Biography & Class Description

Chuck Kelley has been teaching dance and acrobatics/tumbling in New York City for over 45 years.  His students number into the thousands and he has produced dancers and acrobats who have gone on into the profession in theatre, television, movies, night clubs, opera and ballet companies. He is noted for his precise application of technique and anatomy to movement and has produced books, recordings, videos, CDs and has written a dictionary of “American Tap Dance”.  A former professional dancer appearing on Broadway, television, night club revues and stock productions, he has taught master classes for every major and minor dance teacher association in the U.S. & Canada and has taught in Germany, Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, France, the Bahamas. He has adjudicated for most of the major dance competitions at both regional and national level in the U.S. and Canada.  Associated with Dance Educators of America (one of the 2 largest dance teacher organizations in the U.S.) as administrator of Training Programs, he conducts courses in teaching methods for teachers and Ballet Seminars for serious ballet students.  Chuck has been honored by every major dance teacher organization for his contributions to the “Art of Teaching & Elevating Dance Technique”.

Basic Tap

This class is for dancers with little or no training in tap. There is a warm-up of the basic single and double tap actions, followed by progressions across the floor. Students work on standard four-sound combinations, military, waltz, clog and shim-sham time step, followed by a short choreographed combination.

Advanced Beginner Tap
This class is for dancers with a good knowledge fo shuffles, flaps, slaps and some of the standard four sound combinations. A warm-up is followed by work on the remaining single and double tap combinations. These combinations includes double Irish, Maxie Ford, running shuffles, pullbacks, drawbacks and buck, traveling and soft shoe time steps. The class ends with a choreographed combination.