The Lady Hoofers Tap Ensemble Welcomes 2024-2025 Season With New Artistic Director Tamera Dallam

The Lady Hoofers Tap Ensemble, a Philadelphia-based ensemble that centers the work of women in tap through performance, education, and community outreach, launches their 14th season under the leadership of a new Artistic Director, Tamera Dallam. The ensemble's upcoming year of programming features the return of their signature production of The Tapcracker for the holiday season, a spring concert, plus other pop-up events.

The ensemble's new Artistic Director, Tamera Dallam, fell in love with the artform when she first laced up her tap shoes. A longtime dancer with The Lady Hoofers, Dallam joined as a First Company Member in 2015. She was promoted to Youth Ensemble Rehearsal Assistant in 2018 and to Associate Director in 2021.

"I love the freedom," Dallam says, "the feeling of empowerment I get." In addition to performing with The Lady Hoofers, she teaches tap at local studios, and attends tap festivals up and down the east coast and in NYC, where she has taken master classes with Chloe Arnold, Jason Samuel Smith, Dianne Walker, and Sarah Reich, among others.

As the new Artistic Director, Dallam says her "unique vision involves expanding and pushing our collective understanding of rhythm, technique, history, and jazz music as it pertains to tap dance while bringing engaging, dynamic, and traditional performances to audiences. I am, and we are, committed to sharing our love of tap with the next generation."

"Tamera is passionate about tap, incredibly perceptive, and calm under pressure," says Founder and outgoing Artistic Director, Kat Echevarría Richter. "She'll take on this new role with the full support of our Board of Directors, and will work alongside our longtime Managing Director, Katie Budris, to ensure continued, sustainable growth for the organization."

The Lady Hoofers Tap Ensemble began in the 2011 Philadelphia Fringe Festival with a performance co-produced by Richter. The organization, now a 501(c)3 nonprofit, has since grown to 40 professional and pre-professional tap dancers, including the group's First Company, Apprentice, and Youth Ensemble dancers.

The ensemble's 2024/2025 mainstage series includes:

The Tapcracker

December 14-15, 2024

Suzanne Roberts Theatre

480 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA

This holiday season, join The Lady Hoofers Tap Ensemble for their signature production of The Tapcracker. ​Hailed as a "real delight" (ThINKing Dance), this all-tap version of the holiday favorite has "taken its rightful place among the Philadelphia holiday traditions on the Avenue of the Arts" (Broad Street Review). With a cast of over 40 dancers from PA, NJ, and DE, The Tapcracker transports audiences to Paris, where an infestation of rats has thrown the city into chaos: toy soldiers guard the Eiffel Tower, mice wreak havoc in the Metro, and Duke Ellington's swinging rendition of the beloved Tchaikovsky score will leave you dancing in your seat.

Tickets for The Tapcracker will go on sale in September 2024, with reserved seating options ranging from $35 - $55. Accessible seating is also available.

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