Guest Artists
Time Brickey
Time Brickey (he/him/his) is a tap dancer, musician, and performing artist from Chicago. He was a company member of M.A.D.D. Rhythms, a collaborator with the Chicago Human Rhythm Project, and with Cabinet of Curiosity.
Mark Yonally
Mark is a noted educator and has taught at festivals throughout the U.S. and has served on the faculty at Oklahoma City University and Hope College. He is sought after for his multidisciplinary approach to tap teaching, which includes history, basic music theory and an emphasis on jazz music, and has taught in France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and the United States. Mark is also a published author, with pieces appearing in Dance Spirit, Dance Teacher and Dance Magazine.
Nico Rubio
Nico Rubio, Chicago Native Tap Dancer, Choreographer and Instructor, is universally recognized as one of the leading Tap Dancers of his generation. Founder and Director of 333. Nico has been Professionally Entertaining and Educating around much of Illinois and throughout the United States for over a decade.
Acia Gray
As a musician, soloist, choreographer and master teacher of the indigenous American art form of jazz tap dance, Ms. Gray has toured extensively across the U.S. and abroad as a tap dancer and in 1989 co-founded Tapestry Dance Company in Austin, TX with Deirdre Strand and currently serves as Producing Artistic Director of Tapestry Dance & Artistic Director of The Soul 2 Sole Tap Festival.
Nicholas Van Young
Nicholas Van Young is an artist, choreographer, dancer, musician and 2014 Bessie Award recipient. He joined the NYC cast of STOMP in 2003 and spent 2003-2013 with the production moving on to play the lead role and act as rehearsal director for the American Tour. He was the Associate Artistic Director of Dorrance Dance for nearly a decade. His choreographic and conceptual collaborations with DD have premiered at the Guggenheim, The Joyce, Jacob’s Pillow, and internationally in London (Sadlers Wells), Spain (Fira Tarrega) and Hong Kong. He is the Director and Founder of SoundMovement Dance Co. and Institute for the Rhythmic Arts, a multi-disciplinary training program for percussive education in tap dance and movement.
Starinah “Star” Dixon
Starinah “Star” Dixon is an assistant director, choreographer, and original principal dancer of world renowned tap company, M.A.D.D. Rhythms. She has taught and performed at the most distinguished tap festivals in the country including The L.A. Tap Fest, DC Tap Fest, RIFF Dallas, Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s Rhythm World, and MADD Rhythms own Chicago Tap Summit. She’s performed internationally in Poland, Japan, and Brazil to name a few. Performance venues include Jacob’s Pillow, Kennedy Center, and the Lincoln Center. Outside of M.A.D.D. Rhythms, she’s performed as a guest with such companies as Michelle Dorrance’s Dorrance Dance and Savion Glover’s All Funk’d Up. Star is currently on staff at numerous dance studios in and around Chicago.
Jeannie Hill
Roxanne Wallace
Roxanne has been active in the arts as a performer, instructor, choreographer and teaching artist since graduating from UC Berkeley in 1993 with a BA in Philosophy and a minor in Ethnic Studies. She was seen nationally and internationally as a principal artist with Stuart Pimsler Dance and Theater Company for 15 years and has been working with Paula Mann/Time Track Productions for over 10 years. Mrs. Wallace was voted “Best Dancer” in the City Pages “Best of the Twin Cities,” awarded a Minnesota Sage Award for Outstanding Performer, and honored to be named as a 2008 McKnight Artist Fellow in Dance. Currently, she provides inspiration and dance instruction through Zenon Dance School and Lundstrum Performing Arts, and as a teaching artist for the VocalEssence WITNESS Program and the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts.
Katherine Kramer
Katherine Kramer has been a vital presence in the resurgence and evolution of classic jazz and tap dance since the 1970s. Her one-woman show, “Rhythms of the Heart,” toured from 1992 to 2000, including performances at Jacob’s Pillow and international festivals. She was one of 12 dancers chosen to work with ‘Honi’ Coles in the first creative residency for tap at The Colorado Dance Festival in 1989 and has been a featured soloist at Tap Extravaganza in NY and many Jazz Festivals. She has been commissioned to create works for universities and companies throughout the country. Katherine was founder, producer, and artistic director of a 10 year annual summer music and dance festival, Rhythm Explosion, in Bozeman, MT, which included many outstanding artists, including the late legends Jimmy Slyde and Daniel Nagrin.
Leo Manzari
Originally from Washington D.C., Leo Manzari is a Lucille Lortel award-nominated tap dancer and recording artist. He has headlined in the touring and Off-Broadway productions of Maurice Hines is Tappin’ Thru Life and has appeared on numerous TV shows. He had a solo tap dance feature in Hozier’s music video “Almost (Sweet Music)” and performed alongside Grammy Award® winning band “The Free Nationals" in various virtual events. He headlines alongside Byron Stripling and Grammy®-nominated Jazz vocalist Carmen Bradford in a show called Uptown Nights, which has collaborated with multiple POPS orchestras across the world. Leo also writes and records his own original music which can be streamed on all major music streaming platforms. He has performed at prominent venues in Los Angeles such as El Cid, Gold Diggers, Adults Only, The Sun Rose, Da Poetry Lounge, and The Hollywood Majestic. Leo launched his company Breathe Easy Productions, which is a cultural hub for all things music and dance.
Tommy Wasiuta
Tommy Wasiuta, described as a "breath of dance freedom" (New York Times) is a tap dance artist based in New York City. His stage credits include The Joyce Theater, 92NY, Little Island, Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and American Dance Festival, performing under the direction of artists like Michela Marino Lerman, Max Pollak, Luke Hickey and Elizabeth Burke, Claudia Rahardjanoto, and Ulysses Owens Jr. Tommy has also choreographed and performed the entirety of the Tap Dance Concerto with the Saint Joseph Symphony. His passion for tap dance is shared through his work as an educator, teaching for institutions such as Steps on Broadway in New York City, the Joffrey Ballet School and dance schools across the United States, as well as a guest choreographer for the St. Louis Rhythm Collaborative (STLRC), Detroit Tap Repertory, and Dance Reflections of Metuchen Dance Centre. Hailing from St. Louis, MO, he trained under the direction of Tracy Davenport and Anthony Russo, and is co-founder of the STLRC. He is an alumnus of the Tap Program at the School at Jacob’s Pillow and the University of Missouri - St. Louis.
