Channing Cook-Holmes (Music Director/Drums) -- An Inglewood, CA native representing the West Coast, Channing Cook Holmes is blessed with talents that have taken him around the world.  His drumming ability, his syncopated rhythmic tap dance style, his singing, and his natural audience appeal, have taken Channing from dance company (Jazz Tap Ensemble), to stage (Riverdance, tour and Broadway), to small screen, (Bojangles), to big screen, (Gangs of New York).  His is the consummate entertainer.  Channing is adding directing and producing to his repertoire with the production of his current, award winning children's show Lil' Chan Can Tap Dance.  Channing Cook Holmes is a "must watch" artist with more to come.

John Kloss started to tap inspired by early performances of tap on film, and gained his first training in Chicago with many of tap’s masters.  John has appeared in the short film Tap Heat, as an ensemble member and soloist with Jazz Tap Ensemble and Especially Tap Chicago, as a founding member of the tap duo The Swift Brothers, and in festival productions such as the St. Louis Tap Festival, the Chicago Human Rhythm Project, and the Maui Tap Experience.  John has also been a featured performer at San Francisco 's Bay Area Dance Awards.  Inspired also by the many incredibly gifted performing artists and variety of styles in tap, John’s interests have led to a performing resume that includes a notable list of tap artists and work in a wide range of settings.  He has performed in concert ensemble choreography of Gregory Hines and Jimmy Slyde, in film choreography by Danny Daniels and Jason Samuels-Smith, with Samuels-Smith in early incarnations of the group ACGI (“Anybody Can Get It”), and in numerous events alongside many of today’s top tap artists.  John has also appeared in festival and other events honoring such luminaries as the Nicholas Brothers, Four Step Brothers Maceo Anderson and Prince Spencer, Peg Leg Bates, Arthur Duncan, and Michael Jackson, and at national conferences of corporations such as Wal-Mart and AT&T.  In 2003, John established the California nonprofit STEPOLOGY, San Francisco’s Bay Area Tap Festival, and the festival’s concert performance component, the Bay Area Rhythm Exchange.  In his roles as founder, director, and performing artist, John’s efforts have led to programming which has twice been listed in the San Francisco Chronicle’s “Top Ten Dance Performances of the Year”, earned an “Access to Artistic Excellence” grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and been described by the San Francisco Bay Times as invoking “…an appreciation of tap’s history while inspiring an excitement for tap’s present and future.” 

Mark Mendonca (Special Guest -- * schedule permitting) Mark Mendonca's extensive career as a performer and choreographer includes performances for the last three U. S. Presidents, as well as performances on Broadway, television, and concert stages around the world.  Mark's dancing was motion captured for the animated feature film "The Polar Express" directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks.  In the year 2000, Mark was chosen to open for Barbra Streisand's farewell concert tour with performances at Madison Square Garden in New York and the Staples Center in Los Angeles.  On Broadway, Mark danced in the Tony Award-winning production of "Bring in 'Da Noise!  Bring in 'Da Funk!", and has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Davies Symphony Hll, the Biennale de la Danse, the Joyce Theater, Jacob's Pillow, The Tiger Palast in Frankfurt, Germany, and the Apollo Theater, among many others.  He has shared the stage with the late tap masters the Nicholas Brothers, Jimmy Slyde, Charles 'Honi' Coles, Eddie Brown, Steve Condos, Chuck Green, Bunny Briggs, Lon Chaney and Buster Brown, and has made numerous appearances with Gregory Hines, appearing with him in "A Gala for the President at Ford's Theater", and in "The Kennedy Center Honors", both televised on ABC.  Mark's dancing was featured in the Emmy Award-nominated documentary "Juba:  The Masters of Tap and Percussive Dance", aired on PBS, and in "The Summit of the Americas", which aired in Canada.  Mark toured both nationally and internationally with his won company, The Steps Ahead Tap Trio and with Jazz Tap Ensemble and has taught and performed at dance festivals throughout the U. S. including the Colorado Dance Festival, Florida Dance Festival, as well as festivals in San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Minneapolis, Boston, Portland, and Anchorage.  He has been on the faculty at Loyola Marymount University and Santa Monica College, and has also taught classes at UCLA, Cal State LA, Cal State Long Beach, Los Angeles County High School of the Arts and Orange County High School of the Arts, among others.  Mark has worked with director James Brooks, choreographer Twyla Tharp and fellow tap dancers Bill Irwin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Elizabeth Berkley, and Christopher Walken.  Mark was the first person to receive a Princess Grace Foundation Award for tap dance and was the winner of the 1997 Lester Horton Dance Award for outstanding achievement in individual performance.  Mark has also received a Brody Art Fund Artists Fellowship.

Lukas Weiss -- An innovator on the European tap dance scene, Lukas Weiss magically blends tap dancing, body language and juggling into one humorous and spectacular performance, displayed with virtuosity and ease.  His style is captivating, marked by such rhythmical richness and musicality that any other instrumentation is superfluous.  Lukas Weiss took his first dance lessons at the age of 12.  At 16 he was already on stage.  Besides tap, his repertoire includes African, jazz, modern dance, and ballet.  In 1998 he developed his breathtaking solo act, combining tap dancing and juggling.  This led to performances throughout Europe, in India, and the USA, and to special guest appearances in prominent tap dance shows and festivals.  In 2008/2009, Lukas Weiss successfully toured Switzerland and Germany with a solo programme.  In addition to having his own production company, he is a sought-after guest teacher and has a leading role in a documentary film about percussive dance coming to Swiss cinemas in 2010. 

 Also Appearing:

Lamont Keller (Bass) entered the music industry at age 11 and shortly thereafter toured the world for three years with the heavy metal band Garage Pieces.  Lamont enjoys playing various genres of music, and has had the privilege to play with renowned artists such as Digital Underground, Brownstown, Vesta, Kenny Lutimore, Kelly Price, and Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest, as well as Channing Cook Holmes as part of the team "Got Rhythm Styles".  Lamont feels blessed to have acquired his musical talents and looks forward to continuing the journey to new horizons and acquiring knowledge and experience along the way.

Dimitrius Collins (Keyboards)

Michael B. Mooring (Percussion