Studying at home, dancing on tour: these troupers pull a show together in no time

By Joshua Bartlett

Lisa Hopkins, the co-founder and director of Tap Kids, never underestimates the precociousness and maturity level of adolescents and young adults. “My philosophy has always been that just because they’re kids doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be respected as artists,” says Hopkins. She has backed up that statement with the success of Tap Kids, a troupe of eight avid tappers ranging in age from 16 to 21.

What makes this touring company unique is that the cast members study at their hometown dance schools all over North America—in Texas, California, British Columbia, Illinois, Indiana—and assemble for performances at the blink of an eye. The current show, Tap Kids—Senior Year, is a sort of High School Musical told solely through tap and jazz choreography mixed with comic pantomime. A hit at Scotland’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August, Tap Kids performs at up to 35 venues per year. “The task for them is that they have to keep the show fresh because they can’t always rehearse the show together. They rehearse when they get here,” says Hopkins.

As a Tap Kid, Shane Rutkowski, 20, studies swing, funk, body percussion, African drumming, Irish step dance, and South African gumboot dancing. (Photo by Kent Miller)

How do they do it? The driving spirit of Tap Kids springs from the Tap Kids Intensive, an annual weeklong concentrated workshop/festival for hoofers ages 9 to 21. (Traditionally held in Tarrytown, New York, in July, next year the intensive is moving to Burlington, Vermont.) “The intensive is the training ground for the show,” says Hopkins, who studied tap in Canada with her mother, Marion Hopkins, and later obtained a BFA in dance from York University in Toronto. “Anyone who is cast in the show has to come to the intensive, because the training is so intense. It all amalgamates into one vision.”

In addition to classes offered in tap and modern technique, the young hoofers study swing, funk, body percussion, African drumming, Irish step dance, and South African gumboot dancing. All the kids get a chance to learn sections from the show, and there is a showcase for the dancers at the end of the week. The show’s cast members, newbies and veterans, also participate in rehearsals for the upcoming performances that provide them with a solid foundation for the year.

Hopkins, along with her husband, composer Philip Stern, began the tap intensive format when they realized there was a void in concentrated training for talented tap dancers. “There was no vehicle for them,” says Hopkins. “There would be festivals to keep the art form alive. But there was nothing like a Jacob’s Pillow or Tanglewood. We wanted something competitive to get into, but once you were in, you would be completely supported.”

Hopkins and Stern, who teach and act as producers for New York Stage Originals, a production company for musicals like Scrooge, began the Tap Kids Intensive in 2000. At the first one, they had only 40 dancers. “Now we don’t even advertise,” says Hopkins. “We won’t take more than 75 kids. Philip and I were so inspired by their passion that we decided to do a show.”

The original Tap Kids, subtitled School Days, began with 9 cast members (out of 100 auditioners) at its debut performance at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in 2002. All of the dancers, ages 12 to 17, were still in school. By 2004, the show started extensive touring and gradually evolved as the kids grew older and more seasoned.

“Part of the uniqueness of the show is that [the kids] all are different shapes, sizes, and colors. It’s very multiracial,” says Hopkins. “Most have spent a long time with me. As they train with the show, they get a sense of working in diverse ways. Though they are rhythm tap dancers, they have to do some improvisation in the show—but they also have to hit lines.” Coming from different backgrounds, which usually involve tap, jazz, and hip-hop training, the dancers have worked with Hopkins to weed out bad habits and form an integrated team.

KiLeigh Williams, an 18-year-old from Marion, Indiana, has been involved with the show as an original cast member since her pre-teen years. Inspired by fellow students who had attended the Tap Kids Intensive, she signed up. “I loved the intensive so much that I really wanted to audition for the show. I thought there was no chance, but I got in, and still to this day I love it. Not only has it pushed me to be a better dancer, but my confidence was boosted. We are like a huge family with one heart.”

“As a Tap Kid I have learned that being the best and being competitive are not everything. Tap dancing is an art form as well as a team spirit.” —Byron Tittle

Byron Tittle from Hopewell Junction, New York, is the newest addition—an apprentice to the company. He became interested in tap dancing after watching Gregory Hines at an improvisation session and “decided then and there I would like to be like him.” The first time he saw Tap Kids, the dancers’ sheer love for tap dancing made him want to be a part of the show. “As a Tap Kid I have learned that being the best and being competitive are not everything,” says Tittle, age 16. “Tap dancing is an art form as well as a team spirit. Love of tap dancing and the drive to master the art are the most important qualities to have.”

The theme of the show, though quintessentially American, is universal. “It’s about a rite of passage,” says Hopkins. “It’s that incredible time between childhood and adulthood when you feel empowered by your youth, passion, and dreams. The energy and the message are positive and uplifting.”

Intended to reveal a slice of life of a group of high school kids, Tap Kids—Senior Year showcases a range of archetypal characters: the cheerleader and her boyfriend, the basketball player, the class clown, the non-athletic geeks, the gossiping girls. Running 90 minutes, the show’s scenes progress from homeroom to classes to lunch break to detention hall to practice for the halftime show at the varsity game. The show culminates in a big graduation number that brings down the house.

Stern composed an original score for the show that utilized six musicians—an electric keyboard player, electric guitarist, and percussionists. “The score incorporates styles ranging from big band swing to a younger pop feel,” says Stern. “For the detention hall scene, we wanted a Gene Kelly/Donald O’Connor–type number. One scene has an electric guitar number where anarchy takes over the kids. The trick was to create a clean-sounding track that tells the story and highlights the tap dancer without dominating the tap.”

The kids have a blast doing the show, but there is plenty of order in the chaos. Hopkins insists on strict discipline and a no-nonsense attitude. Cast members fly from their home cities and usually have a four-hour brush-up rehearsal the night before a show, so a lot of mental homework is involved. “A huge part of the training is learning how to be professional,” says Hopkins. “They really have to think on their toes.”

Once the high-speed show starts, there isn’t time to discuss a Plan B for unexpected glitches. During a performance, one of the girls was injured backstage. She was supposed to appear in a scene that features four girls dancing on trays in the lunchroom—an intricate counterpoint sequence. “[The other kids] knew she wasn’t there, but they completely covered it musically. You would never have known,” says Hopkins. “People say, ‘What is a Tap Kid?’ It’s being able to do that. If the music stops, they know what to do.”

Naturally, kids will be kids, and managing a group of them presents its own set of challenges. “I have a 12-year-old daughter. I’ve worked with kids and know what they need,” says Hopkins. “As far as schedules, teenagers don’t wake up in the morning. I can tell when they’re hungry even before they’re hungry. If you want happy performers, you need to treat them well. You can’t expect a lot and not give.”

Upcoming performances by Tap Kids in the winter and spring of 2010 will take them to Virginia, Idaho, Alaska, California, Kansas, Ontario, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New York. (Go to nystage.com and click on Tap Kids for specific dates and cities.)

Where will Tap Kids go in the future? Hopkins and Sterns would like to give lots of dancers work through multiple touring casts. “Philip and I want to write a show for dancers who graduate. As some of the dancers get a little bit older, maybe some of them can take a year off before they go to college or to travel and work,” says Hopkins. The current Tap Kids dance captain, 20-year-old Brittany Parks, lives in Los Angeles and has been involved with Tap Kids intensives since age 9. Having performed in shows with Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, and Beyoncé Knowles, Parks has periodically returned to dance with Tap Kids.

She would especially like to go to Africa to work with kids there. “I would love to share the energy and go back to the roots of tap in Africa.”  There are also preliminary plans to start a junior version of Tap Kids, due to the amount of talent they’ve found among kids too young to be in the current show.

“We’re just excited to be spreading tap,” says Hopkins.

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