Tappyness

Director of Movement: Matthew Greenberg

Solo Performer: Erin Alys

Creative Consultants: Jacob Athyal and Jeanine Thomspon

A collaboration between Urban Arts Space and Hybrid Arts Lab, Columbus, Ohio

Tappyness: Smiling Depression meets Tap Dance. I found a lot of similarities in how people say “I am fine” when they are not fine and how the art of tap dance came together from oppressed populations trying to express themselves at the hands of a captor, when everything was not, in fact, fine.

This project came out of a collaboration to make art on a college campus to speak to the students trying to “be okay” when the world around had become devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic. It was my hope that through tap dance, students could see the story on stage and realize they are not alone.

The project was set sight-specifically, using tap boards, in and around a campus dumpster.

Tappyness tells the story of one woman’s hardship and battle with mental health while trying to “stay in time.” I worked to transpose tap sounds beyond the feet and place them into pill bottles, pizza boxes, coffee cups, and trash, to create a story of who this character is without using text.

Publicity:

The Lantern | Interview with Urban Arts Space | Black x Bold Magazine