SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Students from the Minnesota Conservatory for the Arts (MCA) will perform in the 2018 National Tap Dance Day Celebration Showcase on Sunday, May 27, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Como Park Lakeside Pavilion in Saint Paul.
The Twin Cities tap dance celebration is one of many happening throughout the nation during May to celebrate Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, an American tap dancer who was one of the first African American performers to go solo and overcome racial barriers in the early 20th century. Robinson is best remembered for dancing with Shirley Temple in a series of films during the 1930s and for starring in “Stormy Weather,” which is loosely based on his life.
MCA’s Tap for Kids and Tap I students will be dancing to “Hair Up” from the “Trolls” movie; Intermediate Tap II and III students will be tapping to “He’s a Pirate;” and Tap IV and V Advanced students will be performing a piece called “Laura” in collaboration with the Twin Cities based Keane Sense of Rhythm Youth Tap Ensemble and “Shim Sham Shimmy” with students from other participating dance schools. Nathan Graff, a Tap V student, will also perform his senior solo “In Walked Bud,” which was choreographed by Lane Alexander of Chicago Human Rhythm Project.
MCA students performing in the showcase include: Coin Cada, Lilia Civettini, Deja Foster, Claire Goeldner, Phoebe Goeldner, Roland Goeldner, Hannah Graff, Natahan Graff, Viva Graff, Clara Heinrichs, Elizabeth Hinz, Kylee Indahl, Mattie Kreisel, Isabell Livingston, Isaac Meinke, Justine Meinke, Preston Meinke, Victoria Schroeder, and Seamus Schwaba.