Tap Day Events

7th Annual Tap Day Celebration

Classes – Concerts – Community
May 16 – 18, 2025

In partnership with Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, we bring together over 100 Tap Dancers for an eclectic evening of rhythm and music, honouring the legacy of Tap Legend, the late Bill “Bojangles” Robinson.

The focus of the weekend is to develop a vibrant, inspired, and inclusive tap dance community, to create a platform for the creation and presentation of new work, and to advance and celebrate rhythm tap and the percussive arts in Alberta.

We welcome rhythmic artists, musicians and spectators of all ages. The weekend offers master classes & workshops, discussions, a live music tap jam and a Mainstage Concert presentation.

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About Tap Day

A Bill to designate May 25th as National Tap Dance Day was introduced in the House of Representatives in September of 1988 and on November 7, 1989, May 25th was chosen to commemorate the birth of Bill Robinson (May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949) and his outstanding contribution to the art of tap dancing on both stage and in film through the unification of diverse stylistic and racial elements.

Tap Day Proclamation

Whereas, the multifaceted art form of tap dancing is a manifestation of the
cultural heritage of our Nation, reflecting the fusion of African and European cultures into an exemplification of the American spirit, that should be, through documentation, 
 and archival and performance support, transmitted to succeeding generations;

Whereas, tap dancing has had an historic and continuing influence on other genres of
American art, including music, vaudeville, Broadway musical theater, and film, as well as other dance forms;

Whereas, tap dancing is a joyful and powerful aesthetic force providing a source of enjoyment and an outlet for creativity and self-expression for Americans on both the professional and amateur level;

Whereas, it is in the best interest of the people of our Nation to preserve, promote, and celebrate this uniquely American art form;

Whereas, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson made an outstanding contribution to the art of tap dancing on both stage and film through the unification of diverse stylistic and racial elements; and

Whereas, May 25, as the anniversary of the birth of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson is an appropriate day on which to refocus the attention of the Nation on American tap dancing:

Now therefore, be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that May 25 is designated “National Tap Dance Day.” The President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe such a day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

Tap Day Event Schedule

Tap Day Community Concert Submissions Open
March 1, 2025
Tap Day Community Concert Submission Deadline – Solos
March 23, 2025
Tap Day Community Concert Submission Deadline – Groups
March 28, 2025
Workshop Early Bird Deadline
April 1, 2025
May 16 – Tap Jam
7:30pm – 9:00pm
May 17 – Workshops & Master Classes
9:30am – 4:30pm
May 18 – Tap Day Community Concert
2:30pm & 7:30pm

 

All events will be at the DJD Dance Centre
111 12 Avenue SE

Tap Day Workshop Faculty

Leah Silva

A native of Southern California, Leah Silva is a sought out International Instructor, Award-Winning Choreographer, Artistic Director, Producer, and Critically Acclaimed Performer.
Leah Silva has been featured in publications like Dance Teacher Magazine and has achieved notable milestones, including being the first tap dancer invited as an Artist-In-Residence at Zion National Park. Her accomplishments span choreographing for the Television Academy’s Emmy Awards Governor Balls, performing for Mattel Toys, and working with American Idol finalists. She was also the pre-show entertainment for Broadway’s touring hit, 42ND Street, at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, and has created choreography for Nestlé’s international dance campaign.
Through her impactful and unique teaching approach, Leah is recognized for training and mentoring some of the most promising and up and coming young tap dance artists. Leah’s students have been highly recognized internationally and have achieved prestigious recognition, including winning YoungArts and the Music Center’s Spotlight.
Her award-winning choreography has been showcased at prestigious events and film festivals. Additionally, her work was featured live on PBS during the Music Center’s Holiday Celebration at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Leah is the Founder and Artistic Director of Reverb Tap Company, known for its innovative dance-film productions, which have garnered the company’s achievement in becoming an Official Selection at the Newport Beach Film Festival. She is also the Founder and Director of the international Orange County Tap Festival.

Mary Thomas

Mary Thomas is an accomplished tap dancer from Southern California and the Associate Co-Director of Reverb Tap Company. She started as a member of Reverb in 2016 and has performed at dance festivals and special events around the country, including the 2018 Emmy Awards Governors Balls.
Mary is passionate about choreographing and in 2019 was awarded the Rhapsody in Taps’ Ted Gatto Memorial Tap Legacy Scholarship. Highlights include choreographing for the Huntington Beach High School Academy for the Performing Arts and having her choreography featured in “The Space Between” concert at the Old Town Temecula Theater in 2023.
She also enjoys teaching students of all ages and levels in Southern California and recently taught tap at Golden West College. Mary is honored to teach and perform at festivals and workshops, including the OC Tap Festival for six years running. Her goal as a teacher is to instill technique, musicality, artistry, and most importantly, a love of the dance in all her students.
Mary has always been encouraged in her art by Christy Hernandez, Linda Sohl-Ellison, and Leah Silva, and she considers herself very blessed to be mentored by these three phenomenal women and tap dancers. Mary graduated summa cum laude from Cal State Long Beach in 2023 with her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration – Accounting.

Tasha Lawson

Tasha Lawson is an established International dance artist with 25 plus years as a vibrant and successful visionary spanning festival producer, educator, choreographer, artistic director and performer.
Ms. Lawson is the founder, producer and artistic director of Calgary’s Tri-Tone Rhythm Ensemble and Rhythm, Body and Soul Tap Festival, with a focus on preserving and promoting tap dance and percussive arts through education and presentation.
Ms. Lawson, is recognized for developing well rounded dancers, providing the foundation needed to pursue a professional career.  Students have been accepted into prestigious schools including Jacob’s Pillow in Massechusettes and Escola Luthier in Barcelona, and performed with acclaimed companies such as STOMP and Dorrance Dance.
Passionate about education, Miss Lawson developed Tri-Tone Teacher Training Program’s in Rhythm Tap and Pre-School Creative Dance, sharing methodologies that integrate technique, musicality, artistry and history while inspiring creativity and self discipline in students.
Tasha toured the US and Japan in 2010-2011, as Assistant Artistic Director of Cirque Du Soleil’s, KOOZA, maintaining show quality and artist integration. She has delivered body percussion workshops for the Cirque casts in Las Vegas, and for the International Body Music Festival’s in San Francisco and Paris.
From 2002-2008,  Tasha performed and toured with Tapestry Dance Company in Austin, Texas, under the direction of Acia Gray. During this time, Tasha also served as Artistic Director of  Tapestry’s apprentice company, Visions In Rhythm, directing the creation of six full-length concert presentations.
Tasha has guested at numerous International Festivals in North America, South America and Europe. She was on faculty at Jacobs Pillow for its  inaugural Professional Tap program and has been artist is residence for Capilano University, University of Texas, Decidedly Jazz Dancework’s PTP Program, Harbour Dance Center, Vancouver’s, ITP Program. She will be teaching for The University of Calgary
Tasha Graduated with advanced standing in Dance Teacher Training and Dance Performance, from Grant MacEwan University,  with a focus on pedagogy in modern, jazz and classical ballet and pre-school creative dance. She later attended the Modern Dance Program at Simon Fraser, then re-located to New York, immersing in rhythm tap and music studies.
In 2022, Tasha premiered Lawson Percussive Dance Arts, a multi-form dance and live music company comprised of Tri-Tone Ensemble Alumni, which premiered at the National Music Center, supported in part by the Calgary Arts Development Authority,
Grateful for the many opportunities afforded to her, she strives to share her experiences and give back to community.  Tasha is currently in her 10th Season as AD with the Tri-Tone Rhythm Ensemble,  sits on the Board of Directors for the Dianne Walker Legacy Foundation, and  will be teaching at the University of Calgary in the Spring of 2024.

Jeffrey Dawson

Jeffrey Dawson is a tap dancer from Vancouver, BC. An alumnus of the Vancouver Tap Dance Society’s youth company TapCo, he has performed on both the local and the international stage. In 2019, he performed in the award-winning show “The Souls of Our Feet” with Tapestry Dance Company in Austin; with Jason Janas’s Co.MMIT at the Chicago Human Rhythm Project; and in Danny Nielsen’s production “On Foot” in Vancouver. Jeffrey is also an alumnus of the 2019 Tap Program at Jacob’s Pillow, and as part of the program was given the opportunity to present his own choreography in a show at the prestigious Ted Shawn Theatre. Jeffrey was commissioned to create a 35-minute set of choreography for the Vancouver Tap Dance Society’s show “Let Us Dance” in the summer of 2021, and was commissioned by the Vancouver Tap Dance Society to create another original work in the summer of 2022. He was invited to be the Artist-in-Residence at the 2023 OC Tap Festival, and premiered an original 25-minute work at the festival in July of 2023. Over the past two years Jeffrey has also established himself within the Vancouver jazz community, bandleading at prominent jazz venues such as Tyrant Studios, 2nd Floor Gastown, and Frankie’s Jazz Club. Most recently, he was invited to be a guest performer with Dorrance Dance for their performance of “SOUNDSpace” in Vancouver in April of 2024.

Connor Denison

Connor Denison is an award-winning tap dancer, choreographer and teacher and has had the honor to teach and perform at a multitude of studios, workshops, and festivals across Canada as faculty, guest artist, and choreographer. Growing up as a company member of Calgary’s Tri-Tone Rhythm Ensemble he has had the opportunity to study the history of Tap Dance, learn repertoire of the masters, as well as participate in the development of new contemporary works under the artistic direction of Tasha Lawson. Connor is also a graduate of the Tri-Tone teacher training program.
Highlighted performance credits include touring BC with the cast of “Love.Be.Best.Free” (Danny Nielsen), dancing as a lead in “Caravan” (Derick Grant and Tasha Lawson) and performing in “The Cholly Project” in Vancouver (Travis Knights). Recently Connor was featured in Danny Nielsen’s full-length production “On Foot,” premiering in the fall of 2019. In the fall of 2020 Connor was an understudy in Lisa Latouche’s piece “Fool’s Gold” presented by Fall For Dance and in 2022 he was hired as a lead dancer in Latouche’s production “Phonetically Speaking.”
In the spring of 2019 Connor began producing his own work entitled “Fourteen”. Audiences were later captivated in the summer of 2020 and 2021 in Calgary when Connor was given the opportunity to extend the piece into a half hour set presented by Springboard, receiving rave reviews from industry professionals. Connor is currently developing the set into his first full length show.

Jordyn Lemire

Jordyn Lemire, a talented tap dancer from Calgary, AB, has made significant strides in her artistic career. She’s performed and studied with Leah Silva’s Reverb Tap Company, Tasha Lawson’s Tri-Tone Rhythm Ensemble, and the Vancouver Tap Dance Society. In 2022, she received the Grace Inglis Memorial scholarship from West Coast Tap and was accepted into the virtual Jacob’s Pillow’s Tap Dance program. This past year, she participated in Decidedly Jazz Danceworks’ Creative Arts residency program. Here, she choreographed and produced her first tap dance concert ‘Paying the Dues’ that was presented in Vancouver and Calgary. During this time, Jordyn founded the Coastside Taphouse Society to provide more opportunities for dancers in the future. Jordyn has performed in various concerts around North America, and recently performed alongside Tasha Lawson, Max Pollak, and Bryan Dyer at the International Body Music Festival in Athens, Greece.

Emma Ritchie

Emma Ritchie is a professional rhythm tap dance artist, passionate educator and award winning choreographer. Her training extends into a multiple of disciples including, ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, and hip hop. In 2014, Emma successfully auditioned for the Tri-Tone Rhythm Ensemble, where she spent 8 years deepening her studies in rhythm, history, music, composition and improvisation, under direction of Tasha Lawson. With the ensemble, Emma has trained and performed both locally and abroad including, the Vancouver International Tap Festival, Third Coast Rhythm Project, New York City Tap Festival, Gabriola On Tap, Rhythm Body and Soul Tap Festival, Alberta Feets Festival, and at the Dianne Walker Experience, among others.
In addition, Emma is a graduate of the Luthier School of Music and Dance’s Professional Training Program for Tap Dancers, located in Barcelona, Spain.
Upon returning to Calgary, Emma has been actively educating and choreographing throughout Alberta.  Professional performance credits include, “Play It Forward” and site specific work at the National Music Center with Lawson Percussive Dance Arts, under the direction of Tasha Lawson, “Phonetically Speaking”, with Lisa LaTouche’s, TapPhonics, and “Recapitulation” with Naranja Dance Project (Spain).
Emma’s professional choreography has been presented by Spring Board Dance at Container Park, Dance YYC and at the National Music Center for International Tap Day.
Emma has studied pedagogy and methodologies in the Tri-Tone Teacher Training program and is currently on faculty with the Rhythm Ensemble in Calgary and works closely with Tasha, mentoring young dancers in the development of the Tri-Tone sister company in Red Deer., Emma is dedicated to her craft, and excited to share her knowledge with aspiring young dancers, while continuing to expand and refine her personal artistry.

Tap Jam Musicians

Jon Day

In 1999, Jon moved to Calgary, Canada where he continued to perform, arrange, and compose with several large and small ensembles across Western Canada. Jon has also had the privilege of sharing the stage with greats like Alex Acuna, Howard McCrary, Linda McCrary, Oscar Cartaya, Hugh Fraser, Ross Taggart, PJ Perry, Don Thompson, Sean Jones, Brad Turner, Jamey Aebersold, Kevin Dean, Elizabeth Shepherd, Judy Niemack, Ranee Lee, and Andre White, to name a few. Noted for his versatility, he has also performed with blues/rock legends Jack Semple, Doug Riley, Clarence Clemens and the “Temple of Soul”, among others.
In addition to his impressive performance career which has included performances at private functions for celebrity personalities like actor Robert Duval, and directing a band for several prominent political events for the Mayor of Calgary, Jon is known for being a skillful instructor and has worked for more than two decades as a private and group instructor on both trumpet and piano. He has also worked as a civilian instructor and conductor of marching bands, small ensembles, and jazz ensembles for several Air Cadet Squadrons across Canada.
After spending several years traveling and living abroad (USA, UK, Central America), Jon returned to Calgary in 2012 where he worked as a music professor at Mount Royal University and Rocky Mountain College teaching instrument technique, performance technique, improvisation, music theory and ear training, arranging, composition, and history.
Jon is an accomplished composer having authored songs for several artists, including the song “La Cubana” recorded by Allistair Elliott – winner of the 2008 Canadian Smooth Jazz Award for Wind Instrumentalist of the Year – on his album, “Urban Nights”. Jon has also composed and orchestrated original orchestral works for numerous full-scale live musical theatre productions including “A Christmas Carol”, “The Grinch”, and “It’s a Wonderful Life”. He also co-wrote, “Change Me”, for which he received a shared nomination for Outstanding Songwriter at the 2001 Prairie Music Awards (now “Western Canadian Music Awards”).
Jon’s latest projects including composing music for a book entitled “A View from Heaven” by author Carolyn Neary. This one-of-a-kind book includes visionary literature combined with visual art and music. For more info, visit A View from Heaven.
In addition to performing, recording, teaching, and writing, Jon has spent a decade honing his skills as a Music Director and Artistic Director in a variety of large contemporary churches across Canada and the United States. Jon currently resides in Calgary, Alberta where he works as a sessional faculty member at the University of Calgary as well as a freelance performer, producer, recording artist, educator, arranger, orchestrator, and composer.

Tyler Hornby

Tyler started drumming at age 10, honed his artistry in high school big bands and experimental jazz combos, and has blossomed into one of the country’s most innovative and sought-after drummers. After completing his B.Mus in Jazz Studies 98’ Tyler continued to enhance his drumming skills attending the North Texas Drumset Camp, studying with legendary instructor Ed Soph. Tyler received a scholarship to the University of Colorado (Boulder) and completed his Masters Degree in Jazz Performance/Pedagogy 2006. Since then he has become a gifted composer by expanding his musical tastes, studying the craft with Grammy Award winning pianist Chip Stephens, and immersing himself in the work of other great players from all over the planet. His list of collaborators is wide and wealthy, including Bob Mintzer, Ingrid Jensen, Wycliffe Gordon, Frank Mantooth, Alain Caron, Randy Brecker, Eric Marienthal, Tom Harrell, Jiggs Whigham, Irvin Mayfield, James Carter, Brad Goode, Chip Stephens, Hugh Fraser, Tommy Banks, PJ Perry, Shelly Berg, Ralph Bowen, Maciek Grzywacz (with a 2007 Polish Music Award nomination for their collaboration), Maciej Sikala, Piotr Lemanczyk, Pat Bianchi, John Gunther, Ken Walker, Phil Dwyer, Mike Murley, David Braid, Joel Miller, Campbell Ryga, Jeff Johnston, Brad Turner, Victor Goines, Kirk MacDonald, Jens Lindemann, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and Decidedly Jazz Danceworks.

Kodi Hutchinson

One of the most active musicians in Western Canada, double bassist Kodi Hutchinson is a man who wears many hats. As well as running his own musical group the Hutchinson Andrew Trio,CKUA radio show “A Time For Jazz”, and record label Chronograph Records, Kodi is a sought after sideman on both double bass and electric bass
Described by those who know him as creative, introspective and just a happy-go-lucky guy, Kodi started his career in jazz while attending the University of Calgary. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Commerce in 1995, but followed his true passion and jumped  into play music full-time shortly thereafter. since those early beginnings, Kodi has established himself as on of the top call bassists in Alberta. He has worked with artists such as P.J. Perry, Lee Konitz, Oliver Jones, Julian Priester, Walt Weiskopf, Karl Schwonik, Dave Restivo, Owen Howard, Hugh Fraser, Paul Tobey, Ingrid Jensen, Denny Christianson, Ross Taggert, Mike Murley, Marc Antoine, Nick Colionne, Beat Kaestli, Bill Anschell, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Theatre Calgary and Decidedly Jazz Danceworks.
Kodi’s wide range of musical tastes have allowed him to tour throughout North America and Europe with such groups such as Karl Schwonik, Clanterra, Destino, Johanna Silanpaa as well as Sillian & Young. The Hutchinson Andrew Trio won the prestigious 2013 TD Grand Jazz Award at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and all three of their albums, ‘Prairie Modern’ (2013), ‘Music Box’ (2008) and ‘Lost but not Together’ (2006) were nominated for the Western Canadian Music Award for Outstanding Jazz Recording. His boutique jazz record label, Chronograph Records, was nominated for independent Record Label of the Year in 2009 & 2011 – a testament to his hard work and passion for promoting Western Canadian artists.
Kodi is a true artist that finds musical inspiration in the simple things – and he channels this inspiration into his work with the Hutchinson Andrew Trio and all his musical endeavours.