Tap dance entered the 21st century fighting for visibility. After decades of marginalization from mainstream concert dance, a new generation of artists refused to let the form fade into nostalgia. They expanded tap's vocabulary, challenged its relationship to music, and demanded space in prestigious venues worldwide. The following five performances—verified works documented through live presentation, broadcast, or archival recording—represent pivotal moments when tap dance asserted itself as a living, evolving art.
Selection Criteria
These works were chosen for their documented influence on subsequent artists, their expansion of tap's aesthetic boundaries, and their accessibility to viewers (through streaming, DVD, or continued live presentation). Each represents a distinct philosophical approach to what tap can communicate.
1. Savion Glover: Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk (Concert Excerpts, 1995–2009)
Glover's choreography for this Tony Award–winning musical—particularly his solo "The Hoofer" and the ensemble piece "The Panhandlers"—established the template for 21st-century tap drama. Though the Broadway production closed in 1999, Glover continued performing extracted material through 2009, refining his aesthetic of "hit"—the percussive attack that treats the floor as drumhead rather than melodic instrument.
What distinguishes it: Glover's rejection of upper-body theatricality in favor of relentless rhythmic density. His 2006 Live at the Apollo recording (PBS Great Performances) captures this evolution: the same steps from Noise/Funk rendered harder, faster, and more emotionally raw than their 1995 origins.
Viewing access: PBS Great Performances archive; select excerpts on Glover's official YouTube channel.
2. Michelle Dorrance: The Blues Project (2014)
Premiered at New York City Center's Fall for Dance Festival, this full-evening work—choreographed in collaboration with Toshi Reagon and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards—reimagined tap ensemble as orchestral composition. Dorrance arranged her dancers spatially across the stage so that their combined footwork created polyrhythmic textures impossible for solo performers.
What distinguishes it: The "stomp chorus" sequence, where six dancers execute identical phrases with micro-timing variations, producing wave-like acoustic effects. Dorrance's training in ballet and modern dance informed her structural thinking without diluting tap's rhythmic priority.
Viewing access: Documented in the 2015 documentary Tap World; live performances continue internationally with rotating casts.
3. Jason Samuels Smith: Chasing the Bird (2012)
Created for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, this evening-length tribute to Duke Ellington matched Smith's technical precision against live big-band arrangements. The central duet "Cottontail"—performed with Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards—demonstrated tap's capacity for compositional dialogue with complex jazz harmony.
What distinguishes it: Smith's "flash" vocabulary (wings, pullbacks, over-the-tops) executed at tempos that blurred individual steps into continuous sonic texture. His choreography treated the traditional tap lexicon as modular elements for spontaneous recombination, mirroring jazz improvisation structures.
Viewing access: DVD release through Jazz at Lincoln Center; excerpts in the 2015 documentary Tap World.
4. Ayodele Casel: While I Have the Floor (2018)
Casel's breakthrough solo show, developed at the Yard residency and premiered at the Joyce Theater, interwove autobiographical monologue with tap performance to examine Afro-Latin identity in a form historically dominated by Black American male virtuosity. The piece's title referenced her determination to claim narrative authority before losing platform access.
What distinguishes it: Casel's "melodic tap" approach—clear tonal differentiation between heel and toe sounds, creating singable phrases rather than purely rhythmic patterns. Her "Flamenco Sketch" section incorporated zapateado technique while maintaining tap's swing-based timing, demonstrating genuine fusion rather than superficial borrowing.
Viewing access: 2020 American Tap PBS documentary includes extended excerpts; full work available through Casel's touring schedule.
5. Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards: The Goddess (Solo Excerpt, 2006–present)
Originally developed for the Tap City festival's "Tap Divas" program and subsequently expanded, this solo established Sumbry-Edwards's reputation for choreographic storytelling. The work traces feminine power through tap history, from chorus-line objectification to autonomous artistic voice.
What distinguishes it: Sumbry-Edwards's deployment of stillness and silence—unusual in a form valorizing speed. Extended passages
