Jason Samuels Smith & Divine Rhythm Productions (New York, USA)

That Tap Dynamic

That Tap Dynamic featuring Da Super Villianz: Derick K. Grant, Dormeshia, & Jason Samuels Smith. Operating as an artist collective, this show features a trio of some of the greatest tap dancers in the business today along with live music by leading musicians who have collaborated over the years on some of the most exciting stages around the globe. The evening includes some of the best cutting edge choreography from their collective projects revisited, in addition to an untitled world debut. An exploration in the styles that diversify the visual vocabulary of tap dance, this program showcases the advanced performance skill of improvisation and original collaborations of some of the greatest tap dancers and musicians of our time. 

Jason Samuels Smith is a dancer and choreographer of numerous performances, Broadway productions and films. He is the recipient of an Emmy, a Dance Magazine Award, an American Choreography Award, a Joyce Foundation Grant and New York Dance and Performance Bessie recognition. Smith is also the director of the annual LA Tap Festival and designed his own signature tap shoes sold exclusively by Bloch.

Dormeshia is a two-time New York Dance and Performance Bessie Award, as performer and choreographer, Princess Grace Award and Fred Astaire Award recipient. She performed and created many Broadway and film productions, which brought her several nominations for Best Lead Actress. She is also a Capezio Athlete and was their National Spokesperson for Tap. 

Derick K. Grant is the recipient of a Princess Grace Award, a Helen Hayes Award, two Ovation Awards, Best Chorography Award, Best Ensemble Performance Award, the Lester Horton Dance Award and a New York’s Bessie Award. He has created choreography for long list of Broadway and film productions. He was also the Co-Artistic Director of Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s Rhythm World Summer Festival and has performed at venues like Kennedy Center. His current company Tap2You produces special programs for tap dancers and he is the Tap representative for So Danca. 

You'll never go wrong featuring tap champs like Samuels Smith, Derick K. Grant and Dormeshia... But the combination of that triple-threat sonic powerhouse with the intimacy was mindblowing… One of the most satisfying musical performances of this or any season.
© InfiniteBody

As the hoofers trade turns in the spotlight, each yields songs from the ground, scraping and stroking and piercing the floor in ways that confound the eye and ear with their intricacy
© New York Times

Jason Samuels Smith, who dances as if he carries in his head and shoes the entire legacy of the genre, also slides with extraordinary grace. His magnificent, authoritative stage presence, vivid rhythmic imagination, and collaborative spirit were richly in evidence here.
© The Berkshire Edge