photos by Eric Dutro- Featured photo: Tapology Youth Ensemble
FLINT, Mich. – Tapology announces their 20th Anniversary Tap Festival celebrating Sankofa –reflecting on history to build a bright future. The highly-anticipated Festival will honor Tony Award-
winner, Dancer, Choreographer, Teacher and Theater Producer George Faison at the annual Living Legend Luncheon. Events will also include Visiting Schools Days, master classes by world-class
artists and performers, a free film screening of the international documentary film sensation, American
Tap, followed by a panel discussion; and the beloved Tapology Concert, Sankofa. The Festival will
take place from Thursday, October 21, to Sunday, October 24, 2021.
“Tapology started as a dream that led to me teaching my children and the children of the Flint
community – the science of dance and the art of rhythm through Tap Dance,” said Tapology Founder
and CEO Bruce Bradley.
“Now, 20 years later we’re ecstatic to still be celebrating the mission and the children of Tapology, who are now living their dreams as world-renowned performing artists; and are also instilling that same science and rhythm into the children of the world, as instructors,” Bradley added.
The 20th Anniversary Tapology Festival season will feature master classes and performances by some of
tap dance’s most-distinguished artists, performers and educators, including Tapology’s Founder and
CEO Bruce Bradley, Artistic Director Frances Bradley-Vilier, Associate Artistic Director Kandee Hogan, Living Legend George Faison, Moving History Founder and Artist Breai Michele Mason-
Campbell, Tap Dance Pioneer Dianne “Lady Di” Walker, M.A.D.D. Rhythms Founder and Artistic Director Bril Barrett, Performing Arts Griot Clara Reyes, Hoofer Award-winning Artist Michela
Marino Lerman and Teaching and Performing Artists Alexandria “Brinae Ali” Bradley, Sarah
Savelli, Mikaela Evans, Shanzell Page, Cherisse Bradley, Maurice Chestnut and Jason Janas.
“It has always been Tapology’s mission to educate and preserve the art of tap dance by cultivating
family, and cultural pride,” said Tapology Artistic Director Frances Bradley-Vilier.
“The Festival has a robust spectrum of programming that will bring artists, performers, educators, students and patrons together in a community environment to do just that while celebrating tap dance,” Bradley-Viller added.
Tapology will kick off the Festival with two days of youth education and empowerment at Visiting
Schools Days (VSD). During VSD, artists will visit partnering schools in the Greater Flint area to teach
students about the art form of tap dance. On the second day, students will join artists for a live and
virtually-streamed interactive performance at the Flint Institute of Music.
Festival attendees can participate in Tapology’s signature master classes for all ages and levels.
Featured classes include advanced and intermediate jazz and modern taught by Faison; and adult &
couples Lindy Hop with Breai Michele. There will also be beginner, advanced and intermediate
classes led by Tapology’s teaching and performing artists from Friday, October 22, to Sunday,
October 24, 2021, at the Flint Institute of Music, located at 1025 E. Kearsley Street, Flint, Michigan
48503.
For schedule information and to register for classes, participants can visit www.tapology.org.
In lieu of the tradition of Sankofa, Tapology will host a free community film screening of American
Tap, followed by a panel discussion featuring American Tap Director Mark Wilkinson, Associate
Producer Michela Marino Lerman, Bradley, Walker and Brinae Ali. The panel will be moderated by
Historian and Adjunct Columbia University Professor C. Daniel Dawson. The film screening is a
special, additional edutainment component of the Tapology tradition of bringing notable historians to
Flint to teach the historical significance of Tap Dance and its connection to the African Diaspora. The
screening will take place at 7:15 p.m on Saturday, October 23, 2021. at The Capitol Theatre, located
at 140 E 2nd Street, Flint, Michigan 48502. Attendees can visit https://tickets.thewhiting.com/9356, for
tickets.
Tapology will present the Sankofa Concert as this year’s grand finale. Sankofa will feature special
tributes to the Tapology 2021 Living Legend George Faison and The Bradley Family.
Attendees can also look forward to live musical performances by Tapology’s beloved Youth Ensemble,
National Hip Hop and Motivational Artist Mama Sol and African drumming by Baba Kevin and
African Dancers from LaShelle’s School of Dance, The John Hopkins University Peabody Institute
Case Chair in Jazz Studies Sean Jones, Music Director and Pianist Lafayette Harris, Jr., along with
Award-winning Band members, Bassist Jonathan Muir Cotton, Drummer Gayelynn McKinney and
Saxophonist Alex Colista. The concert will be at 7 p.m. on Sunday, October 24, 2021, at The
Whiting, located at 1241 E. Kearsley Street, Flint, Michigan 48503. For more information and to
purchase tickets, visit https://tickets.thewhiting.com/9349.
Tapology’s 20th Anniversary is supported by Ruth Mott Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation,
McLaren Health Care, James A. Welch Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Child Welfare
Society of Flint and Mid-Michigan NOW. Festival partners include Flint Institute of Music and The
Flint Public Library.
ABOUT TAPOLOGY
Tapology, Inc. is a non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve and promote the art of tap
dance through performance, education, and community outreach. Founded by Alfred Bruce Bradley,
Tapology’s core values are rooted in the power of cultivating family, cultural pride, and social
economics in underserved communities. With 20 years of service in the community of Flint, Michigan,
the Tapology Tap Festival is an annual celebration of African American culture through jazz music and
tap dance.
For more information about the 20th Anniversary Tapology Festival, please visit www.tapology.org.
