Hillary-Marie Tap Dancer
HILLARY-MARIE is one of the most accomplished tap dance artists and producers in America. She is an award-winning, internationally acclaimed soloist and ensemble member and at age 17 founded the Jersey Tap Fest, New Jersey's sole dance festival featuring world-class tap faculty and extravaganza. In addition, Hillary-Marie's dancing has been described as 'like feathers with steel bones' due to her combination of strength and grace. A native of New Jersey currently based in NYC, Hillary-Marie s high energy classes and sophisticated performance have brought her to studios and stages around the world. Writing about Soul Walk, Hillary-Marie s debut full length show, renowned dance critic Robert Johnson said: Some performers travel with their own atmosphere, a rosy bubble that floats off the stage and envelops the crowd allowing grateful viewers to forget where they are. Tap dancers Hillary-Marie and her accomplices do that. Biography Hillary-Marie feels that artists are the messengers of the world, and is humbled to have the opportunity to share her gift with audiences. She is thankful for the artists of the past and present who have provided and continue to provide abundant inspiration and encouragement, and she is focused on serving tap dance by uniting the tap community, teaching its history, preserving its percussive and improvisational style, expanding the respect for the art and promoting the dance as a cherished American art form.
As a young artist in training, I was determined to become a jazz dancer and drummer. So, it s only natural that I would combine vernacular movement and rhythm to become a tap dancer. Music and dance are the universal languages of the world and being able to participate in both simultaneously as a percussive dancer is powerful. By combining tap dance choreography and improvisation with live music collaboration, I strive to be a unique story-teller. I truly feel that music and dance can connect with people in a way that our words can t and when people see my work, I want an energy transference to occur. I want people to lose themselves, find resolve for their current frustrations, the drive to follow their aspirations, the joy they re searching for and overall the missing component that they re seeking in their day-to-day lives. Every piece or full-length show I create is born from a personal experience turned into a wild dream that leads to a hardcore brainstorming session in my notepad. Writing out my thoughts helps me sort them and it also gives me the opportunity to revisit a previously brainstormed project that wasn t ready for realization. From there, the work takes on a physical form. My conceptualized pieces hover around relatable topics of young love, heartbreak, unexplainable joy, loneliness, frustration and friendship. Other pieces focus on rhythmic concepts, grooves and introverted exploration. My current work challenges the notion that tap dance is a dying, underground, indigestible art form. I ve thrown aside the top hat, tuxedo and cane of vaudeville to bring to life my definition of the modern day tap dancer because I believe that rhythm is a universal language and tribal instinct that all of us understand. It s an ambitious desire to embark on a musical dance odyssey, but I choose to approach tap dance as both a musical instrument and visual performance art to culminate in the ultimate form of storytelling. The results so far have been beautiful. Artist Statement
Master Classes/Choreography All Stars Dance Center (MA) Alvin Ailey (NY) Bridgewater Vo-Tech (NJ) Broadway Dance Theatre (NJ) Broadway Performing Arts (NJ) Dancin On The Edge (NJ) The Dance Factory (NJ) Dance Manhattan (NY) Dancesations (NJ) DanceXtreme (NJ) Dance Studio (Guatemala City, Guatemala) Delaware Dance Company (DE) Elite Dance Academy (NJ) Gotta Dance (NJ) Grooves Unlimited Dance Studio (NJ) Groove With Me, Inc (NY) Hofstra University (NY) Performance Venues 14 th Street Y (NY) 55 Bar (NY) Abron Arts Center (NY) Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater (NY) Arts Bank Theatre (PA) The Apollo (NY) Battery Park (NY) BB Kings (NY) Bergen County Community College (NJ) Black Eyed Sally s (CT) Blanch M. Touhill PAC (MO) Boonton Elk s Lodge (NJ) Brooklyn Museum (NY) Bushnell Theater (CT) Cherry Lane Theater (NY) Copacabana (NY) The Cotton Club (NY) Dizzy s Club Coca-Cola (NY) Inspira Performing Arts Center (NJ) Jamie s Dance Odyssey (NJ) Jennifer Prete School of Dance (RI) Jessye Normal School of the Arts (GA) Jill Justin Dance Alliance (NJ) Knock on Wood Tap Studio (DC) Leon Dance Arts (NY) Long Island University (NY) Mark Morris (NY) Marlboro Dance Academy (NJ) Michele s Dance Studio (NJ) Mill Ballet School (NJ) MOBA Dance Academy North Star Dance Academy (CT) Ridge High School (NJ) Roseland Performing Arts (NJ) Dover Little Theatre (NJ) Duke Ellington Theatre (DC) Edward Nash Theater (NJ) Ella s Lounge (NY) Fashion Institute (NY) Flushing Town Hall (NY) Harlem Stage (NY) Hershey Park (PA)Joy Of Motion (NY) Highline Ballroom (NY) Levitt Auditorium, UArts (PA) Marcus Garvey Amphitheatre (NY) Mayo Center for the Arts (NJ) Maxwell Theatre (GA) Middle Township PAC (NJ) Minton s Playhouse (NY) NJ State Theater (NJ) NJPAC (NJ) Norman J. Patiz Hall (CA) Sharron Miller s Academy (NJ) Soundspace 1525 (PA) Stagelite Center for Dance (NJ) Steps on Broadway (NY) Theatre Dance Center (NJ) Wharton Music Center (NJ) Willow Tree Dance Academy (NJ) Woodbridge Dance Academy (NJ) Worth-Tyrrell Studios (NJ) Priscilla Payson Foundation (DE) Pulse Performing Arts (NY) Soundspace 1525 (PA) Syncopated City Dance School (NY) Thomas Armour Youth Ballet (FL) Youth Theatre Interactions (NY) Nuyorican Poet s Café (NY) Paterson Museum (NJ) Patriot s Stadium (NJ) Peter Norton Symphony Space (NY) Piano s (NJ) PS21 Old Chatham (NY) Ridge PAC (NJ) Roxbury Theatre (MA) Shapeshifter Lab (NY) Showman s (NY) Smithsonian Museum (DC) South Orange PAC (NJ) The Strand (MA) Triad Theatre (NY) WellmontTheatre (NJ) Westminster Arts Center (NJ) Wilkins Theater (NJ) Zinc Bar (NY) CurriculumVitae
Awards 2017 Individual Artist Fellowship - NJ State Council on the Arts Notable Performances Wycliffe Gordon, award-winning Trombonist Marvin Hamlisch, award-winning Composer Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Rhythm is Our Business, Director Derick K. Grant Rhythm in the Night, Boston Tap Company W-L-U-V, Director Christopher Scott Gabriel Hermida, Argentinian Guitarist Conversations, Director Heather Cornell Harlem Stage s E-Moves Jazzaponics JC Hopkins Biggish Band Nat Adderley Jr, award-winning Pianist Princeton Symphony Orchestra New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Sonnets on Tap, Director Awoye Timpo Companies Hillary-Marie's Sole Music Collective (director since 2015) FutureSTEP Tap Company (director since 2016) Grooves Unlimited Dance Studio (director since 2012) A.C.G.I., Director Jason Samuels Smith Sophisticated Ladies, Director Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards The Above Ground Project, Director Maurice Chestnut Tap Phonics, Director Lisa LaTouche NJTAP Ensemble, Director Deborah Mitchell Festivals/Conventions Jersey Tap Fest, New Jersey (director since 2010) Westobou Festival (2017) BOGOTap, Colombia (2017) NJHS Dance Festival (2017) Resonance (2017) Lindy Focus (2014, 2016) CTTap Collective (2014, 2015, 2016) Rock City Tap Fest, Ohio (2016) NADAA, Greater NY Chapter (2015, 2016) New Dance Alliance, NYC (2016) The Krazy Tap, Taiwan (2016) Big Apple Tap Festival, NYC (2014, 2015) MadTap, Spain (2015) Paris Tap Crew, France (2015) Jimmy Slyde Institute, Spain (2015) House of Hoofing, Sweden (2015) Centro De Danza, Honduras (2015) Tap Ahead Festival, Germany (2014) Cien Ritmos un Paso, Guatemala (2014) Anguilla Jazz Boat, Anguilla (2013) Philly Tap Challenge, Pennsylvania (2011, 2013) Television/Commercial/Print The Power of Times Square (Anchor Light) 30 Rock (NBC) Inside New York City Dance (MMN) The Colbert Report (Comedy Central) SwiftXKey (Android Central) CurriculumVitae
Her enthusiasm and talent have won allegiances in the tap community. -Robert Johnson, Star Ledger Young Dynamo. -Dance Studio Life Magazine Hillary-Marie, a woman way beyond her years, has feet like feathers with steel bones. -Carl Schlessinger, NY Committee to Celebrate Tap Dance A new generation of performers, including Hillary-Marie, a brilliant tap artist -South Orange Patch Hillary-Marie certainly made her presence known with her commanding, elegant dancing -Jazzville NJ Hillary-Marie makes it clear that tap becomes part of the music -Linda Lobdell, New Jersey Jazz Society
Ms. Atkinson started planning the Jersey Tap Fest in 2010, when she was 17, with birthday money saved during her childhood in Basking Ridge. It s gone from Aww, you re so cute, you go ahead and start that little festival project, to, Oh! She s serious. She can actually do this, Ms. Atkinson said. The proof is in the boldface faculty members she has recruited dancers like Dormeshia Sumbry- Edwards, who was Michael Jackson s private tap teacher; Sean Fielder, founder and artistic director of the Boston Tap Companyand, like Ms. Sumbry-Edwards, a veteran of the musical Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk ; and Nicholas Young, a former Stomp cast member who was instructing the recent Grooves Unlimited master class. She s built something from the ground up, and it has this inviting community vibe, Mr. Young said, wiping away sweat during a break. Artists of his caliber are attracted to the festival because of it, and also because as professional tap dancers, they stick together. We re a family, Mr. Young said. The tap community is still pretty small, even though festivals have been popping up everywhere in the last 20 years. We do things for each other, not for the money, because there s very little of that. We just want to help each other and spread the word about our art form. By TAMMY La GORCEJULY 29, 2016 But if the sense of familiarity and warmth fostered by Ms. Atkinson has allowed the festival to flourish, its location has helped, too. A lot of people do recognize what a profound history of tap we have here, Ms. Atkinson said. I wouldn t be where I am today without the contributions of the artists who came before me in New Jersey. There s a total bloodline. Homegrown artists include Deborah Mitchell, the founder and executive director of the New Jersey Tap Ensemble and a former Jersey Tap Fest faculty member, and Savion Glover. The New Jersey Tap Ensemble, in Bloomfield, was the first pre-professional company Ms. Atkinson joined, as a 15-year-old, after starting tap lessons at age 12. She considers Ms. Mitchell a mentor. I owe so much of my training to her, and I love her very much, Ms. Atkinson said. That company will always be home to me. Yvette Glover, Mr. Glover s mother, gave Ms. Atkinson her start as a professional. She was the first person ever to hire me for a gig. I was 16, and we danced at a church in Newark with a band, Ms. Atkinson recalled. She also had a weekly jam in Newark at a dive bar called Skipper s, on University Avenue. It was in a horrible neighborhood, and I d do my homework in the back corner when we weren t dancing. Arrive late to a master class at Grooves Unlimited in Livingston and you won t need to ask for directions to the tap studio. Recently, 30 dancers hoofed loudly enough to be heard a floor below. A moment of especially frenetic footwork during the four-hour clinic caused a framed piece of wall décor just outside the studio to come crashing down. The clattering, thunderous racket, said Hillary-Marie Atkinson, a co-owner of Grooves Unlimited, was a reliable preview of how the Jersey Tap Fest, to be held Aug. 11 to 14, will probably sound. There is such a hunger for this dance, said Ms. Atkinson, 25, the festival s founder and organizer. People are so interested and happy to learn about it. They come from everywhere, she said, including Europe, Asia and South America. Nearly half the students for the Grooves Unlimited master class traveled from outside New Jersey to Livingston, and most will return for the festival, which is expected to attract around 150 people. The four-day event will begin at Dancers Pointe, a Roselle Park studio that has served as festival headquarters since 2015. On Saturday, the dancers will move to the Westminster Arts Center in Bloomfield to put on a showcase. Later, Ms. Atkinson moved to Manhattan and began traveling to international festivals as a featured soloist. Those performances are continuing, as is her membership in Ms. Sumbry-Edwards s group Sophisticated Ladies, which puts on weekly shows at the Cotton Clubin Harlem. Despite her travels and city performances, however, it seems clear that Ms. Atkinson, with both her school and her festival operating out of New Jersey, is devoted to her home state. I feel like I owe it to the tap community here to slice off a piece of myself and give it away for four days with this festival, she said. Ninety percent of festival enrollees are returning students, and many have been coming since 2010. In addition to organizing, producing, directing and performing, Ms. Atkinson teaches. I couldn t resist teaching at my own event, she said. I love it too much. Most classes are for intermediate students, with three or more years of training, and advanced students, who have had five or more years of training. But this year the festival is introducing Tiny Taps, for dancers ages 8 to 12 with fewer than three years of training, and a beginner-level class for dancers 25 and up. The new offerings reflect tap s wide appeal. There s a common denominator of interest across age, race and gender, Ms. Atkinson said, adding that it cannot be said of most other dance genres. She likened the night before Tap Fest starts to Christmas Eve. I can barely sleep I m so excited, she said. And then once it starts, it s stressful. But as an artist, you owe it to your artistic community to keep something going if it s a success.
Booking www.hillary-marie.com Please send all booking requests to: hillarymarietap@gmail.com Footage Links: CLICK HERE for Performance Reel