Under the artistic direction of Lynn Dally, the Jazz Tap Ensemble always keeps exclusively to the great American traditions of tap dance and jazz. To celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary, the Ensemble has secured the collaboration of new virtuoso performers while continuing to pay homage to the greats: Charles “Honi” Coles, Steve Condos, Eddie Brown, Harold Nicholas, Jimmy Slyde, Dianne Walker, Brenda Bufalino, Savion Glover and the much-loved Gregory Hines. Based in Los Angeles, the Jazz Tap Ensemble performs widely on the American and international stage, and is greeted with the same acclaim everywhere.

Source : Maison de la Danse programme

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Dr. James T. Godbolt, Jr., a.k.a. Jimmy Slyde, whose musicality and elegance thrilled audiences from Japan to Europe, South America and elsewhere, and whose generosity and wisdom inspired generations of dancers over a career spanning six decades, died peacefully at his home in Hanson, Massachusetts on Friday, May 16, 2008.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 2, 1927, Dr. Slyde was raised in Boston, MA from around the age of three. He bagen playing the violin at the age of 10, and tap dancing at 12, studying at Stanley Brown’s dance studio, where he met Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and other great dancers of the era. By the late 1940s he was dancing professionally, eventually teaming up with Jimmy “Sir Slyde” Mitchell as “The Slyde Brothers” and going on to dance with the big bands of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong and others.

Dr. Slyde appeared in several motion pictures including Tap, The Cotton Club, About Tap, A Star in Born, and ‘Round Midnight. He was nominated for a Tony award for his role in the Broadway musical Black and Blue, appeared in 1000 years of Jazz with the Original Hoofer, performed at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Carnegie Hall, and in the 1980′s and 1990′s at the Kennedy Center and the White House for Presidents Reagan and Clinton. He also held court regularly at the tap nights known as the “Tap University” at New York City’s La Cave and La Place, taught at jacob’s Pillow in western Massachusetts as well as Brazil, Switzerland, and France, where he lived for seven years.

Dr. Slyde’s dancing was unique both visually and musically, combining seemingly gravity-defying moves and a wide array of rhythms and tone rarely heard from a pair of tap shoes. He received numerous awards and recognitions including a National Endowment for the ARts National Heritage Fellowship in 1999, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, and an honorary Docrorate of Performing ARts from Oklahoma City University in 2002. A few of the dancers mentored and “nudged” by Dr. Slyde include Roxanne Butterfly, Savion Glover,Gregory Hines, Rocky Mendes, Andrew J. Nemr, Sarah Petronio, and Dianne Walker, among many others. He is survived by a son, Darrell, and by the world of dance to which he contributed so richly.

Source: Wikipedia

Author, filmmaker and video artist Charles Picq (1952-2012) entered working life in the 70s through theatre and photography. A- fter resuming his studies (Maîtrise de Linguistique - Lyon ii, Maîtrise des sciences et Techniques de la Communication - grenoble iii), he then focused on video, first in the field of fine arts at the espace Lyonnais d'art Contemporain (ELAC) and with the group « Frigo », and then in dance.
   On creation of the Maison de la Danse in Lyon in 1980, he was asked to undertake a video documentation project that he has continued ever since. During the ‘80s, a decade marked in France by the explosion of contemporary dance and the development of video, he met numerous artists such as andy Degroat, Dominique Bagouet, Carolyn Carlson, régine Chopinot, susanne Linke, Joëlle Bouvier and regis Obadia, Michel Kelemenis. He worked in the creative field with installations and on-stage video, as well as in television with recorded shows, entertainment and documentaries.

His work with Dominique Bagouet (80-90) was a unique encounter. He documents his creativity, assisting with Le Crawl de Lucien and co-directing with his films Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux and 10 anges. in the 90s he became director of video development for the Maison de la Danse and worked, with the support of guy Darmet and his team, in the growing space of theatre video through several initiatives:
       - He founded a video library of dance films with free public access. This was a first for France. Continuing the video documentation of theatre performances, he organised their management and storage.
       - He promoted the creation of a video-bar and projection room, both dedicated to welcoming school pupils.
       - He started «présentations de saisons» in pictures.
       - He oversaw the DVD publication of Le tour du monde en 80 danses, a pocket video library produced by the Maison de la Danse for the educational sector.

       - He launched the series “scènes d'écran” for television and online. He undertook the video library's digital conversion and created Numeridanse.

His main documentaries are: enchaînement, Planète Bagouet, Montpellier le saut de l'ange, Carolyn Carlson, a woman of many faces, grand ecart, Mama africa, C'est pas facile, Lyon, le pas de deux d'une ville, Le Défilé, Un rêve de cirque.

He has also produced theatre films: Song, Vu d'ici (Carolyn Carlson), Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux, 10 anges, Necesito and So schnell, (Dominique Bagouet), Im bade wannen, Flut and Wandelung (Susanne Linke), Le Cabaret Latin (Karine Saporta), La danse du temps (Régine Chopinot), Nuit Blanche (Abou Lagraa), Le Témoin (Claude Brumachon), Corps est graphique (Käfig), Seule et WMD (Françoise et Dominique Dupuy), La Veillée des abysses (James Thiérrée), Agwa (Mourad Merzouki), Fuenteovejuna (Antonio Gades), Blue Lady revistied (Carolyn Carlson).

Source: Maison de la Danse de Lyon

Artistic direction: Lynn Dally Fred Strickler and Camden Richman

Creation: 1979

The Jazz Tap Ensemble, America’s first touring tap dance company, was founded in 1979 by three dancers and three musicians who brought original tap choreography with live jazz to the concert stage.   Initially inspired by the great rhythm masters John Bubbles, “Baby” Laurence, “Honi” Coles as well as Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, Gene Kelly, the varied modern dance backgrounds of the dancers and the diverse interests of the musicians, JTE’s vision of excellence, innovation, and collaboration, with a deep respect for the living masters, brought forth a repertory of virtuosity, wit, and deep musicality.

JAZZ TAP ENSEMBLE has been honored to present and share the stage with a pantheon of tap legends including Jimmy Slyde, Steve Condos, LaVaughn Robinson, Fayard Nicholas, Harold Nicholas, Charles “Honi” Coles, Eddie Brown, Brenda Bufalino, Dianne Walker, Savion Glover, and our beloved Gregory Hines. Based in Los Angeles, JTE has appeared in major concert halls in the U.S. and abroad including the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian, London’s Riverside Theatre, Paris’ Theatre de la Ville, Lyon’s Maison de la Danse, as well as NY’s Joyce Theater, Jacob’s Pillow, Spoleto USA, major first generation tap festivals across the U.S., and State Dept sponsored USIA tours of Southeast Asia and Latin America. Most recently, via DanceMotion USA, a US Department of State program, we embarked on a life changing one month tour of central and South Africa (Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Bulawayo and Harare, Zimbabwe) where real cultural exchange was able to happen daily with local artists, dancers and musicians, as well as disadvantaged youth in workshops, master classes, and concerts.

Performance highlights include Gregory Hines’ “Evening of Tap at Carnegie Hall,” “Dancing in the Streets” at the Apollo, Hollywood’s Playboy Jazz Festival, Salzburg’s 10th Annual JazzFest, Madrid’s Festival en Danza, and Lyon’s 4th Biennale, “An American Story.” TV and film credits include JTE Live in Concert (London), JTE with Honi Coles (San Francisco), and Christian Blackwood’s award winning documentary, “Tapdancin.” Recognized as leaders in the renaissance of tap dance in America, Artistic Director Lynn Dally and Jazz Tap Ensemble are well represented in Constance Valis Hill’s new history book, “Tap Dancing America.”

Source: Jazz Tap Ensemble 's website

More information: jazztapensemble.org