This post was submitted by Hillary Marie-Michael, my associate blogger who loves tap dancing as much as I do! Enjoy her take on the recent DC Tap Festival!
First off, I would like to welcome Chloe and Maud Productions into the tap festival circuit of the tap dance family. Their 2009 First Annual DC Tap Festival came off without a hitch. With over 15 faculty members, the April weekend of master classes concluded with an outstanding concert honoring Dr. Cromer and Dianne Walker. I had the privilege of interning for the program and during my studies spent great amount of time with the tap masters and current headliners.
And here I would like to share the two great quotes of the 2009 First Annual DC Tap Festival.
# 1 While waiting in the wings I got to watch Jason Samuels Smith perform a fantastic solo. As he exited stage left I complimented him on an impressive performance and he replied “nahh that was just practiceâ€. I love that he related his performance on stage to practice because nothing is ever a final product. We are always growing and improving as artists and should look at every time we perform on the stage as an opportunity for practice and growth.
# 2 During History class, Dianne Walker discussed how she developed into a dancer and her time with the tap masters. During her early artistic growth, someone told her that it’s best to “stay in your own bagâ€. To this day, Aunt Dianne swears by this statement. I believe this advice can be applied not only to tap dance, but to any experience in general.
Congratulations Chloe and Maud Productions for an awesome April weekend in DC.
*Hillary-Marie*
May 20th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Taps,
We were there. It was a super event.
Hillary did a bang up job on the tap challenge. We were impressed.
I thought that it was awesome that Chloe and Maud offered free Community Outreach classes. I didn’t sign Pat up for Festival classes because he is a novice. The children and adults were together in the same classes. I didn’t know if that would work for Pat. He participated in the Outreach on both days and got to tap (for free) with other beginners. It made him feel like part of the festival.
I also wanted to mention that putting on such an event had to be stressful for Chloe and Maud. They showed no signs of stress. They were pleasant and smiling the whole time. I told my kids to give them some space, that they were really busy and had a big job to do. Even though my kids were not approaching them, both Maud and Chloe took the time to give my kids a hug, a high five or a compliment all weekend long.