More than 150 dancers are set to descend on Oklahoma City this weekend as the OKC Tap Dance Festival returns Friday through Sunday, Sept. 18-20, with classes, live performances and special events across the metro area. The festival brings nationally recognized tap artists into local studios and onto a downtown stage, capping the weekend with a Saturday night showcase that organizers say will include a special appearance by Miss Oklahoma.
The three-day event is hosted by the Metropolitan School of Dance, according to Oklahoma Gazette, which reports the festival draws more than 150 dancers and nationally recognized tap artists to Oklahoma City. Frances Pitts, executive director of the Metropolitan School of Dance, said the festival helps dancers advance their learning, understand tap dance origins and history, and learn from great tap dancers, according to KOCO. Pitts also said tap dance can provide creative expression and support dancers' professional goals, and that dancers already training in tap or those simply wanting to learn about it are welcome to join the classes, per the same report.
More Than 40 Classes for Every Skill Level
The festival offers more than 40 classes serving dancers of all levels, from beginner to advanced, per KOCO's reporting. The Gazette's account puts a finer point on it, describing 42 classes for beginning through advanced dancers held at The Douglass at Page Woodson, while a separate listing from the Civic Center describes more than 40 workshops spread across the festival's three-day run. Featured artists include Chicago-based Reggio McLaughlin and Bril Barrett, along with other local and national instructors, the Gazette reports.
Beyond the classroom, the weekend includes a Friday Tap Jam, a tap history luncheon and a Sunday session called Tap Into Feedback, according to the Gazette. That Sunday session lets competitive dancers perform choreography and receive direct feedback from master artists, the outlet notes — a chance for dancers to workshop their routines in front of the very artists teaching them all weekend.
Saturday's Showcase and a Miss Oklahoma Cameo
The festival's centerpiece, the Masters and Friends Showcase, is scheduled for Saturday night at Civic Center Music Hall, according to KOCO. The Civic Center's own event listing describes the showcase as presented by Metropolitan School of Dance Inc. and featuring world-renowned tap artists and hoofers who are recipients of the National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. The venue details differ slightly between sources: the Civic Center listing places the showcase at the Civic Center Little Theatre, while the Gazette reports it is set for 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, at Civic Center Music Hall.
KOCO reports the showcase will include a special appearance by Miss Oklahoma, described as a former dancer and student at Oklahoma City University. The festival also offers scholarships, according to KOCO, and organizers note there is a cost for dancers to attend.
A Festival Rooted in Cultural Exchange
The Civic Center's listing frames the event as a celebration of tap dancing across ethnicities and backgrounds, noting that this culture of tap dancing from all walks of life celebrates the many facets of ethnicities that make up the state of Oklahoma as well as visitors from surrounding states. The Gazette adds that the festival is built on direct exchange between students and instructors, describing it in terms that go beyond footwork: dancers are not only learning steps but listening, exchanging ideas and gaining something unique from each artist they learn from.
Past listings show the festival has grown and shifted over the years. A 2022 community calendar entry from KGOU described the event as a single-day gathering of tap-dance training workshops at Page Woodson Auditorium, while a separate 2021 listing from KOSU described a three-day event open to students ages 10 and up, with scholarships available on a first-come, first-served basis. KOSU's listing also notes the festival's programming has since expanded beyond tap to include African dance, hip-hop, modern dance and yoga workshops.
Festival registration, schedules and ticket information are available at okctapfest.org, the Gazette reports.
