Just ahead of this year’s San Francisco Tap Festival, producer Melissa Tannus has a message for the public: tap dance is alive.
“People don’t realize we’re still here,” Tannus said, referring to the many tap dancers around the globe who are still training, jamming, and performing. But in the sprawling landscape of the Bay, it can be hard for tap dancers to find opportunities to connect with one another and get exposure to new teachers.
Tannus felt that disconnection herself when she first moved to San Francisco. Looking for classes and finding few, she would often travel to festivals far away to get inspiration. That’s part of why Tannus founded the San Francisco Tap Festival, now in its fourth year. She hopes it will make San Francisco a center of tap again.
The festival, which runs May 15–17, brings in acclaimed tap dance teachers from around the Bay and across the country to teach, perform, and offer personalized feedback in an adjudicated student showcase. It’s a quick festival relative to the weeklong engagements that are typical in other locales. But it will be packed.
Nine different teachers will offer classes and residencies back-to-back over the course of 48 hours. When class isn’t in session, there will be a lunch talk on tap history, a panel discussion, a footage night, and a cutting contest — the traditional format for improvised tap battles. Also returning from last year is a new beginner level, to supplement the more challenging intermediate- and advanced-level courses typical at festivals.
Tannus described the feel of the SF Tap Festival as a “family reunion” because many students return each year, and she has selected the faculty lineup to include teachers who are not only “good professionals” and “good people” but also skilled in giving personalized feedback and attention to students. That said, she suggested the student showcase and the final faculty concert may appeal to folks outside of the tap scene who simply want to enjoy a night of good dancing.
“San Francisco was such a mecca for tap dancing back in the day,” Tannus said, referring to the presence of Eddie Brown in the 1970s and visits from several touring companies like the Jazz Tap Ensemble. World-renowned tap dancer Sam Weber was in that ensemble and is one of the festival’s teachers.
As one of the few professional tap dancers in San Francisco, Weber said he hopes the festival will spark more interest in the city’s tap dance classes and bring more outside information in for local tap dancers.
“It’s a great festival that brings together a lot of people, who, if dancers haven’t been exposed to them, they should!” Weber said. Acclaimed choreographers Derick Grant and Aaron Tolson are among those flying in from out of state to teach at the festival.
Tap dancers and theater performers used to flock to San Francisco to study at the Mason-Kahn Dance Studios, founded by tap master Stan Kahn and his wife Patsy Mason. This studio was the hub of tap in San Francisco and attracted many dancers who then went on to Broadway. Since the closing of the studio, the once-vibrant tap scene in SF has become “small,” according to Weber, with a lot more tap schools operating in the suburbs. “I’d really love to see tap start to develop in the city,” Weber said.
Still more tap is happening around the country and across the globe. “When [tap] was in Hollywood movies, then people saw it all over the world. When it dropped out of Broadway musicals for a while and out of Hollywood movies, people had the feeling that tap died. But people should know that it’s a thriving art form and it’s developing in all kinds of interesting ways,” Weber said. “There’s more tap going on than ever before.”
Tannus had a similar message for San Francisco. “It’s not a dead art form,” she said. “There are many talented dancers in the Bay Area, all around the country, all around the world, and we’re here. We’re making moves.”
For those looking to spectate, the student showcase will be Saturday, May 16 at 7:30 p.m. and the final “Shufflin’ the Fog Away” faculty performance will be Sunday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m. Both performances take place at the Dance Mission Theater in San Francisco.
