The Big Picture
Michelle Dorrance has collaborated with many different artists to create many meaning pieces of work. Just the fact that she is a woman has a significant meaning in itself. If you do a google search for famous tap dancers, your top 5 results will be all men; Fred Astaire, Bill Robinson, Howard Sims, Gregory Hines and Savion Glover. Tap has a long history of being dominated by men. Dorrance really strives to be an influence for female tappers and to help break that stigma that only males can be successful in tap. The form of tap was created from both slave and immigrant communities of the US. Parts pulled from dance rhythms of Africa and others from Irish jigs. Now days there are many kinds of tap. Street/ rhythm tappers or Broadway more musical theatre tap. All are pulling from the same steps, just adding a different style and almost character to it. As for Michelle's style, she brings a much more contemporary approach. You'll notice in her work that she uses a lot more m...