Ayodele Casel | Artists at the Center

Six World Premiere Commissions embody the future of tap dance, running the gamut from classic hoofing to hip-hop and interpreting musical styles ranging from live jazz to house music. 

Brinae Ali and Gerson Lanza perform their Hoofer’s Memory Lab trio, featuring Ali on vocals with a live band. Caleb Teicher and Naomi Funaki choreograph Little Things to the strains of a toy piano. Interlaced by Jared Alexander and Tomoe “Beasty” Carr spotlights dub, house, and Latin styles. Amanda Castro and Ayodele Casel create a powerful women’s quintet. Michelle Dorrance crafts a smooth solo to Gershwin’s “The Man I Love” for Dario Natarelli. And Casel expands Where We Dwell, her 2021 Fall for Dance Commission created with director Torya Beard and musician Crystal Monee Hall, that The New York Times called “a kaleidoscope of vibrant dancing bodies.”

“A tap dancer and choreographer of extraordinary depth” —The New York Times

2023 Doris Duke Artist Award winner Ayodele Casel is one of the world’s great tap talents, beloved for her musicality, strength, and fluid, generous style. As the second featured artist-curator in our Artists at the Center series, Casel has curated one-of-a-kind evening to reflect the diversity, power, and expanding horizons of this percussive dance form.