May 3, 2019 in Segerstrom Hall
Tickets on sale now
With Afro-Brazilian, indie-pop, and music from Adele triggered by the eight dancers’ footwork, ETM: Double Down takes this
American dance form to a new level and reminds the audience that tap dancing is something to both
watch and listen to.
Groundbreaking tap dancer and choreographer Michelle Dorrance, winner of a 2015 MacArthur Fellowship and “one of the most imaginative tap choreographers working today” (The New Yorker), brings her company Dorrance Dance to Segerstrom Center for the Arts for one night only: Friday, May 3, 2019 in Segerstrom Hall at 7:30 p.m. The Stage said, “The varied sequences are individually stunning – technically innovative with room enough for improvisation.” The company will perform ETM: Double Down.
Dorrance Dance honors tap dance’s unique history in a new context by upholding the traditional form
while pushing its rhythmic, technical, and conceptual boundaries. The company is passionately
committed to expanding the audience of tap dance, America’s long-standing indigenous jazz vernacular.
By incorporating other forms that have shaped the foundation of American culture – such as street, club &
experimental dance – Dorrance Dance highlights the traditional elements of tap dance and its musical
rhythms in a contemporary light.
Nicholas Van Young built the ETM: Double Down equipment over two years, connecting them to a Musical Instrument
Digital Interface (MIDI) controller, popular in electronic music since the 1980s. ETM: Double Down also
features live music by an acoustic trio that includes vocalist Aaron Marcellus, bassist Gregory
Richardson and pianist Donovan Dorrance.
Founded in 2011 by Michelle Dorrance, the company’s
inaugural performance garnered a Bessie Award for “blasting open our notions of tap.” In the following
years, the company has received countless accolades, rave reviews, and has performed for packed
houses at The Joyce Theater, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, New York City Center, Vail Dance Festival,
The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Carolina Performing Arts at UNC Chapel Hill, Works
and Process at the Guggenheim, Cal Performances at UC Berkeley, among many others, including
international venues in Canada, France, Germany, Spain, England, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
The company is currently touring its repertory nationally and internationally while rehearsing and creating
new works in its NYC home and through creative residency opportunities. As Dorrance Dance continues
to expand its programs to help shape and educate the next generation of tap dancers, the company will
partner with Nicholas Van Young’s Institute for the Rhythmic Arts, among other educational initiatives.
Michelle Dorrance is a New York City-based tap dancer, choreographer, director, teacher, performer,
and is the founder and artistic director of Dorrance Dance. Mentored by Gene Medler, she grew up
performing with his North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble and has since performed with: STOMP, Savion
Glover’s ti dii, Manhattan Tap, Barbara Duffy & Co, JazzTap Ensemble, Rumba Tap, Ayodele Casel’s
Diary of a Tap Dancer, Mable Lee’s Dancing Ladies, Harold Cromer’s original Opus One, Derick Grant’s
Imagine Tap, Jason Samuels Smith’s Charlie’s Angels/Chasing the Bird, Jon Batiste and Stay Human on
CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and toured the US, Europe, and Australia playing the bass
for indie-pop sensation, Darwin Deez.
Most recently Michelle was commissioned by American Ballet Theatre and Vail Dance Festival to create
three new works of choreography. She also has served as Vail Dance Festival’s 2017 Artist-InResidence,
curated Tireless: A Tap Dance Experience at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival while co-directing it’s tap
education program with Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, and collaborated with Nicholas Van Young
on Works and Process at the Guggenheim Museum’s first site-specific commission for the Guggenheim
Rotunda. Michelle’s choreography is performed throughout the world and has been featured at countless
theaters, clubs, and festivals including a choreographic commission for The Martha Graham Dance
Company as a part of their Lamentation Variations, and a high-fashion short film for Tabitha Simmons.
Michelle is a 2018 Doris Duke Artist, 2017 Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow, 2016-17 New York
CityCenter Choreography Fellow, 2016 United States Artists Award Recipient, 2015 MacArthur Fellow,
2014 Alpert Award winner, 2013 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award winner, 2012 Princess Grace Award
winner, 2012 Field Dance Fund recipient, 2011/2015 Bessie Award winner. She is an Artist-In-Residence
at the American Tap Dance Foundation, has been featured on the cover of Dance Magazine (twice) as
well as Dance Teacher Magazine, is a Capezio Athlete, is a Virgo (Aquarius rising, Gemini moon), and
her favorite colors are various shades of green and grey.
A passionate educator, Michelle holds a Bachelor of Arts from New York University, she teaches on
faculty at IFTRA, taught on faculty at Broadway Dance Center, and teaches as a guest artist at universities,
festivals, and arts organizations through the world. She credits the master hoofers from whom she studied
within her youth for constant
inspiration and influence.
Nicholas Van Young, a 2015 Bessie Award winner, is a New York-based dancer, choreographer,
musician, and master teacher. He began his professional career at age 16 under Acia Gray and Deidre
Strand with Tapestry Dance Company in Austin, TX, eventually rising to principal dancer and resident
choreographer. Since moving to New York, Young has performed with Manhattan Tap, RumbaTap,
Dorrance Dance and to Cyro Baptista’s “Beat the Donkey.” Young has toured as a drummer for Darwin
Deez and spent almost a decade with STOMP, performing the lead role and as rehearsal director. He
tours both nationally and internationally, teaching and performing at various Tap Festivals. He is the
Founder and Artistic Director of his own dance company, Sound Movement. Young co-created ETM: The
Initial Approach and ETM: Double Down with Michelle Dorrance, which feature innovative and unique tap
dance instruments of his own design.
Segerstrom Center is a leader among the nation’s performing arts centers for providing education
programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. The Center’s programs reach hundreds of
thousands of students each year in five Southern California counties.
Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region’s major
performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, Philharmonic Society of Orange County and
Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons performed at
Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
In addition to Segerstrom Center for the Arts as a presenting and producing institution, it also identifies
the beautiful 14-acre campus that embraces the Center’s own facilities as well as two independently
acclaimed organizations: Tony Award®-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the
future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.
Information provided is accurate at the time of printing but is subject to change. Segerstrom Center for
the Arts is a public, non-profit organization. “Segerstrom Center for the Arts” is a registered trademark.
Photo Credit: “Segerstrom Center for the Arts”
SCFTA.org
