Imagine Tap!Imagine Tap! July 11-August 6, 2006 Harris Theatre for Music and Dance, Chicago, IL Imagine Tap!, with its cast of blues-gospel-pop singers and 18 of the freshest rhythm tap and break dancers on the planet, is a surreal, acid-induced tap dance dream. Choreographer-director Derick K. Grant Derick K. Grant is an African-American tap dancer and choreographer. He came to prominence in 1996, as an original company member and Dance Captain in the George C. Wolfe-produced musical Bring In 'Da Noise, Bring In 'Da Funk , with co-creator Aaron Tolson A native of Manchester, New Hampshire, Aaron Tolson has been a tap dancer since 1986. He is currently the assistant choreographer, co-creator, and assistant producer of Imagine Tap! - a tap show created with Derick Grant. and musical director Zane Mark, envision tap as a movie musical come-tolife, stars raising glistening glis·ten intr.v. glis·tened, glis·ten·ing, glis·tens To shine by reflection with a sparkling luster. See Synonyms at flash. n. A sparkling, lustrous shine. gowns and tuxedo pants to hoof hoof, horny epidermal casing at the end of the digits of an ungulate (hoofed) mammal. In the even-toed ungulates, such as swine, deer, and cattle, the hoof is cloven; in the odd-toed ungulates, such as the horse and the rhinoceros, it is solid. you into oblivion. Tap dance ("Echoes") is a heaven of harmonizing voices, chattering feet and a black Jesus (Grant) whose stuttering stuttering or stammering, speech disorder marked by hesitation and inability to enunciate consonants without spasmodic repetition. Known technically as dysphemia, it has sometimes been attributed to an underlying personality disorder. rhythms resurrect him into white light. Tap dance in "Three Chefs" is the buck-and-wing fervor of love-struck boys (Jared Grimes, Jumaane Taylor 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 A toy store, or toy shop, is a retail business specializing in the services of selling toys. No longer held to the limitations of the brick and mortar outlet, the toy store has successfully created a presence within the e-commerce industry. where a pretty-in-pink girl-doll is admired but never bought, Ayodele Gasel 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 spright·ly adj. spright·li·er, spright·li·est Full of spirit and vitality; lively; brisk. adv. In a lively, animated manner. spright time steps and easy-going eas·y·go·ing also eas·y-go·ing adj. 1. a. Living without undue worry or concern; calm. b. Lax or negligent; careless. c. 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 that Grant expands tap from a virtuosie solo form into group choreography, designing eye-catching movement patterns for a kick-ass chorus (Chloe Arnold, Michelle Dorrance, and Jason Janas 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. Constance Valis Hill |
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