2004 Bay Area Tap Festival
Faculty, Performers, & Class Descriptions

 
Channing Cook-Holmes has performed on Broadway in Riverdance, and film credits include Bojangles with Gregory Hines for Showtime and Martin Scorcese's Gangs of New York.  Find Your Flavor 1 & 2 will incorporate a fast paced, mixed bag approach geared toward helping dancers move through advanced phrasing.  Latin Rhythms 2 will continue the grooves (but not necessarily the same steps) from the previous day, and Improvisation will help students of all levels develop more ease with impromptu expression.  Channing says, "It's not what is written, but what you'll experience."

Joan Hill is a classically trained pianist who moved from California to Boston to study Jazz with Charlie Banacos. She became the accompanist of and partner with the legendary Leon Collins. He taught her to dance, and she invented a system of tap notation (The Joan Hill Tap-a-scat-a-matic Bebop System of Tap Notation -- All rights reserved -- all lefts preserved), by which she documented nine of his routines. Joan will provide accompaniment and pointers for the authentic reproduction of these truly unique creations during both Leon Collins Routine #2 classes.

Jerry Kalaf (Music Director) has been an active performer for 30 years and has appeared on concert stages and in jazz clubs around the world with such diverse artists as The Pointer Sisters and conductor Lalo Schiffrin.  As a sideman, Jerry's Jazz credits include Eddie Harris, Gary Burton, Gary Foster, Frank Strazzeri, Milcho Leviev, Bill Mays, Bill Perkins, Jimmy Cleveland, and Major Holley. Jerry has toured Europe, Asia, South America and the United States as musical director of the Jazz Tap Ensemble and has accompanied Gregory Hines at the Apollo Theater and in concert at Carnegie Hall.

John Kloss has performed as an ensemble member & soloist with the Los Angeles based Jazz Tap Ensemble, appears as a dancer in the short film Tap Heat, and tapped in the Universal Arts production of the Beat in San Francisco. Leon Collins Routine #2 will retrace the steps of the late master, as documented by partner Joan Hill.  Latin Rhythms 1 will explore the relationship of tap to grooves from south of the border, and Fundamentals for Teens is geared toward tappers in that age range who would like to strengthen vocabulary and technique through a series of fun exercises.  This class is also well suited to teachers and any others interested in enhancing their command of the basics.


Evie Ladin grew up with traditional American music & dance, clogging, & step dancing, has appeared in countless concert halls & festivals throughout the country, & is a much sought after performer & instructor in percussive dance.  Tap Origins explores the styles that contributed to the development of tap & examines the work of early crossover dancers, while Turns for Tap will enhance your ability to revolve in rhythm.

Sam Weber has an international reputation as a performing artist, and is in demand throughout the world as a performer, master teacher, and choreographer.  Rudiments begins the day by taking students of all levels through technical exercises inspired by the late Steve Condos. In Astaire Routine, students will learn a section of the classic routine "Begin the Beguine" as originally performed by Astaire and Powell.

Keith Terry is a percussionist/rhythm dancer/educator. He has toured extensively in the Americas, Asia, & Europe and is the artistic director of Crosspulse.  "Body Music" is an effective way of internalizing rhythmic work, which enhances the development of timing, phrasing, listening skills, independence, coordination & ensemble awareness. It is great for singers, instrumentalists, & movers of all kinds. Wear comfortable clothing & sneakers or jazz shoes. No experience necessary.

Louis Durra (Piano) has performed with The Jazz Tap Ensemble, Savion Glover, Derek Grant, Sam Weber, Eddie Brown and other great dancers.  He toured Russia and the Baltic states last year with Just In Time, a jazz dance revue.  He has composed for film and television (CBS daytime drama The Guiding Light, Movies-Of-The-Week) and won a Drama-Logue award for his score for The Lesson at the Mark Taper Forum. Louis has scored and music-directed theatrical productions in the UK (Fringe Festival), France and Scandinavia.  Louis edited sound on 26 features for HBO, Showtime and other production companies.  Residing in Los Angeles, Louis freelances as a jazz and classical pianist.

Gregg Geoffroy first became interested in tap when he saw Arthur Duncan and Charles “Honi” Coles (on the Lawrence Welk and Dick Cavett shows, respectively).  His early musical studies began with piano and saxophone.  After years of being a dance school accompanist he rediscovered his interest in tap and sought out the best instruction available.  Gregg has had extensive study both classroom and private instruction with the finest ranging from “the young lions” (Savion Glover, Vincent Bingham, Roxane Butterfly & Mark Mendonca) to our masters (Gregory Hines, Diane Walker, Sam Weber, & Linda Sohl-Donnel, to name a few).  The Eddie Brown B.S. Chorus is one of the few pieces of choreography set by the staunch improvisor Eddie Brown.  It is two of the most rhythmically rich choruses to inform and inspire dancers interested in rhythm tap.  The class will move quickly through an Eddie-based skills warm-up and then directly into the material.  Whether you walk away remembering every step or not, you will have a greater understanding of Eddie’s style and rhythm tap as a whole.

Kamal Sinclair Steele (Mistress of Ceremonies) is a director, choreographer, writer, actor and dancer. In the fall of 1998 she founded Universal Arts, through which she has written, directed and performed in Streams of the Unconscious, The Race of Time and Space, and multiple productions of the Beat and Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome.  She has collaborated and developed new work with Baakari Wilder (Noise/Funk), and Obie Award Winning playwright Robbie McCauley, among others.  In fall of 2002, she wrote and directed the Oneness Awards in Los Angeles's Conga Room, awarding individuals such as Edward James Olmos, Niles Rodgers, Jonathon Butler, Nancy Miller and others.  She returned as director of the Oneness Awards in fall of 2003 at Universal Studios Hollywood, where she wrote and directed a 63 artists extravaganza honoring individulas such as Michael Jackson, Ed Begley Jr., The Jim Hensen Muppet Company and others.  In spring of 2001, she directed and coordinated Universal Arts performances at the Harare International Arts Festival in Zimabwe.  Before forming Universal Arts, Steele made her living as a dancer and choreographer, performing in such commercial projects as STOMP and the 1998 Emmy Awards, MTV, VH1, ABC, NBC, BET, PBS as well as more offbeat offerings such as Paul Langland’s Honor at St. Marks Church and the Amazon Project at Evolving Arts.  International tours brought her to locations such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thialand, China, Macau, New Zealand, Germany, Brazil, Chili and Canada.  She graduated from LA County High School for the Arts and finished her BFA in Drama at NYU's, Tisch School of the Arts.

Jeffrey Takiguchi (Bass) is originally from Honolulu, Hawaii and has lived and worked in Los Angeles since 1978.  He has worked with Carmen MacRae, Ron Townsen of the Fifth Dimension, Ray Charles, jazz pianist Frank Strazzeri and the Jazz Tap Ensemble. Besides being a bass player, vocalist and arranger, he has produced a CD called Music To Remember, featuring the music of the 1940's with the Nisei (second generation) artists who sang and played in the various internment camps during World War II.


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