Photo Greta Morton-Elangué
The Passion of Tap
Music, Dance, Tap & Hip Hop
L’Espace Kiron, Paris (tickets 20 euros)
It started like a jazz concert with tap star soloist Omar Edwards, grew to an epic, melodramatic and full cast dance drama and finished with a free style jam with the audience screaming for more.
The Passion of Tap is an Omar Edwards directed tap meets hip hop devised show that was created in a few days with a professional French cast. This context forgives some of the rough mise-en-scene and instead allows the audience to enjoy world class dancers performing within a framework that allows them artistic freedom to breathe and shine…. and there’s a positive message, amusingly depicted.
Edwards, in Paris from New York for a fortnight to teach tap at the L’Atelier studio, and to perform this show, is one of the big stars in the ‘younger’ generation of tap dancers (Bring in Da Noise Bring in Da Funk, taps with Savion Glover’s company, founded the Harlem Tap Studio and has coached and choreographed for major music celebrities). His rhythms are intense and poetic, his energy strong and vibrant and his engagement with the audience light, fun and oh so cheeky. With opening night encore after encore, the audience, with a large presence from the Paris tap community, lapped up the occasion.
Cleverly, Edwards hand picked the local cast including the darling of Paris tap dance Jérémie Champagne, backflipping and tapping the audience into a delirium alongside the sweet rhythms of Aïcha Touré and Ela Le Guillerm, a cast of five hip hop dancers and a strong jazz outfit made up of local musicians Hilaire Penda (Bass), Etienne Proeuret (guitar), Justin Bowen (piano) and Steve Belmonte (percussion).
And as for the post show question on the lips of the drooling public ? Simply- Omar, when are you coming back?
The Passion of Tap plays at L’Espace Kiron until Saturday 6th March.
Photo Greta Morton-Elangué
