Dorrance Dance, a New York-based company, has been passionate about sharing the powerful legacy and complex history of the Black American art form of tap dancing as well as expanding its boundaries by pushing the dance form into today’s contemporary dance world.
The company returned to Palm Beach County recently as part of the Duncan Theatre’s Modern Dance Series. Last seen six years ago, Dorrance Dance arrived with a bevy of astonishing new, young tappers who gave an arousing performance Feb. 20.
American tap dance grew out of the tradition of West African drumming, which was imported to the Americas by the victims of the transatlantic slave trade. Fearing that it was a form of subversive communication, slave owners often forbade their slaves from having drums, so, in order to preserve the drumming culture of their homelands, the slaves captured the rhythms with their feet and bodies in free-form personal expression.
Michelle Dorrance, founder and artistic director, has taken on the mission of preserving, evolving and sharing the intricacies and joy of tap dance through her company, Dorrance Dance. Though she bills herself as a choreographer, Dorrance seems to be more of a creator of a theatrical structure where the dancers have ample opportunity to add their special style and form in the numerous improvised solos that are sprinkled throughout the ensemble works.
The performance opened with Dorrance’s 2013 piece Soundspace/Redux, which explored the multitude of possibilities that the human foot wearing a tap shoe can create as well as the exponentially additional possibilities that a tap dancer’s two separate feet can produce. The 70-minute work was totally engaging, and in hindsight, I now understand why this work was placed first on the program. It is an excellent educational introduction to tap dancing. Dorrance led us on a journey where we were encouraged not to watch the dancer but instead to hear the dancer.
With the use of theatrical lighting and complete darkness, our guided journey began as soon as the curtain opened onto darkness and a repeating sound like a knock on a hollow door awakened our ears. Then a visual was introduced — an electric-green cyc glowed and silhouetted three enormous boxes along the back of the stage — each with a man poised on top. The men started to move and the rhythms, which started slowly and sparsely, began to increase in speed and complexity as the three dark figures moved in perfect unison to the synchronized sound of their tapping feet.
Then, four sets of bright white (but well-worn) tap shoes were highlighted in a low sidelight downstage next to a side curtain. Now it was close up and personal as we were introduced to watching where the sounds came from. The silver taps attached to the sole and heel of the shoes glimmered as eight feet “conversed,” introducing new rhythmic phrases that were batted back and forth with different intentions. At times it sounded teasing or argumentative, and at other times humorous and even silly. As our eyes got accustomed to the illumination, the trousers of four men with their thumbs tucked in their belt loops were revealed, making me imagine that they were four old-timers whiling away their time exchanging stories on a street corner.
Performers entered and exited adding to the interplay of rhythms but it wasn’t until the lights came up and the full ensemble of seven dancers was onstage that we could start to recognize them. Throughout the work, there were many moments of changing it up like when John Manzari, wearing shiny black patent tap shoes, danced a quiet solo of soft shoe sounds that included scrapes and slides. At one point, he kept repeating a simple jump landing on both feet but each time he landed, the sound changed tone according to how high and forcefully he landed.
Another fantastic solo, which started in the dark with a strange popping sound and a variety of unusual sounds, was performed by Luke Hickey. It seemed to be a contemporary version of the hambone dance, or “pattin’ Juba,” which is rooted in the African tradition where claps, slaps on thighs, arms and legs are used to create rhythmic music. As the solo ended in a slow fade of the overhead spotlight, Hickey was paused — his leg casually extended to the side with his foot rapidly tapping the floor like a frenzied woodpecker. This was the moment when I realized that these performers were not just dancers, they were actually musicians who moved to create their music.
Dorrance’s choreography leaves explicit space for her performers to incorporate their own experiences into the dance through improvisation. Dorrance insists on the importance of creating that space because she sees it as a way to respect and honor tap dance’s origins. Christopher Broughton’s solo moments not only showcased his technical expertise but also his sheer enjoyment in performing. I especially remember when he elevated himself to walk on the tips of his tap shoes like a ballerina on pointe.
Soundspace/Redux was originally created as a site-specific work that explored the acoustics of St. Mark’s Church in New York City but was later adapted for stage performances. In order to hear the tapping in the areas on the stage where the tappers tap, a lot of technical work needs to be done to amplify the sound without playback. This enormous responsibility is handled by the company’s sound designer, Christopher Marc, who had placed microphones on the floor all around the stage and during the performance, he kept the sound levels balanced.
The second half of the evening’s performance featured A Swing Suite (2025), which was the choreographic debut of two longtime company members, Elizabeth Burke and Luke Hickey. The work, which was also laced with solo improvisations by the dancers, was accompanied by the live performance of three musicians who played familiar tunes as “Come Dance With Me” and “Ain’t Misbehaving.” For the choreographers, the love for these tunes was rooted in their early training under the mentorship of Gene Medler, in whose honor this work was created. In a program note, it stated that “swing is the root of tap dance’s groove, technique, vocabulary, physicality and feeling.” The work was composed of various past works that Burke and Hickey had either collaborated on together or choreographed themselves.
When the curtain opened for A Swing Suite, it revealed three instruments and their musicians lined up across the back of the stage — a black grand piano played by Art Hirahara, a double bass played by Gregory Richardson and a drum set played by Andrew Atkinson.
In A Swing Suite, the style of tapping that accompanied the popular easy-going tunes seemed more choreographed and more familiar — a Fred Astaire style of tapping. The overall mood was more lighthearted and fun than the first work but there were still those stellar moments where an individual dancer broke out and showed off their best moves through improvisation.
Every one of the performers was a standout. Rounding out the excellent cast were Dylan Such, Tommy Wasiuta, Sterling Harris and Brittany DeStefano. Each was an excellent technician with their own individual style and were absolutely fascinating to hear as well as watch.
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I gathered some fun facts from the Talk Back after the show, which focused on shoes, sisters and survival, as well as “What is your favorite food?” I learned that in tap everything is built from the shoes up. It is acceptable to wear your favorite, beat-up tap shoes for performance no matter what they look like — after all, they are the instrument that creates the rhythmic music. I also learned that in tap, “form follows function,” meaning that the tapping comes first and that the upper body movement is added after. More than half of the company dancers started tap dancing because they had sisters who tap danced, I discovered. I also learned various methods that the dancers use to physically survive after their nonstop tapping performances.
But what really stood out in the Talk Back was the performers intention to stay involved in tap dance for their whole career in order to insure the survival (and the push forward) of this uniquely American art form. Their love and dedication were palpable.