Double time and numbers: young tappers honor the past while celebrating the present.

JAMboree!, the final concert of Chicago Human Rhythm Project's second annual Youth Tap Ensemble Conference, took on special resonance. Earlier that day, tap legend Gregory Hines's death was reported. The mood, however, was encouraging as thirteen tap groups (double the amount of last year) proved that tap's hooters would not disappear. They took tap in daring new directions, like body drumming and a fusion of funk, hip-hop, jazz, African, Latin, and Irish step-dancing styles.

JAMboree! culminated in master teacher Heather Cornell's exhilarating recreation of a sand dance. Inspired by pioneering sand dancer Harriet Brown, sand dance, which is usually performed as a solo, was set on conference participants as an ensemble number. Cornell compared the style of the dance to the "brushing of drums versus hitting drums with sticks."

During one rehearsal, the dancers literally kicked up a sandstorm. "The sand goes up your nose and in your eyes," complained 14-year-old Holly English of the Silver Spring, Maryland-based Tappers With Attitude. But, despite the sneeze-inducing atmosphere, the dancers felt like they were receiving part of a legacy.

"I think it's important that we don't forget to look back while doing new things and as tap evolves, we have to keep alive the style of the old tap greats," said 16-year-old Gait Jones of Footprints Tap Ensemble in Libertyville, Illinois.

Geared toward collaboration, not competition, Youth Tap Ensemble Conference is the brainchild of Chicago Human Rhythm Project's co-founder/ artistic director Lane Alexander (see "Man With a Mission Taps Into Chicago," DANCE MAGAZINE, August 2001, page 48) and Gent Medler, founder/artistic director of the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble.

This year, one hundred and twenty dancers, between the ages of 11 and 21, participated in the conference. These students represent a growing number of tap and rhythmic dancers who continue to popularize the forms spearheaded by Hines, Savion Glover, Broadway revivals, Riverdance, and shows like Stomp and Tap Dogs. Yet according to Medler, tap still fights for equal footing on the concert stage.

Unlike artists who rise through the ranks of ballet and modern companies, tap dancers usually have to create their own opportunities. "This conference is as much about helping dancers find work as perfecting their technique," says Medler. "Tap is still very much a grassroots thing, and tap dancers today have to be tenacious, smart and good--they have to find their own paths."

OVER THE FIVE-DAY conference, which took place at Northwestern University in Evanston. Illinois, students took technique and choreography classes with respected teachers in the field including Dianne Walker, Sam Weber, Jason Samuels-Smith, and Acia Gray. Seminars in nutrition, injury prevention, and career outlook gave them a chance to ask professionals about future prospects.

Jenna Roe, 18 years old, of Feat x Feet in Whitefish, Montana, is determined to make tap a long-term part of her life. Inspired by the Chicago-based all-female tap ensemble, Rhythm ISS, she says she would like to perform as part of a professional concert tap group. "I've always loved how free tap makes me feel," said Roe. "It's how I best express myself."

Roe's fellow Feat x Feel dancer, 17-year-old Taylor Clayton, plans to join a more percussive troupe, like Stomp. At the Youth Tap Ensemble Conference, he found that he enjoyed the tap slam in which dancers competed for modest monetary awards of $60 to $100. Even though the tap slam was a competition, Clayton noted, "everyone was supportive of each other."

Dianne Walker's class taught how steps are like sentences that form a conversation through the feet. 16-year-old Rayla Bellis, of Tappers With Attitude, teamed up with artists from other states who showed her new ways of improvising. "I'm being exposed to a lot of different styles," she said. "I'm starting to listen to the music more and build on rhythms."

Throughout the conference dancers honored tap's powerful connection to rhythm and live music. "Try to learn more about all types of music. Don't only listen to music you know," urged teacher Roberto Ayala of Mexico City.

The Youth Tap Ensemble Conference did more than just teach technique. It reminded young artists that tap and music share a powerful bond and it helped spark friendships among tappers from around the country. Yes, the Youth Tap Ensemble Conference is well on its way lo creating what Lane Alexander envisions: "a vibrant community of tap artists."

Lucia Mauro is a dance critic and arts writer whose work appears in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Magazine.