margaret Morrison, co-director. "We offer personal feedback and guidance to students for an additional ten months - students have told me they're floored by the online experience and can't believe how much information they received."

The ATDF Virtual Tap Teacher Training program will run from Monday, July 11 to Saturday, July 16 from 11:00 AM - 4:45 PM ET, and on Sunday, July 17 from 11:00 AM - 3:30 PM ET via Zoom. For more information visit info@atdf.org. Phone: 646-230-9564. FEES: https://www.atdf.org/ttt-fees

The Copasetic Canon is rooted in the tap technique, repertory, musical and compositional concepts, and jazz culture passed down from The Copasetics, an ensemble of tap soloists of the Golden Age of Tap. The Copasetics were a performance group and social club, formed in memory of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, who coined the phrase "Everything is Copasetic." This material, combined with the artistic vision and teachings of Brenda Bufalino, has been adapted by Susan Hebach into a clear approach to teaching youth, teen, and adult students at the ATDF American Tap Dance Center. Under the direction of Margaret Morrison and Ms. Hebach, the Copasetic Canon curriculum is now available to teachers who want a technically solid approach to teaching rhythm tap that provides a rich immersion in swing and bebop jazz musicality and a foundation for 21st century tap dance explorations.

The ATDF launched the Tap Teacher Training Program based in the Copasetic Canon in 2014 to ensure that this legacy of tap excellence continues into the 21st century. The ATDF is proud to honor the Copasetics and their contributions, as we look forward to new voices and new grooves that have developed from these influences and beyond.

The mission of the American Tap Dance Foundation has been intimately tied with the legacy of the Copasetics, starting with Brenda Bufalino's dance partnership in the 1970s and 80s with Charles "Honi" Coles. Formerly the American Tap Dance Orchestra, the ATDF was founded in 1986 by Bufalino, Coles, and Tony Waag. The American Tap Dance Orchestra toured internationally until the mid-1990s under the artistic direction of Ms. Bufalino, performing dozens of her contemporary tap works. These dances are now being reconstructed and handed down to a younger generation of dancers enrolled in the ATDF youth and adult education programs. The classic tap repertory learned from the Copasetics has also become a central component of the ATDF youth and adult education curriculum.

To post a comment, you must register and login.