In the vibrant tapestry of New York City’s ’90s arts scene, a tap dance revolution was gathering artists and musicians from all over the nation, Michelle Dorrance among them. Shows like Black and Blue, Jelly’s Last Jam, Bubbling Brown Sugar and Sophisticated Ladies had ignited a renaissance of interest in tap, setting the stage for a transformative period of the art form. “Then came Savion Glover and Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk, which blew people’s minds in terms of telling Black history through tap dance,” says Dorrance. “By the time I wanted to create work, I believed that tap dance should exist in every space. This form was brilliant and revolutionary in the way it reflects our culture. I couldn’t believe that it was not on a concert dance stage with regularity. I wanted to show how completely cutting-edge and innovative tap dance could be — and I wanted to create work that helped people understand and respect the fact that this dance form was simultaneously holding onto a very significant, undervalued and misunderstood past.”
It’s a history she holds close, passionately and evangelically sharing it though her choreography, her performances, her educational work. The Artistic Director of Dorrance Dance, the Company she founded in 2011, Michelle was mentored by Gene Medler (North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble) and studied under many of the last master hoofers. “Tap dance was born of resistance,” she says. “It was created almost entirely in response to racial oppression. The folks of my generation — as well as being improvisational soloists, choreographers, dancers and performance artists — are also de facto historians. We got poured into by the last elders of the jazz era. What is our charge on the planet now?”
92NY has had the honor of hosting performances and educational work by Dorrance Dance in recent years. During the pandemic, the company created dd128qr, a brilliant and profoundly moving performance on video for our May 2020 virtual gala. They were in residence during the 2020/21 season and developed education programs with 92NY’s then-all-virtual schools program. In December 2021, Michelle Dorrance performed on our stage with Dormeshia as part of the inaugural season of the Harkness Dance Center’s Mainstage Series, marking the 10th anniversary of the Company’s founding.
On September 29, Dorrance Dance will open our 150th anniversary season with a program that includes a performance of SOUNDspace, the landmark work that brought the company to prominence.
“SOUNDspace is one of my favorites — it’s the first full evening work I made,” says Michelle. “What I was most interested in showing audiences was something we all know to be true — that tap dance is music. Even today, folks will come up to us after the show and say, ‘I get it!’ — as though it is the first time they have thought and experienced this. It was important to me that the way we moved through this space was charged by what we wanted to create and feel, sonically, but in an embodied way. So of course, you’re watching and listening to dance, but you’re also actually feeling it. And I believe tap dance is transcendent in that way.
“I choreographed the entire thing, but featured dancers as improvisational soloists, which is part of our legacy as tap dancers, and a hugely important part of tap dance composition. I revel in their solo work — it’s so exciting to me, every single time. Each of my dancers has a strong, improvisational voice and knows who they are as a musician and as a dancer. To me, they are each of their own species — the last of their kind. Together, we’re like an apocalyptic flock of birds, and we’ve come together to fly.”
Elizabeth Burke, Dorrance Dance’s dancer and co-dance captain, who has been part of the Company since its inaugural performance, agrees. “There is a real alchemy to what we do and who we are as a collective. We’re a bunch of strange, sensitive, passionate birds. We all really love and deeply respect one another. Michelle has always simultaneously encouraged us to be exactly who we are and take risks at the same time — what a beautiful thing to be charged with. When we premiered SOUNDspace, I don’t think any of us had an inkling about how all the years to come were going to unfold. We were just thrilled, really thrilled, to be tap dancing and performing in a unique and historic space, in front of an audience, period!! Of course, I know Michelle’s brilliant material much more intimately now, but the work still teaches me things — every single time I execute it.”
The Company will premiere new works by company members Elizabeth Burke, Luke Hickey and Claudia Rahardjanoto at their 92NY performance on September 29. “First and foremost, I want to thank Michelle for allowing the opportunity. Our new work, A Swing Suite, is a collaborative effort with a longtime collaborator and tremendous inspiration of mine, Luke Hickey — and it is a delight to be presenting work alongside my dear and exquisitely talented friend, Claudia Rahardjanoto. I couldn’t think of two finer people to be in this with.
“Luke and I, artistically, have always been at the mercy of, and in love with, the intrinsic, inextricable link between music and tap dance. We grew up dancing together and are privileged enough to still dance together. We share many common threads, but a huge one has been our love for the music we were exposed to as kids via our mentor, Gene Medler. It has informed our taste our whole lives, and always will. This work is an offering, of sorts, of where we’ve been, where we are, and how just about every single road always leads back to home.”
Dorrance Dance returns to 92NY to celebrate the opening of the organization’s 150th anniversary season of dance on Fri, Sep 29. Tickets — for the in-person and live stream performance — are available here.