About
In Conversation is a captivating collaboration between Danny Nielsen and the renowned Bulgarian pianist/percussionist Kristian Alexandrov, exploring the symbiotic relationship between tap dance and jazz piano. Love Movement is an immersive seven-piece ensemble incorporating original music, spirituals, jazz and traditional and electronic tap boards, creating an experience that merges the highest levels of musicianship and hoofing. There will be a 15-minute intermission.
About Danny Nielsen
Danny Nielsen has emerged as one of the leaders of tap dance in Canada. Originally from Calgary, he began to further his tap knowledge by studying at various festivals throughout Canada and the U.S. around 14.
His prolific technical skill and musical sensibility launched him onto the international stage at 23. Nielsen has taught and performed at many national and international tap festivals, including the Zurich Tap Fest, Tap Ahead in Germany, North Carolina Rhythm Tap Festival, Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Taptastic Festival in Germany and Portland Tap Fest.
He was an integral part of the Vancouver-based dance company Radical System Art’s (Shay Kuebler) production of Telemetry. The show was a hit and toured for over three years at notable venues such as the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Place Des Arts in Montreal, the White Bird Dance Series in Portland, the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv and the Schritmacher Festival in Germany.
In 2012, Nielsen received the Santa Aloi Award from the Scotiabank Dance Centre. He used the grant to create and direct his first full-length production, Love. Be.Best.Free., which toured in B.C. for a month in February 2017. He also co-created Night Cap with Joel Hanna, which featured American tap icons Martin ‘Tre’ Dumas III and Jason Samuels Smith. He later created his second full-length production entitled On Foot, which premiered in Vancouver and Calgary in the fall of 2019. Neilsen just returned from New York, where he was cast as a lead in Derick K. Grant’s newest production, What Is This Thing Called Love? with additional choreography from Dormeshia.
About Michaela Marino-Lerman
Michaela Marino-Lerman, the winner of the 2019 Hoofer Award, is a globally sought-after tap dance artist, performer, choreographer, band leader, educator and all-around creative spirit. Her influence transcends borders, with the Huffington Post dubbing her a “hurricane of rhythm” and The New York Times hailing her as a “prodigy” with “flashes of brilliance” in her dancing. Quincy Jones has lauded her as an “absolute tap dancing star who knows her roots.” She proudly carries the legacy of her mentors, the masters of tap dance including Gregory Hines, Buster Brown, Leroy Myers, Peg Leg Bates, MarionColes and Mable Lee.
Marino-Lerman was most recently featured in the new US Postage Stamp series dedicated to tap dance. She was also recently commissioned by the Joyce Theater to create and premiere her all-new full-length work, Once Upon A Time Called Now, in the spring of 2022.
Additional performance highlights include the Newport Jazz Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Marciac Jazz Festival, Joe’s Pub, Little Island, The Shed at the Hudson Yards opening night, The Other Palace on London’s West End and co-producing the documentary American Tap.
She has had the honour of collaborating with many masters throughout her career, some of whom include Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Anna Deavere Smith, Jon Batiste,Quincy Jones, Steve McQueen and many more. Her influence in the industry is profound, with a teaching career that was sparked by a Masterclass she gave at age 15. Lerman has since taught in more than 15 countries, at 30 tap and dance festivals and numerous universities, including Yale and Tulane. Sharing the rich history of tap dance through education is deeply rooted in all her work.
About Love Movement
Love Movement is a consortium of like-minded artists who work at the intersection of jazz and tap dancing. They utilize the power of these two original American art forms to educate, entertain, and enlighten the general public and raise collective and individual awareness of the power of love in our lives, from familial love to self-love, realization and acceptance, and spiritual and romantic love.
Love Movement achieves these goals by interacting with the general public through live and recorded performances and class offerings and by presenting other types of programs that bring these ideas to life.