A Passion for Music and Dance 
My life growing up as a dance student was just like yours. My Dad would take me everywhere to attend classes, conferences, competitions and workshops all over the country. I was passionate about doing everything to get better at the thing I loved so much.
My teacher, Denise Scheerer, would bring a drum set to class and explain how to approach tap-dance as a percussionist using music theory to help build our awareness. This changed my improv.
I started to really consider myself as a musician and over the years my timing got better. My concept of phrasing and passion for music all started to grow .
It is one thing to have a natural passion for music but to dive into what makes it so great and why it makes you feel the way you do, helps you express your emotions, this is what makes you better as an artist.
My life growing up as a tap dancer in LA was a little different. Growing up around musicians since the young age of 15, growing up on the scene in Los Angeles California. Much of my 20’s was spent at Jam sessions. I would crash any type of music session funk, latin, jazz… I would tap dance every night in Hollywood, bringing my board to these different jam sessions.
Around the World with Postmodern Jukebox
My first big break came when I started to tour with Postmodern Jukebox. Because of my network and recognition gained on the scene of musicians through the jam sessions, I was on the top of everyone's list when Scott Bradlee was looking for a tap dancer in Los Angeles to perform with and tour with postmodern jukebox.
The next few years for me was in front of thousands of people every night with the PMJ band. Improvising and dancing and being a star of the show; because tap always steals the show. PMJ went to all over North America, South America, Asia, Australia and Europe.
This was the start of the building #tapfam community. All over the world I would wake up in the morning, go sightseeing, then teach a class, go to soundcheck, do the PMJ show, party all night and do it again…living my best life
New Change Album
When I returned to LA after doing PMJ for a few years, I finally got to release my dream project, my first album called New Change. I started writing it in 2014 and it finally released in 2018. Eighteen songs of original music, all stemming from tap.
This album is special because it is the first music album of tap dance rhythm in 50 years. After touring with PMJ, I had quite a following, and for 12 weeks the New Change album trended in the top 10 Jazz albums. With this album I really hope to broaden the perspective of the general public's mind on what tap dance music is and what types of music it can be used to create or accompany.
Since the release of New Change, I have continued to grow as a dancer and musician. My desire is to lead and be an example of how tap dance is important to today's musicians. This collaboration of dance tap rhythms to popular music has led to an innovative series called “Covered in Taps”
Tap Music Project
My passion for writing music for tap dancers started very early. For example, I was very influenced by Tito Puente in high school. I would listen and feel the melodies in the horn lines. I would listen over and over; the drummers were doing their thing, and the piano had a part to play, plus the bass…everyone had their thing, their own line in the sheet music. I would say “I wish I could write music because that's what I hear when I tap.”
Fast forward five years later, I was sitting together with one of her best friends Danny Janklow, the saxophone player and I said “humor me, I want to try something where I tap a rhythm and you play it back.” This was the start of Tap Music Project.
“You can write music with your feet, because the taps have tonalities. There is a music tonality scale in your shoes.”
Tap Dance as percussion can be done to any style of music and can create any style of music just the way a drummer can.
Understanding and experiencing the world as a professional tap dancer and a touring artist helped me realize how important the tools I had acquired would be needed by the next generation. Tap Music Project takes the experience required to be a professional performance level tap dancer and puts it into a curriculum of experiences.
The confidence of how to manage and participate in a jam session, how to collaborate and communicate with musicians, performing with live music, speaking the language of music and communicating with the band, is earned through experience and information. The TMP curriculum allows participants to experience scenarios that build greater confidence in your ability to become a Tap Musician.
