Tap City

Tap City, the New York City Tap Festival, was launched in 2001 in New York City. Held annually for approximately one week each summer, the festival features tap dancing classes, choreography residencies, panels, screenings, and performances as well as awards ceremonies, concert performances, and Tap it Out, a free, public, outdoor event performed in Times Square by a chorus of dancers. The goal of the Festival is to establish a "higher level of understanding and examination of tap’s storied history and development.”

History
Tap City was designed to bring attention to New York City’s tap community. Its first iteration was held from July 7 through July 15, 2001, at various studios and performance spaces around Manhattan. Chaired by Hoagy Carmichael Jr., and Gregory Hines, the Festival began with an open jam session at the Broadway Dance Center in midtown Manhattan. Over the ensuing eight days, an international roster of over 90 performers appeared, which according to the New York Times, writing the day before the event, was to include "well-known tapsters like Jimmy Slyde, Prince Spender of the Four Step Brothers, Brenda Bufalino, Jane Goldberg, Lynn Dally, the Silver Belles and Gregory Hines. Many of the performers will also teach classes."

Venues over the years have included The Joyce Theater, the Duke on 42nd Street, Symphony Space, Chelsea Studios, the Hudson River for a waterborne tap jam, and the amphitheater at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Festival highlights
Highlights of the festival now include:

Tap Awards
Film presentations and performances honor recipients of the Hoofer and Tap Preservation Awards and inductees into the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame.

International Tap Dance Hall of Fame
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
 * Fred Astaire
 * Jeni Le Gon
 * Baby Laurence Jackson
 * Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson
 * Eleanor Powell
 * John W. Bubbles
 * Steve Condos
 * The Nicholas Brothers
 * Charles 'Honi' Coles
 * Chuck Green
 * Ann Miller
 * Donald O'Connor
 * Gregory Hines
 * Peg Leg Bates
 * Sammy Davis Jr.
 * Bunny Briggs
 * Eddie Brown
 * Leon Collins
 * Jimmy Slyde
 * Mable Lee
 * Two-Man Comedy Tap Team - Cook & Brown
 * Two-Man Comedy Tap Team - Stump and Stumpy
 * Brenda Bufalino
 * The Class Act
 * Maurice Hines
 * Charles "Cholly" Atkins
 * Alice Whitman and the Whitman Sisters' Legacy
 * James Buster Brown
 * Paul Draper
 * Carnell Lyons
 * Gene Kelly
 * Henry LeTang
 * Ray Bolger
 * Harriet "Quicksand" Browne
 * Master Juba
 * Original Copasetics
 * Ludie Jones
 * The Apollo "Number One" Chorus Line
 * Duke Ellington
 * The Cotton Club Girls and the Cotton Club Boys
 * Ralph Brown
 * Tap Happenings
 * Ruby Keeler
 * The Radio City Music Hall Rockettes
 * Dianne Walker
 * Arthur Duncan
 * The June Taylor Dancers
 * Paul and Arlene Kennedy
 * Hal Le Roy

Annual Copacetic Boat Ride
The Festival officially kicks off every year on the Circle Line with performances and a tap jam accompanied by a live jazz band.

“Main stage” concert performances
The festival includes at least one Mainstage event. Recent iterations include Tap Forward, which featured new work created and performed by soloists, contemporary tap ensembles, new talent and so-called "tap dance masters.”

Tap it Out
The festival finale, which features hundreds of tappers dancing in tandem in a free public, outdoors event.