Category Archives: Collaboration
RECAP: November Tap Jam
Our second Seattle Tap Jam was even better than the first. What fun! We upgraded the event to include the following: a dessert and coffee bar, cafe-style seating at candlelit tables, and a full trio of rockin’ musicians!
We had tappers as young as 3 get on the floor all the way up through adults. I was so happy with the energy of the jam. Everyone was totally supportive. Good vibes all around. We jammed as a group at the beginning, traded 8′s and 4′s in small groups, then those that wanted to improvised solo or with another person, and we finished off in a classic jam circle trading with each other and the musicians. There really was a comfortable participation level for every age and level (Even for spectators, too! Everyone had an enjoyable time tasting some spectacular desserts, bidding on silent auction items, and watching the musicians and dancers do their thing!).
NOVEMBER JAM
I want to take a second to give a huge thanks to the following people and businesses who, by offering their time, products, and services, helped to make our tap jam such a big success:
MUSICIANS
Butch Harrison, pianist
This was my first time meeting and working with Butch and it was such a pleasure! Spectacular musician. I would highly recommend picking up some of his music at: www.CDbaby.com/cd/butchharrison
Patrick McDanel, bassist
This was also my first time meeting and working with Patrick, and I had a really great time doing so! So great to have this fantastic bassist at the jam. Thanks, Patrick!
Frank Heye, drummer
Frank is the man! This was our second tap jam together – it was a real joy to have him back again. We all had a great time trading rhythms with him. He is the one who brought both Butch and Patrick to us, to form an incredible band for the evening! He performs with the classic R&B band, The Big Dog Revue. Check out their website to see when they’re playing next, and get to one of their concerts! www.bigdogrevue.com.
SILENT AUCTION DONORS
Anthony Peters’ Tap Dance Seattle is THE PLACE to tap in North Seattle for adult beginners through advanced (Youth classes are also taught at the studio via SoleSound Youth Tap Program, and with Karen Omahen (inquire with studio for details)). The studio is nestled just one block up from Greenlake in a gorgeous neighborhood. Formerly called Johnson & Peters Tap Dance Studio, this studio is currently still transitioning over to the name “Tap Dance Seattle.” You can find a basic listing of classes offered by visiting the website and clicking on Anthony Peters’ name: www.tapdanceseattle.com, but for detailed info about registration, payments, etc, please visit the studio in person and speak with someone at the front desk. The studio is located at: 6600 1st Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98115 Their phone number is 206.729.7620.
Premiere Dance Center is located in Redmond, WA, right near Microsoft Campus. This is a great studio that offers multidisciplinary dance education, with opportunities to participate on dance teams, performance companies, and more! Toddler classes, youth and teen classes, adult classes…. ballet, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, tap, and more! Check them out at: www.premieredancecenter.com
Cass Vaivadas, Chef/Baker Extraordinaire – Cass makes incredible, incredible food and desserts. One bidder walked away with a gift certificate for a custom cake from Cass, and everyone was lucky to be able to taste her delicious cake creations onsite because she brought some to share at our dessert table! I would highly recommend contacting Cass if you are searching for a unique, absolutely stunning cake for your next holiday, celebration, or gathering. She can be reached at casandravaivadas-at-aol-dot-com or via phone at: 206-372-1411.
Blissful Bubbles Would you believe that the picture to the left is actually soap? Yep, it’s true! We had a fun donation from Blissful Bubbles: Cupcake Soap! Check out their incredible soaps at http://www.etsy.com/shop/bubblecups?ref=seller_info
Josh Rawlings, Pianist: I have worked with Josh on many occasions. He is absolutely superb. A beautiful person, a beautiful musician, through and through. Check out what this cat is up to on his website, or maybe even contact him to setup some private piano lessons! www.joshrawlings.com
The Hayden/Chan Family – Thanks for that gorgeous table runner! A lovely addition to our silent auction.
Ella’s Almost Ugly Dolls – One of our young company members hand sews these super cute dolls as a contribution to the silent auction. This time, she made a Fall Trio consisting of a Turkey, an Acorn, and an Owl. SO Adorable. Thanks, Ella!
Jessie Sawyers, Visual Musician – Hey, this is me! Haha. About a year ago I discovered that I really enjoy painting ceramics. Last April, I produced a music and dance show at the Triple Door called FLOW, at which I auctioned off 10 of my original ceramic pieces and donated a portion of the proceeds to Starlight Children’s Foundation. Painting ceramics is something I want to keep exploring and keep sharing with others, so I decided to donate one piece at each tap jam from now through June! I have more work samples on my website at: www.JessieSawyers.com under “visual art”.
OTHER CONTRIBUTERS
Thank you for your support and assistance. This could not have happened without you!
Anthony Peters, The Scudder/Davis Family, The Hawkins/Weinland Family, The Hayden/Chan Family, The McCord/Salman Family, Dan and Lisa Sawyers, Jovon Miller
NEXT MONTH’S JAM: Saturday, December 11th from 7-9pm
Location: Tap Dance Seattle @ 6600 1st Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98115
Hope to see you there!
___________________________________________________________________
ABOUT THE JAMS
These events double as a way for tap dancers to come together – to jam, share ideas and steps, perform for one another, dance with live music – and as a Fundraiser to send a group of young tap dancers to the NY Tap Dance Festival in July 2011. We’ll be hosting one jam per month until then!
The group for which we’re raising funds is SoleSound Youth Performance Co, and consists of four young girls between the ages of 9 and 11. To meet their goal and get to the NY Tap Fest, at each jam the girls will be collecting a cover charge of $10 per person (or $7 with tap shoes / free for kids 5 & under), selling food and beverages, and holding a silent auction with great products and services from local businesses. That’s right, the girls will be doing this – they’re putting in the work at each event to literally earn their way to NY. Tap dancers and non tap dancers are encouraged to attend!
Peace,
RECAP: October Tap Jam
Last night marked the first tap jam in a new monthly series here in Seattle. It was great fun!
ABOUT THE JAMS
These events double as a way for tap dancers to come together – to jam, share ideas and steps, perform for one another, dance with live music – and as a Fundraiser to send a group of young tap dancers to the NY Tap Dance Festival in July 2011. We’ll be hosting one jam per month until then!
The group for which we’re raising funds is SoleSound Youth Performance Co, and consists of four young girls between the ages of 9 and 11. To meet their goal and get to the NY Tap Fest, at each jam the girls will be collecting a cover charge of $10 per person (or $7 with tap shoes / free for kids 5 & under), selling food and beverages, and holding a silent auction with great products and services from local businesses. That’s right, the girls will be doing this – they’re putting in the work at each event to literally earn their way to NY. Tap dancers and non tap dancers are encouraged to attend!
OCTOBER JAM
I want to take a second to give a huge thanks to the following people and businesses who, by offering their time, products, and services, helped to make our first tap jam such a big success:
MUSICIAN
Tim Kennedy, pianist
Such a pleasure to have him at the jam to dance with! Go check out his band, Gravity, at www.realgravitymusic.com and be sure to get to their next gig. You will be in for a satisfying evening of music!
SILENT AUCTION DONORS
Chaco Canyon Organic Café ”is a vibrant, ecologically sound slice of heaven in Seattle’s University District. We are Certified Organic and are 90-97% organic throughout the entire year – proudly one of the few restaurants in the nation that can make this claim.”
Irwin’s Neighborhood Bakery and Cafe
2 Locations in Seattle:
Eastlake Hydro House Cafe Wallingford Bakery and Cafe
“Join us at our friendly Seattle cafe locations in Eastlake and Wallingford for legendary house-baked pastries, pies and other bakery goodies, full cafe lunch menu, Caffe Vita coffee and free Wi-Fi.”
Rachel Mason-Kelley, LMP, is a graduate of Everest College Massage School and is nationally certified by the National Certification Board of Massage and Bodywork.
Vanessa Wheeler, ArtistI also do contract work, so feel free to contact me anytime.
Facebook under Vanessa Wheeler (Nuetzmann is my maiden name)
www.cobwebclothing.com
cobwebclothing [!at] gmail.com
Thank you!
Vanessa”
Jessie Sawyers, Visual Musician Anthony Peters’ Tap Dance Seattle is THE PLACE to tap in North Seattle for adult beginners through advanced (Youth classes are also taught at the studio via SoleSound Youth Tap Program, and with Karen Omahen (inquire with studio for details)). The studio is nestled just one block up from Greenlake in a gorgeous neighborhood. Premiere Dance Center is located in Redmond, WA, right near Microsoft Campus. This is a great studio that offers multidisciplinary dance education, with opportunities to participate on dance teams, performance companies, and more! Toddler classes, youth and teen classes, adult classes…. ballet, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, tap, and more!
Essence Salon Essence is a “green” salon that provides combination therapies to fully engage and relax the mind, body and soul. Traditional salon services with a little flair are offered in a calming environment to help make and keep clients beautiful from the inside out.
Camellia Cake Co. - Ella, one of our Youth Company members, and her school friend, Camille, have just started their own cake and candy company. They supplied sweets for sale at the jam, and they also generously donated a certificate for a custom-made cake to the silent auction. Rock on!
OTHER CONTRIBUTERS
Thank you for your support and assistance. This could not have happened without you!
Anthony Peters, The Scudder/Davis Family, The Hawkins/Weinland Family, The Hayden/Chan Family, The McCord/Salman Family, Dan and Lisa Sawyers, Eliza Schuster, Rebecca Dietz
NEXT MONTH’S JAM: Saturday, November 13th from 7-9pm
Location: Tap Dance Seattle @ 6600 1st Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98115
Hope to see you there!
Peace,
Introducing Stark Pulse
On Wednesday evening, October 6, 2010, Stark Pulse made its debut performance at Can Can in Seattle. We had a BLAST!
WHO?
2 tap dancers and a pianist in a unique type of band that’s both audibly and visually stimulating, featuring killer tap dancer Danny Nielsen, myself, and the phenomenal Josh Rawlings on Rhodes (See bios below video clip).
WHAT?
Spontaneous joy.
WHY?
Why not?
To make you feel good.
Check out the footage below!
BIOS
DANNY NIELSEN (taps) – A native of Calgary, now residing in Vancouver, Danny Nielsen began his tap dance career as a founding member of MADD Rhythms Canada. His mentors have included Lisa La Touche, Bril Barrett, Martin ‘Tre’ Dumas III, Heather Cornell, and Vicki Adams Willis who have all fostered the close relation between Jazz music and Tap Dance. An emerging artist on the national as well as the international scene. He has performed as a principle dancer in the worldwide broadcast of the 2010 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies, the opening number for the 2008 Jerry Lewis Telethon choreographed by Chloe Arnold, Heather Cornell’s CanTap, and the 2010 Edmonton Jazz Festival. He is currently the artist in residence for 2010 -2011 season at the Vancouver Tap Dance Society. His choreography has been seen in Decidedly Jazz Danceworks’ productions of Tinge and Tone and 25, the FEATS Festival in Edmonton, and Alberta Dance Explosions.
________________________________________________________
JOSH RAWLINGS (piano/rhodes) – Pianist and Composer Josh Rawlings is a renaissance jazz pianist that exhibits awesome ability on his instrument and ease playing genre-to-genre – setting-to-setting. Since moving to Seattle, Rawlings has seen wide successes as a performer and musician, and has been featured on the Northwest’ most prestigious stages. Josh graduated from Seattle’s renowned Cornish College of the Arts in 2005, and has twice since been honored by Earshot! Magazine’s Golden Ear Award Nominations. Having studied and performed with renowned groups & musicians, Denney Goodhew and the Qhromatics, Randy Halberstadt, Jovino Santos Neto and Hadley Caliman while at Cornish, Josh developed a voice that was literally bursting out of his school doors.
He’s recently played sold out performances at Jazz Alley, Triple Door and many major Seattle festivals from Pike Place Market to the Bite of Seattle. Josh also performed on the main stage of the 2008 Bumbershoot Festival. Whether headlining or supporting on stage, Josh has a unique ability to merge with his fellow artists, while anticipating, supporting and energizing his band mates to put on premier performances.
Climbing Stairs is Josh’s recent début release as a songwriter, musician and bandleader. The album is a beautiful portrait of the breadth and range of his musical relationships, environment, development and exploration over the past few years. The album captures the air and joy of a refreshing, up and coming young composer and pianist.
Josh’s repertoire spans from timeless jazz standards to arrangements of eclectic music such as video game themes. Many of the groups and musicians he works with also feature his original music which can be romantic and whimsical, joyful yet contemplative. Josh writes music that encapsulates people, places and special moments in time. He is an exciting emerging jazz voice from the next generation of musicians.
Rawlings is accompanied by Nate Omdal (bass) and Adam Kessler (drums). The two have backed up such jazz luminaries as Ernestine Anderson, Hadley Caliman, and Jay Thomas. Together, the trio follows in the musical fingerprints of Bill Evans, while developing a sound uniquely theirs.
________________________________________________________
JESSIE SAWYERS (taps) – Founder and Owner of Visual Music Productions, Jessie Sawyers is a tap dancer at heart whose creative expression flows across multiple mediums – dance, music, art – all of which are unified by her observations of life’s rhythm and patterns. She began tap dancing at the age of eleven under the direction of Cheryl Johnson and Anthony Peters at the Johnson & Peters Tap Dance Studio in Seattle. She has had the honor of studying with tap masters Ernest “Brownie” Brown, Harold “Stumpy” Cromer, Arthur Duncan, Jeni LeGon, and the late tap greats Cholly Atkins, Gregory Hines, Fayard Nicholas, LaVaughn Robinson, Jimmy Slyde, and Prince Spencer. Jessie has worked with Savion Glover and performed his choreography in DANCE This at the Paramount Theatre, a stage upon which she was also invited to dance with the late Gregory Hines. Internationally, Jessie has been a featured soloist and faculty member at the Vancouver Tap Dance Festival, where she has also shared the stage with the illustrious Dianne “Lady Di” Walker and has been Ms. Walker’s teaching assistant for the last three years.
Commercial Credits include a promotional video for Intel and commercials and appearances for Ivar’s as their tap dancing clam mascot. In 2006, Jessie founded her own tap dance company through which her choreography was well received at the Century Ballroom’s Masters of Lindy Hop and Tap, the Vancouver International Tap Dance Festival, and Microsoft Corporation.
Most Recently, Jessie self-produced and performed in her first full-length show featuring live music by The Teaching, world-renowned tap dancers Mark Mendonca and Travis Knights, contemporary dance from VAM performance, a group piece with 22 tap dancers from around Seattle, and a silent auction of her own hand painted ceramic artwork with proceeds benefitting the Starlight Children’s Foundation. The show was called “FLOW: An Evening of Music, Dance, and Visual Art,” and it played at the Triple Door, Seattle’s premiere live music venue, to a sold out house of 300.
Peace,
