Tap Or Die
Description
Warm, vivacious and chock-full of interviews with numerous dance artists and experts, as well as vintage and contemporary performance footage, Tap or Die addresses the undeniable triumphs and ongoing controversies within the tap dance field. It makes a lot of fundamental insider stuff accessible and appealing to a broad audience.
African American choreographer Derick K. Grant is holding auditions to bring his show “Imagine Tap!” to Broadway. Grant is one of a new generation of performers who has been nurturing tap dance in obscurity and transforming it in a myriad of ways. But a legacy of racism and the many pitfalls of commercial success that renowned hoofers have always battled lurk in the byways of Broadway. One of the toughest hurdles facing Grant is the misconception that tap dance seems to only exist in the past tense. However, tap is on the cutting edge of the performing arts, incorporating ancient and modern rhythms from places as far flung as Africa, Brazil, Japan, Cuba, and Spain.
Credits
Director Jackie Paré | Dancer Derick Grant | Composer Nicholas Young | Editor Michael Hull | Director of Photography Shiloh Crawford III | Production Company Fountain Square Productions | Production Country USA | Production Year 2013 | Total Run Time 62:00 | Category Documentary Over 10 min | Format NTSC
