On a Thursday evening in March, the lobby of the historic Paramount Theater in downtown Everett City filled with the syncopated sound of waiting students—feet in patent leather, rubber, and canvas, all practicing the same shuffle-step in slightly different tempos. The occasion was the annual Everett City Tap Showcase, where dancers aged seven to seventy shared a single stage. The event sold out in fourteen minutes this year, a clear signal that tap is not merely surviving here. It is accelerating.
Everett City has become an unlikely hub for tap education in the Pacific Northwest, with three distinct academies driving that momentum. Each school serves a different kind of student, and together they have placed dozens of dancers in national touring companies, conservatory programs, and viral social media collaborations. Whether you are returning to the form after years away or looking for your child's first studio, this guide breaks down what each academy actually offers—and who belongs where.
Everett Rhythm Institute
Founded: 2008
Artistic Director: Marcus Chen (formerly of Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk national tour)
Best for: Pre-professional teens and adults seeking rigorous technical training
The Everett Rhythm Institute operates with the discipline of a conservatory and the equipment of a professional theater. Its flagship studio spans 2,200 square feet of customized Marley flooring, built specifically to absorb the impact of advanced hoofing and flash work. Chen assembled a faculty that includes two former American Tap Dance Foundation members, a Riverdance alumnus, and a resident choreographer who has created work for Lincoln Center's Out of Doors series.
The institute's signature program, Rhythm Theory, requires four years of structured progression and culminates in a student-produced concert at the Everett Performing Arts Center. In 2023, three graduates received full scholarships to the School at Jacob's Pillow. The institute also runs a summer intensive that draws out-of-state dancers from Portland to Vancouver, with housing partnerships through Everett Community College.
Classes serve students ages twelve to adult. Adult beginners are admitted through a separate, slower-track division. A single drop-in class runs $28; full-semester enrollment averages $720 before material fees. Open houses for the 2024–2025 season take place August 17 and 24.
Sole Symphony Academy
Founded: 2015
Founder: Dara Okonkwo (Juilliard-trained, former member of Dorrance Dance)
Best for: Dancers who want individualized attention in a low-pressure environment
Okonkwo opened Sole Symphony Academy after touring nationally and recognizing that many talented students drop out of tap because they feel invisible in large studio hierarchies. She capped enrollment at forty students total and maintains class sizes of six to eight. Every student receives a thirty-minute private coaching session each semester, included in tuition.
The academy's curriculum centers on Personal Vocabulary, a program in which students study historical forms—from soft-shoe to rhythm tap—and then develop original phrases that instructors help them refine into solo works. The annual Voices Unscripted showcase features no group numbers; every student performs an original piece. In 2024, two academy students placed in the top ten at the Youth Americas Grand Prix regional semifinals, an unusual result for a studio of its size.
Sole Symphony serves ages eight through adult, with a dedicated adult-beginner cohort that meets Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Monthly tuition is $285 for the core program, with financial aid available through the Okonkwo Family Scholarship Fund. The studio is located in the Riverside Arts District, on the second floor of a converted 1920s garment factory.
The Tap Lab
Founded: 2019
Co-Founders: Jae Park and Dr. Luisa Morales (dance educator and motion-capture researcher)
Best for: Technically curious dancers interested in interdisciplinary experimentation
The Tap Lab sits at the intersection of dance and digital media. Park and Morales equipped their northwest Everett facility with a twelve-camera OptiTrack motion-capture system, a 270-degree projection wall, and a sound-design suite where students learn to manipulate their own recorded footwork into electronic compositions. The result is a studio that treats tap as both a physical and a sonic technology.
The academy's headline offering is Kinetic Score, a yearlong elective in which dancers wear motion-capture markers and learn to translate their movement data into visual art and original soundtracks. In 2023, a Tap Lab student collaboration was selected for presentation at the Seattle International Dance Festival. The lab also runs a popular Tap + Code workshop series, introducing students to algorithmic music generation through partnerships with local software developers.
Enrollment is open to ages ten through adult, though the workload assumes at least one year of prior tap training. Core classes meet in twelve-week terms ($540 per term); Kinetic Score and other
