The Souls of Our Feet - A Celebration of
American Tap Dance
Tapestry Dance Company
February 14th
Evans Auditorium
Recently returned from
taking the dance company's The Souls
of Our Feet - A Celebration of American Tap Dance to the People's Republic of China for 15
performances in October 2011 - including a command performance
at the Shanghai International Arts Festival and consulting for
the nation's university system, the Tapestry Dance Company cast
returns to Central Texas for two performances on
Valentine’s Day at Evans Auditorium on the campus of
Texas State University.
The fast-paced
collection of footwork restages and pays tribute to the best of
rhythm tap masterpieces from Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell to
contemporary works of living tap masters. Led by the live
jazz music of the Souls of Our Feet Jazz Trio and featuring
international solo artists Arthur Duncan (“The Lawrence
Welk Show”) and Acia Gray as well as others, the
one-of-a-kind concert features swinging jazz and 18 flying feet
keeping time to the indigenous American artform.
As previously reported by Austin On Stage,
Tapestry worked with The Chinese Cultural Ministry and The
Shanghai Singers Club to take an artistic envoy from Austin to
China, comprised of nine dancers, three musicians, a vocalist
and a four-person technical crew. Starting in Shanghai,
the company presented 15 performances of their National
Endowment for the Arts “American Masterpiece”
production of The Souls of Our Feet
- A Celebration of American Tap Dance.
Tapestry Dance
Company artistic director Acia Gray was also asked to help
develop a Chinese training system and syllabus of American tap
dance, for use in the country's university system.
Meetings on the curriculum have been underway during the
last two years, and the first stages of development happened in
conduction with the tour.
Founded by Gray adn Deirdre
Strand in 1989, Tapestry Dance Company hosted their annual Sole
to Soul Festival this past weekend, and is currently on tour
with The Souls of Our Feet - A
Celebration of American Tap Dance through
the National Endowment for the Arts "American
Masterpieces" initiative. The program was created to
acquaint Americans with the best of their cultural and artistic
legacy.
The performances will be
held on Tuesday February 14th, at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Tickets are $15 for the general public and $5 for Texas
State students.
Evans Auditorium is located
at the corner of North LBJ Drive and Bobcat Trail on the campus
of Texas State University in San Marcos. For more
information, visit www.EncoreSeries.txstate.edu.
Acia Gray
(Photo by Melisa Ackerman)
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