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Crisis: Cultural Funding in America Urgently Needs Your Help! |
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{Ed: The original article was two printed pages. Give it a reading and then visit the Tap Activism and Trivia Page.}
Regular and alternating cramp rolls begin with a flap or a leap to the ball of the foot:
flap - step - heel - heel (or)
step - step - heel - heel
Press cramps begin with a heel drop:
heel - step - heel - heel
R L L R
The following is a paddle & roll step that uses the idea of a press cramp roll to add some flair. I have abbreviated the rolls to just the last 3 sounds: step-heel-heel. Underlined sounds are performed with the opposite foot, and all heels are heel drops. Enjoy. [Ed. I'll use brackets '[ ]' to do the same.]
step-heel-[heel]-dig -brsh step-heel-[dig -brsh-
8 & [a ] 1 & 2 & [3 &
step-heel]-heel-[dig -brsh step-heel]-dig -brsh-
4 & ] a [ 5 & 6 & ] 7 &
step-heel-[heel]-dig -brsh step-heel-[step-heel]-heel
8 & [a ] 1 & 2 & [3 & ] a
[dig -brsh-step-heel]-dig -brsh step-heel
[ 4 & 5 & ] 6 & 7 &
REPEAT ON OTHER SIDE
Bernie Lenhoff is a performer and teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area who has been writing about improvisation in a series of articles for the ITA Newsletter for the past year. For more information about this material, please write PO. Box 7423, Berkeley, CA 94707 or call (510) 524-5442.On October 15 there was an ITA meeting at the San Francisco Tap Dance Center. A telephone tree was discussed and we pooled our information on tap events and activities.
On October 15 Karen Quest taught a sold-out workshop called "Hats And Canes For Dancers" at the San Francisco Tap Dance Center.
On October 29 forty members of the San Francisco Rad-Tap@ team went to see "Stomp" at Zellerbach Auditorium in Berkeley. The show was spectacular with 90 minutes of non-stop percussion using objects from everyday life.
On November 9 Soundancing had its final jam of the year at the Hotel Utah even though it rained violently all day. Tappers came to share their rhythms and celebrate a very successful 1994 Tap Jam Series.
- Bess Bair
Rhapsody In Taps, under the direction of Linda Sohl-Donnell, presented their annual season at the Japan America Theater in Los Angeles on November 4th and 5th, 1994.
With annual corporate sponsorship by Panasonic Corporation, RIT presented two children's programs to students from the Los Angeles Unified School District on Nov. 4 at JAT. joining Rhapsody In Taps for these performances were veteran hoofers Leonard Reed and Frances Nealy. In addition, Panasonic provided video equipment to a group of the sixth graders as part of their Kid Witness News program. A press conference was held following the second performance with all of the performers and musicians being interviewed by members of the Kid Witness News.
On Saturday, November 5, Rhapsody In Taps presented an exciting evening of tap dance and jazz music to an enthusiastic capacity crowd at the Japan America Theater. The performance included four premieres, choreography by Linda Sohl-Donnell, Fred Strickler, Keith Terry and Bob Carroll, spectacular footwork by Sohl-Donnell, Strickler, Carroll and company members Karol Lee, Pauline Hagino, Christy Wyant and Leann McGreggor.
The annual celebrity shim-sham during the encore was once again quite a crowd pleaser. Joining the company on stage were tap legends Fayard Nicholas, Leonard Reed, Frances Nealy, Miriam Nelson and Glen Turnbull. In celebration of Fayard Nicholas' 80th birthday, a cake was brought on stage as the audience, led by Barbara Geed, sang a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday" - 80 years young - a fitting tribute to an outstanding evening.
-Carolyn CLark, Long Beach, California
{Shown in the photo above are Artie Bryant (L) and Van "The Man" Porter (R) who worked together on a Budweiser commercial shot in NYC. Caption: "East Coast meets West Coast." Photo(c): Melba Huber.}
Van "The Man" Porter has recently been involved in a variety of projects, some of which are as follows:
September found the NTE traveling throughout the Midwest, with stops in Chicago, Indianapolis and Columbus. In November the company returned to Ohio for educational programs in the greater Columbus area as well as a performance of its acclaimed "Tops In Taps: An American Tradition" show at Denison University. While there, the company's directors were also busy teaching, with Chris Belliou leading a master class and a workshop for the dance department and Calvin Jones conducting a jazz improv' clinic for the music department.
{Shown in this photo are Artie Bryant (L) and Buster Brown (R) at La Cave in NYC. La Cave has a weekly 'Hoofer's Night' in NYC. Caption: "Reunited Friends" Photo(c): Melba Huber.}
In October Chris Belliou performed "Percussion With An Open Mind," a duet with drummer Thomas Teasley at the Corcoran Gallery of Art as part of "A Celebration of American Music." This concert featured both hand and foot percussion on par with more "established" instruments such as piano, voice, guitar, flute and a brass ensemble, all performed by world-class Washington based artists. A week later, Georgetown University invited Belliou to participate in its "Current Jam" Series as a guest speaker. Curated by composer Frances McKay and featuring prominent Washington, DC artists in the fields of painting, film making, dance, music and poetry, this fifteen-year old lecture series explores freely the process of artistic creation from its initial inspiration to its viewing, publication, or performance. It is "a great way of learning more about the riches hidden among the nation's capital's artistic community as well as a most interesting forum exchanging ideas and concept," says Beliou, who was the first percussive dance artist to be invited by "Current Jam."
-Cassandra Baker, Washington,DC
{Shown in this picture, left to right, are: Peg Leg Bates, Melba Huber and Bertye Lou during an October 1994 Tribute to Peg Leg Bates. Photo (c): Melba Huber.}
Ira then toured his concert for three weeks around Germany and Austria, this time with musicians Paul Arslanian, Ruthie Dornfeld and John Herrmann. The tour included a television spot on Germany's answer to the David Letterman Show, "Schmiteinander." (Actually, one of the writers for the show described it as "a cross between Leno and Monty Python.") He finished up his tour with a weekend of teaching at the Klouda Tanzschule in Neu Anspach.
-Ira Bernstein
For FIELDNOTES, please send the following written or otherwise extremely legible information to: International Tap Association, c/o CDF, P. 0. Box 356, BouIder, CO 80306 or fax (303) 449-7732.
The answer is simple and will not only benefit the current performers and musicians, but the future people trying to make a living tap dancing. It is our responsibility to help insure, to the best of our abilities, that the audiences who are willing to pay money to support tap performers are there. What can we do to raise the GTC (the Global Tap Consciousness)? The first is through education of the general public.
To many people, tap begins at Shirley Temple and ends at Fred Astaire. There is a rich and diverse history to tap and its surrounding culture that has gone largely unnoticed among non-devotees. Anyone who has seen a performance at a national festival can attest to the remarkable differences in styles and voices among working professionals today. From the grace and technique of Sam Weber to the bebop musicianship of Sarah Petronio to the clever prop work of Gracey Tune, there is a multitude of individual styles, and that's not even considering the tap companies that are doing everything from polyrhythms to the explorations of thematic ideas.
A common argument among my acquaintances is their disbelief in the existence of an American culture. It is true that, other than American Indians, we are all immigrants to this land, and it is common for some people to identify with the land they or their ancestors came from more than the United States. Others point to America and deny any "legitimate" culture; American culture, they say, is popular culture. To believe this, however, one would have to discount the many American contributions to world culture that are parts of all Americans' heritage. Jazz music, the cinema and of course, tap dancing are all elements of American culture that have become shared and made popular all over the world.
Indeed, no other country could have produced tap dancing as no other country had the option for the precise mixing of cultures and traditions that comprise tap dancing. In no other place could Irish jigs combine with African shuffles and sand dances to form an entirely new and exciting art form. Hell, tap was "multicultural" long before it was cool to be so.
If there is one type of person that will almost always fall in love with tap it is music lovers, especially jazz aficionados. If they are not already aware of the interconnection between the development of tap dancing and jazz playing,then educate them. If you need information to pass on, there are many good resources at your aid, including some fine and varied accounts of tap, from Marshall Stearns' history of jazz dancing to Rusty Frank's book. Finally, the best thing you could do to raise the GTC is to introduce tap dancing to the public first hand. Perform any time and any place you can. Look in your newspaper and find out if there are any jazz performers in your area you could sit in with for a song or two. Most major cities have at least one club with open jam for musicians. Invite your friends, invite your work mates, get as many people as you can exposed to what is going on in tap dancing today. When you perform, think about the image you want to convey to people as far as what your conception of tap is. Reflect that style in your appearance and behavior. I perform out every other week at a restaurant that as a live jazz band on Thursday nights, and the response has been really exciting. People who have never given tap a second thought now ask me to keep them informed of any tap events in the area, here I will perform next, and what movies they might rent to see more tap. The possibility for a strong base of tap supporters and lovers is there; they just have to be seduced by the form in the same way anyone holding this newsletter has been.
Mark Yonnally is a tap dancer as well as a student of Journalism and Political Science the University of Kansas. After he graduates he hopes to pursue a tap career.
----- The Footnotes* section ofthe Newsletter is your opportunity to briefly report on any events happening in the tap world:
Regards, Carole Alexander, Wellesley
Legacy was founded and is directed by Mr. Jeff Friedman to record and preserve the life-histories of San Francisco Bay Area dance community members. Legacy trains volunteer interviewers to record, so far, up to 17 hours of interviews. We select our subjects based on their risk due to age, loss of memory, life-threatening illness, and minority status. The interviews are transcribed and edited. Photos and other documents are added to create a research-quality book. The book, audiotapes and other memorabilia like videotapes are deposited at the San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum for research use and for the general public's use. For more information, please contact me at 584 Castro Street, Suite 101, San Francisco, CA 94114 or call (415) 863-7037.
-Jeff Friedman, San Francisco, CA
If Woodpeckers closes, it will not mean the dissolution of the American Tap Dance Orchestra. Rather, the intention is to refocus the company's energy and financial resources on performing. Without Woodpeckers, ATDO, like most dance companies, will rent rehearsal space to prepare for performances and teachers will find other venues for their classes.
The final blow came, ironically, as the result of ATDO's triumphant season at the Joyce Theater in October,1991.The company took out a workers compensation policy as a requirement of performing at the Joyce, and has been paying the assessed premiums ever since. However,followingan SIF audit in January, 1993, a dispute arose over the number or current employees in the company and, thus, the number of employees required to be covered by the policy. SIF is currently assessing premiums for 45 employees while ATDO contends it employs only two.
ATDO filed a lawsuit against the SIF in the New York State Supreme Court. Vedder, Price, Kaufman, Kammholz and Day are providing pro bono legal representation. ATDO's battle and the outcome of this case will affect the future of every arts organization in New York State.
ATDO Executive Director Tony Waag explains, If the SIF wins, the ATDO, other dance companies, theater companies, arts organizations - any corporation which hires independent contractors - will be required to pay huge increases in Workers Compensation premiums. For non-profit groups and small businesses this can be devastating. For our own survival and for that of so many organizations like us, we can not allow this to occur.
Despite the fact that the ATDO's dancers, singers and musicians consider themselves to be independent contractors - and all have signed affidavits to that effect - the SIF continues to assert that ATDO is responsible for their premiums,as well as for those of dozens of technicians, guest teachers and artists, volunteers and other service providers. Since, by law, the company cannot work without workers compensation insurance, it has continued to pay the inflated premiums at the Bleak-House-like lawsuit grinds its way through the courts in a series of mistakes committed not just by the SIF but by the court itself.
ATDO Artistic Director Brenda Bufalino warns, insurance policies are starting to look like extortion rackets, driving up the cost of doing business everyday and depressing the spirit. What is the answer for artists today? Must all companies close down? Where will the dancers find work? All our time is spent trying to survive the demands of the bureaucracy. There is no time to plan new programs, create new work or seek out new venues. The support network for the entire arts community has been put in jeopardy by these unfair practices.
ATDO has launched a major campaign to alert other arts organizations of this threat to their livelihood. ATDO keeps them informed at every step of the way, issuing press releases and action alerts. They have successfully mobilized the arts community and now need support from the broader tap community. The SIF audits and lawsuit have doubled an already heavy workload for ATDO's small staff, which is stretched to the limit. The financial support of the community is urgently needed to help ATDO continue to stay on its feet and make it possible for this group and others to pursue further development and vision for this vital American art form,tap. For updates and information, please contact Tony Waag at (212) 219-8284.
ITA's financials are based on the cash, rather than the accrual method. They do not include in-kind donations of time, services, and goods - which generally add several thousand dollars in expenses and contributions. Reporting on in-kind contributions requires documentation and is usually completed by April, when the ITA reports to the National Endowment for the Arts on grant expenditures.
As you can see, the ITA continues on a bare-bones budget, currently surviving on memberships, a government grant from the NEA, a foundation grant from Capezio, advertising sales, and in-kind donations. This past year, with the consolidation of ITA's Washington, DC and Boulder offices, we successfully saved on postage, express mail, fax and long distance costs that were once required to put a newsletter together between two cities. In addition, the purchase of computer equipment saved us from the considerable costs generated by hourly computer rental rates which we were accruing to accomplish administrative, membership, and newsletter duties.
Last year, due mostly to the stabilization of administrative overhead, a successful membership drive, and an almost 100% ITA member renewal rate, ITA's revenues, for the first time, broke even, with revenues exceeding expenses, resulting in a $415.00 gain for the year. While this is encouraging news, especially given today's seemingly unfriendly public attitude towards the arts, it is just a beginning. We hope this year to continue to improve the overall quality of the ITA services and Newsletter, with emphasis on provocative and timely writing. In our efforts as preservationists and archivists of tap, we are in the process of conducting and publishing interviews with tap masters and teachers, many of whom are considered tap greats but who have had relatively little media attention in the past. As you know, a $415 "cushion" doesn't go far in covering labor costs for transcribing and editing.
Some simple math shows that if every other current ITA member recruited one new member this year, we would generate additional revenues of approximately $11,500. The possibilities for using this kind of money to further benefit the tap community are extensive. And it follows that if every ITA member were to successfully increase the ITA network by just one additional person, we would generate an astounding additional $23,000 to reinvest in services and improvements that directly benefit you and the field.
While many people are familiar with the ITA, many more are not. However, most people, very grateful to learn of its existence, both become and remain members. So please get the word out there. In this ever-increasingly fragile world of support for the arts, we need to gather strength in numbers and to develop strong professional affiliations. If public funding for the arts continues to wane, more and more responsibility will fall on the shoulders of organizations like the ITA to provide the necessary resources to assist the support and development of the tap field and its artists. With the existing and potential further budget cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts, which has in the past generously supported the ITA, we are in danger of losing funds that currently support our day-to-day operations.
In this vein, I want to thank those of you who have very generously been buying (sometimes multiple) first-year gift memberships for friends and colleagues, especially in Europe. Not only does increased membership strengthen the "worldwide network," but the income generated by these memberships can be invested back into the promotion and understanding of tap and thus positively impact the field and its body of work.
As always, we welcome your suggestions and feedback. If you have further questions about our financial report, please give us a call.
-Susie Box, ITA Program Director
Through advocacy programs and special projects, the ITA educates dance professionals and the public about tap as an art form, helping tap take its respected place in the larger world of dance. The ITA encourages the creation of new performance venues and touring circuits, and the informed presentation of tap dance, which helps increase job opportunities. By encouraging a variety of serious archival documentations and tap research, nationally and locally, the ITA assists in preserving and American art once in danger of being lost. As an organization, the ITA encourages tap dancers to unite, to define the dancers' goals and problems specific to tap dance, and collectively to work for positive solutions.
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