Imagine Tap! Grant, Derick K. performer Tolson, Aaron performer Edwards, Dormeshia Sumbry performer Casel, Ayodele performer Smith, Jason Samuels performer Theatrical Performance 2006-07-11 Harris Theater for Music and Dance July 11-August 6, 2006 Imagine Tap! World Premiere Harris Theatre for Music and Dance, Chicago, IL "Imagine Tap!" with its cast of blues-gospel-pop singers and eighteen of the freshest rhythm tap and break dancers on the planet, is a surreal, acid-induced tap dance dream. Choreographer-director Derick K. Grant, with co-creator Aaron Tolson and musical director Zane Mark, envision tap as a movie musical come-to-life, stars raising glistening gowns and tuxedo pants to hoof you into oblivion. Tap dance ("Echoes") is a heaven of harmonizing voices, chattering feet and a black Jesus (Grant) whose stuttering rhythms resurrect him into white light. Tap in "Three Chefs" is the buck-and-wing fervor of love-struck boys (Jared Grimes, Jason Janas and Joseph Wiggan) in white jackets and puff-pastry chef hats, strutting, slinking, falling head-over-heels in flips, splits, and somersaults for diva Vanessa Jones, mouthing lyrics with lips, mooching with hips. Tap dance is a (tour de) force. In "The Doll" set in a toy store where a pretty-in-pink girl-doll is admired but never bought, Ayodele Casel battles an army of he-men (toting neon-plastic machine guns) in her Mary-Janes, turning waltz-clog steps into a barrage of bullets. Ray Hesselink's tooth-grinning don't-rain-on-my-parade smile ("Mr. Happy") radiates with sprightly time steps and easy-going slides to cheer up a sad Superman (Tolson). The red-hot rage of Jason Samuels-Smith's taps ("Samurai Shuffle") incinerates all enemies. Pure fun. But the spread-the-word news about "Imagine Tap!" is Grant expands tap from a virtuosic solo form into group choreography, designing eye-catching movement patterns for a kick-ass chorus (Chloe Arnold, Michelle Dorrance, Jumaane Taylor are standouts) that focus attention on rhythmically brilliant feet. "Somebody give the Lord a hand" the twinkled-toed-preacher Martin Tre' Dumas III implores his foot-stomping congregation in "Dance Like David" coaxing non-believer Brill Barrett to "catch the spirit" with flapping feet. Somebody do the same for Grant who has dared to imagine myriad expressions for tap dance. What do you call a tap musical that turns a junior high classroom into a rocking house party ("Detention"), drops a two-bar soft-shoe break down to the floor ("Hip Hop A-Tea For Two"), and vents a woman's blues (Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, "Subway Heat") on a hot summer day? Dream on it. "Imagine Tap!" cast: David "Cyclone" Alan-Folger, Chloe Arnold, Ephrat "Bounce" Asherie, Bril Barrett, Jessica Chapius, Ayodele Casel, Michelle Dorrance, Martin Tre- Dumas III, Derick K. Grant, Jared Grimes, Michael Hawlins, Ray Hesselink, Jason Janas, Kelly Kaleta, Daniel Pinero, Jason Samuels-Smith, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Vanessa Jones, Jumaane Taylor, Aaron Tolson, Joseph Wiggan. Performing Arts Encyclopedia http://www.loc.gov/performingarts Hill, Constance Valis: Constance Valis Hill, personal collection of tap dance materials. (). Tap Dance America http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/tda/tda-home.html Jason Samuels Smith (biography) loc.music.tdabio.170 Ayodele Casel (biography) loc.music.tdabio.47 Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards (biography) loc.music.tdabio.83 Derick K. Grant (biography) loc.music.tdabio.100 tda IHAS 151216 loc.music.tda.1350