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The Philadelphia Community Tap Project

Community. Tap. Joy.

About

The Philadelphia Community Tap Project is a service organization that presents free and low cost tap dance programming for children and adults in Philadelphia.

The PCTP is committed to maintaining zero barriers to program entry and participation and we actively choose to present tap dance and live music in a variety of neighborhoods and venues across the city. We are committed to building a strong tap dance community and a strong audience base in Philadelphia, where so much tap dance history was made, and continues to be made.

The PCTP is committed to training, supporting and mentoring all people in the project, such that they are inspired to create, innovate and share tap dance with others, long into the future.

The framework for the Philadelphia Community Tap Project began in 2007 as a solo effort by Pamela Hetherington to grow a tap dance scene, an audience and a sustainable community infrastructure. Hetherington self-produced dozens of master classes, tap jams, and eleven community tap dance and jazz music shows, from 2007-2014. The events happened all over Philadelphia and found ‘homes’ at places with hardwood tap floors, like the Community Education Center, the Ethical Society and LaRose Jazz Club.

In 2014, these myriad efforts scaled into The Philadelphia Community Tap Project, a unified platform of education and performance opportunities. Although the project is decidedly local in its goal to bring free tap dance programs to the people of Philadelphia, the project has always looked outward, by connecting Philadelphia tap dancers and musicians with internationally-renowned percussive artists from around the world, such as Dorothy Wasserman, Heather Cornell, Max Pollak and Ray Hesselink. These connections have spurred mobilization efforts that have proven to extend beyond the life of this project.

After many years of transience, in 2015, the PCTP programming found its first home at a 625-square foot hardwood-floored rehearsal space at 1525 North Bailey Street, (or Sound Space 1.0). In March 2017, Sound Space expanded to 2511 West Girard Avenue, 2nd Floor, a 1200-square foot, hardwood-floored percussive dance space. With this expansion to Sound Space 2.0, the PCTP has engaged more participants while simultaneously expanding its program reach. The program participants are welcomed as if the studio was their own home; they have access to practice and create in the space at any time.

In May 2016, The Philadelphia Community Project joined other cities around the world by presenting a National Tap Dance Day Celebration. National Tap Dance Day was recognized by Congress as a holiday in 1989, on the occasion of Bill Bojangles Robinson’s birthday. In May 2016, the celebration was held outside at Passyunk Square. The 2017 celebration received national coverage in the May 2017 issue of Dance Teacher Magazine.

In April 2017, along with the expansion of the studio space, The Philly Clicks, a traveling youth tap ensemble, was born. The Clicks are a free and accessible opportunity open to any child, regardless of experience or financial standing. The ensemble program provides the kids with technical training, education about the historical roots of tap dance in America, and how to work with live musical accompaniment. In less than a year, we’ve been raise funds to sponsor the training for six kids.

In November 2017, the PCTP entered into a partnership with the ARC/SpARC to offer free tap classes to adults with intellectual disabilities.

Learn More: http://www.phillytapproject.com