press information

“One of the most imaginative tap choreographers working today.”

— The New Yorker

company bios

170 words

Dorrance Dance is an award-winning tap dance company based in New York City. The company’s work aims to honor tap dance’s uniquely beautiful history in a new, dynamic, and compelling context—not by stripping the form of its tradition, but by pushing it rhythmically, technically, and conceptually. The company’s inaugural performance garnered a Bessie Award for “blasting open our notions of tap” and the company continues its passionate commitment to expanding the audience for tap dance, America’s original art form.

Founded in 2011 by artistic director and 2015 MacArthur Fellow Michelle Dorrance, the company has received countless accolades, rave reviews, and has performed at venues including The Joyce Theater, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, New York City Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Danspace Project, Vail Dance Festival, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Carolina Performing Arts at UNC Chapel Hill, Works and Process at the Guggenheim, Cal Performances at UC Berkeley, among many others, including international venues in Canada, France, Germany, Spain, England, Hong Kong, and Singapore. DorranceDance.com

250 words

Dorrance Dance is an award-winning tap dance company based in New York City. The company’s work aims to honor tap dance’s uniquely beautiful history in a new, dynamic, and compelling context—not by stripping the form of its tradition, but by pushing it rhythmically, technically, and conceptually. The company’s inaugural performance garnered a Bessie Award for “blasting open our notions of tap” and the company continues its passionate commitment to expanding the audience for tap dance, America’s original art form.

Founded in 2011 by artistic director and 2015 MacArthur Fellow Michelle Dorrance, the company has received countless accolades, rave reviews, and has performed at venues including The Joyce Theater, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, New York City Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Danspace Project, Vail Dance Festival, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Carolina Performing Arts at UNC Chapel Hill, Works and Process at the Guggenheim, Cal Performances at UC Berkeley, among many others, including international venues in Canada, France, Germany, Spain, England, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

The company is currently touring its repertory nationally and internationally while rehearsing and creating new works in its NYC home and through additional creative residency opportunities. Dorrance Dance continues to expand its programs to help shape and educate the next generation of tap dancers, through partnerships with organizations such as Nicholas Van Young's Institute For The Rhythmic Arts, 92Y Harkness Dance Center and Dance Education Laboratory (DEL), and Get Empowered! among others, as well as outreach workshops, intensives, master classes, and school performances.