Est 2017

Jason Samuels Smith is an established leader for Tap with accolades as Choreographer, Performer and Humanitarian. He received an Emmy Award, Dance Magazine Award, American Choreography Award, Gregory Hines Humanitarian Award and grants/residencies supporting the development of new work.

Television/film and choreography credits include Outkast’s “Idlewild”; “Black Nativity” (associate tap choreographer/security guard #1); Hit Series Psych, CBS’s Secret Talents of the Stars (MYA), So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with The Stars, Dean Hargrove’s “Tap Heat” (co-star with Arthur Duncan) and “Tap World” (Executive consultant); and Debbie Allen’s “Cool Women”. Stage Credits include Broadway’s Bring in Da’Noise,

Bring in Da’Funk (principal/lead roles); Debbie Allen’s Soul Possessed (leading role), and Imagine Tap! (leading role). He continues to tour worldwide as a soloist and with his company and various projects at premier venues which have included Award-winning collaboration co- starring Kathak Master Pandit Chitresh

Das which was immortalized in the critically acclaimed documentary “Upaj: Improvise”. Other projects have included JaJa Productions Band, A.C.G.I. Tap Company, Going The Miles, Chasin’ The Bird, and Dormeshia’s And Still You Must Swing amongst others. Jason has also performed as a special guest

with Grammy award artists including Lalah Hathaway and Jennifer Halladay. Smith has appeared in an internationally

televised documentary on Fred Astaire and was featured in a spread with model Michelle Buswell in RED magazine (UK).

Jason utilizes his art form as a vehicle for growth and change and has created several mediums to support these efforts. He directed the annual L.A. Tap Festival for almost 20 years, as well as the annual celebration of National Tap Dance Day Tap Family Reunion in NYC which offered numerous mentorship and training opportunities to youth in their respective communities. 

As a humanitarian, Jason continues to support organizations including

Dancers Responding to Aids, Tied to Greatness, Career Transitions for Dancers, Tap Into A Cure, Groove with Me, and Move The World among others. He also designed and developed

an affordable professional tap shoe sold exclusively by BLOCH.

Jason aims to promote respect for tap dance and continue to create opportunities for upcoming generations as he continues to travel as an ambassador for tap around the world.

Luke Hickey, “never unmusical” (New York Times) is a New York City based tap dancer, choreographer, actor, and teacher from Chapel Hill, NC. Named by Dance Magazine among their "25 To Watch" in 2020, Hickey began studying with his mentor, JUBA Award winner, tap educator and founder of the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble, Gene Medler, at the age of seven. As a choreographer, he has presented work at prestigious venues including Birdland Jazz Club, Chelsea Factory, Little Island, 92NY, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and the American Dance Festival. As a longtime member of MacArthur Fellow, Michelle Dorrance’s, award-winning company Dorrance Dance, Hickey has performed around the world including The Kennedy Center, The Guggenheim Museum, the Joyce Theater, Kuopio Dance Festival (Finland), New York City Center and The Ford in Hollywood.

He has had the honor to perform with artists including Grammy winners Arturo O'Farrill and Keyon Harold, Michelle Dorrance, Ansel Elgort, Elizabeth Burke, Paul Arslanian, John Manzari, Marcus Gilmore, Ayodele Casel and Cartier Williams. Hickey is currently touring with acclaimed drummer Allison Miller in her multi-disciplinary show, "Rivers in Our Veins," at venues including the Detroit Jazz Festival, Savanna Music Festival, The Strathmore, and on WNYC's radio show Soundcheck.

Hickey is privileged to teach all over the world at tap festivals including the North Carolina Rhythm Tap Festival, American Tap Festival, Stockholm Tap Festival, Tap City Tap Festival, SMASH (Mexico), Oslo Tap & Swing Explosion, Chicago Human Rhythm Project, and the Monterrey Tap Festival. He is dedicated to sharing the wisdom his mentor so generously gifted to him and preserving the history of this great art form. 

Elizabeth Burke is a New York City based tap dancer, performer, choreographer, and teacher from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. A "deft and impassioned" (The New York Times) dancer, she has been performing and touring with MacArthur Fellow Michelle Dorrance's company, Dorrance Dance, full time since their inaugural 2011 season; she is a principal dancer and serves as the dance captain. Highlights of her work with Dorrance Dance include being an original cast member in “The Blues Project,” choreographed by Michelle Dorrance, Dormeshia, and Derick Grant, with compositions and musical direction by Toshi Reagon, accompanied by her band BIGLovely; playing Billy Martin’s “Stridulations for Dorrance” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; being the featured soloist in “Basses Loaded,” choreographed by Michelle Dorrance with music by Donovan Dorrance and Gregory Richardson with Kate Davis and Michelle Dorrance; performing Brenda Bufalino’s triumphant choreography, “Jump Monk,” to Charles Mingus’s composition of the same, played live by Donovan Dorrance, Gregory Richardson, Nicholas Van Young, and Aaron Marcellus at New York City Center; and being an original cast member in the works "SOUNDspace," "ETM I + II," "Myelination," and "45th & 8th," among many others. 

She spent 11 years training under the direction of her mentor, JUBA Award winner Gene Medler, in the critically acclaimed North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble, performing and touring across the United States and abroad. At age 15, Elizabeth premiered choreography at the University of North Carolina’s Memorial Hall, in collaboration with the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra, led by Jim Ketch. Elizabeth is also an alumna of the School at Jacob's Pillow at Marymount Manhattan College (BA Political Science + BA Communication Arts, magna cum laude).

For years, she has enjoyed collaborating and performing with one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch" Luke Hickey; most recently, they premiered their co-choreographed A Swing Suite at 92NY. They have also presented work at the American Dance Festival. Elizabeth also dances in Hickey’s works, “A Little Old, A Little New,” which has played Birdland Jazz Club, the American Dance Festival, and the Chelsea Factory, and "In This Time," which has played Little Island and 92NY. Other highlights include performing in works with Bessie Award Winner and acclaimed performer-choreographer Nicholas Van Young, and internationally renowned and Bessie Award Nominee dancer-musician Max Pollak. 

Elizabeth is also a sought after teacher, frequently teaching across the US and internationally in dance festival and conservatory settings; teaching credits also include Steps on Broadway, Broadway Dance Center, and the CLI Conservatory. She can be heard on composer and drummer Allison Miller’s 2023 album, Rivers In Our Veins, as a tap dancer. Additionally, she appears on screen dancing in short films (Nostalgia, dir. Johnnie Hobbs) and music videos (Step Into the Light, Oak & Ash).