Besides dancing up a storm at the 2003 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, Tap Talk Rhythm Company is reaching out to street kids and disabled children with their gutsy outreach programme in the heart of Johannesburg.
This year they are tapping up a storm at the 2003 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. This fringe production was performed for the first time at the festival this year and drew a large crowd at its opening show.
Tap Talk Rhythm Company was started in Johannesburg in 1999 by Sandra and Megan Rosenberg who teach dance at Pretoria Technikon and have since performed at corporate functions across the country.
Megan Rosenberg said the company’s main focus was to inspire and develop talent by performing at schools and hosting workshops to promote the art of tap dancing.
Rosenberg said they had ongoing developmental projects to inspire others to see tap dance as a career and to develop potential dancers into a Young Performance Company.
She said their empowerment programme was based at the United Church School in rough and ready Yeoville.
”We want to find children who are really talented, we give them shoes to tap, pay for their transport and give them training.”
She said the indigenous African bare foot dances and tap dance were very closely related.
”It is an art form. Tap has died in the world and we want it to be alive. Through outreach and development we can do this.”
She said tap dancing was great for disabled children who could hear ”what their feet are doing through the sound of music”.
”You should never stop a child from dancing.”
She said all profits from their shows were poured back into funding for future performances and to providing a new platform for tap dancing in South Africa. – ECN Cuewire