CHLOE ARNOLD began her professional career at age 10
performing with Savion Glover's Washington DC Crew. She was featured in
Chicago's hit show, Imagine Tap, Outkast’s movie Idlewild,
Beyonce’s Upgrade You video, Sean Paul’s music
video for
the movie Step Up. Co-director of the Los Angeles and DC Tap
Festivals, Chloe has choreographed, directed, and performed extensively for Debbie Allen Productions, as well as ABC’s
American Celebration, her own group Syncopated Ladies, and the 2008 Jerry Lewis Telethon. Performance credits include
Brothers of the Knight, Soul Possessed, Savion Glover’s All
Star
Tap Revue, and the Oneness Awards. Film and television appearances
include UPN’s The Parkers, One on One,
Nickelodeon’s
Brothers Garcia, Dean Hargrove’s Tap Heat, and the
AMC
documentary Cool Women. Besides guest artist appearances at Debbie
Allen's Academy in L.A., Chloe has taught at the Broadway Dance Center,
P. Diddy’s Summer Youth Program, NYCDA, and in Brazil, Japan,
China, Sweden, and
Germany. She performs with Jason Samuels Smith's Company ACGI and
co-starred in his production of Charlie's Angels: A Tribute to Carlie
Parker, and the tour of Thank You Gregory (Hines).
“Arnold, a tapper with sizzle to burn.”
-L.A. Times, Victoria Loosleaf
“Chloe Arnold blows you away.”
-Chicago Tribune, Sid Smith
MARK MENDONCA's
extensive career as a performer and choreographer includes Broadway,
television, as well as concerts around the world, and performances for
the last three U.S. Presidents. Mark's dancing was motion captured for
the animated feature film, The Polar Express. In the year 2000, Mark
was chosen to open for Barbra Streisand's farewell concert tour. On
Broadway, Mark danced in the Tony Award-winning production of Bring in
'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk. He has shared the stage with many of the
late tap masters including the Nicholas Brothers and numerous televised
appearances with Gregory Hines. Mark's dancing was featured in the Emmy
Award nominated PBS documentary, Juba: The Masters of Tap and
Percussive Dance, and in Canada’s Summit of the Americas.
Mark
toured both nationally and internationally with his own company, the
Steps Ahead Tap Trio and with the Jazz Tap Ensemble. He has taught and
performed at dance festivals throughout the US, in addition to several
Universities. Mark was the first tap dancer to receive a Princess Grace
Foundation Award, was the winner of the 1997 Lester Horton Dance Award
for outstanding achievement, as well as a Brody Art Fund Artists
Fellowship.
"Mr.
Mendonca . . . is experimenting daringly with arrow-swift slides and
floor-skimming moves. Adept at highly modulated nuances in his tapping."
-New York Times, Anna Kisselgoff
YUKIKO "SMILIE" MISUMI
is a
performer, tap percussionist, choreographer and tap instructor from
Tokyo who studied extensively with Henry LeTang, Jimmy Slyde, Brenda
Bufalino, and Dianne Walker. She was a featured dancer and
choreographer with Japan’s Jam Tap Dance Company and launched
her
solo career in 1997, performing in numerous clubs in Japan.
Yukiko created the African Rhythm Tap Series, is director of the Artistic
Rhythm Tap Network,
and a featured performer at National Tap Day in Japan. Smilie has been
a guest artist numerous times at the St. Louis and New York Tap
Festivals, as well as the prestigious Chicago Human Rhythm
Project. She regularly performs and teaches in Taiwan and
Hong
Kong, and recently at the Barcelona Tap Festival. In 2009
Yukiko
co-produced the first Tokyo
International Tap Festival
and taught Master Classes at Tradition In Tap in NYC. Her sharp rhythms
and percussive tones create her own "Misumi World". Smilie opened her
own studio, ARTN Tap Studio in Tokyo in 2001, is the International Tap
Association Representative, and one of Japan's premiere tap artists.
JASON SAMUELS
SMITH
has emerged as a multi-talented
leader internationally in the art form of tap dance. He has performed at the White
House , on the Regis & Kathy Lee show, in Savion
Glover’s NuYork, and for ABC’s Monday
Night Football
opening. In 2004, Jason won both an Emmy and an American
Choreography Award. He was recognized by the City of Los Angeles for creating the L.A. Tap
Festival, the recipient of an Arts International Grant, an Alpert
McDowell Fellowship Award and the 2007 Gregory Hines Humanitarian
Award. Jason co-starred with Arthur Duncan in Dean Hargrove’s
film Tap Heat
and is featured in
the Outkast movie Idlewild. Credits include Debbie Allen’s
Soul
Possessed, AMC series Cool Women, Sammy (a tribute to Sammy
Davis
Jr.), Broadway’s Bring in Da’Noise, Bring in
Da’Funk,
Savion Glover’s NYOTs, Cross Currents: Turned on Tap
(London),
The Cotton Club Returns: A Tribute to Great Jazz, Chicago's
Imagine Tap, and Thank You Gregory, A Tribute to the Legends of Tap. He
founded the tap company A.C.G.I. and JaJa Productions, featuring
original jazz-influenced hip hop music. He currently tours
internationally with India Jazz Suites, a dynamic collaboration with
Kathak Master Pandit Chitresh Das. Jason headlines
productions
and festivals worldwide, and is the Chicago Human Rhythm Project's 2010
Artist in Residence.
"...rhythmic brilliance..." - Chicago Sun Times
"...smashingly inventive..." - The NY Times
JIM TAYLOR,
a professional tap dancer and choreographer for 50 years, has performed
with Debbie Reynolds, Julie Andrews, Steve Condos, Gregory Hines and as
Ginger Roger’s last partner in a four-year tour. He has danced in
over 40 stage musicals, various TV shows, motion pictures and in major
night club acts. Jim has choreographed worldwide from Hollywood to Las
Vegas, Honolulu, Tokyo, Sydney, New York’s Radio City Music Hall,
and London’s Royal Shakespeare Company. Teaching credentials
include the West Coast Bob Fosse Scholarship, Joe Tremaine’s
Faculty, Paula Abdul’s Company, DuPree Academy, and as an
Associate Professor at USC. He maintains an extensive online database
of American Tap Dancers Footnotes on Tap.
Jim specializes in recreating motion picture tap numbers for Festivals
and Workshops. For the Hawaii Tap Festival, he will be teaching Fred
and Ginger’s most famous tap number, Bouncin’ the
Blues.
