Melinda Sullivan

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Teacher Bio

Melinda Sullivan is a highly sought out tap dancer and choreographer based in Los Angeles. Her mentors include the Jazz Tap Ensemble, Jason Samuels Smith, and the late Harold Cromer.

Best known from FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance, Melinda has a diverse career in dance, television, and theatre. After being the first tap dancer to make Top 10, Melinda went on appear as the first tap All-Star in Season 10.

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Melinda Sullivan is a highly sought out tap dancer and choreographer based in Los Angeles. Her mentors include the Jazz Tap Ensemble, Jason Samuels Smith, and the late Harold Cromer.

Best known from FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance, Melinda has a diverse career in dance, television, and theatre. After being the first tap dancer to make Top 10, Melinda went on appear as the first tap All-Star in Season 10.

Melinda currently performs with the Syncopated Ladies and Postmodern Jukebox. Stage credits include Disney’s High School Musical franchise, the 25th Anniversary Tour of Cats, and touring with Jason Samuels Smith’s tap dance company Anybody Can Get It (ACGI).

As a choreographer, Melinda was the first woman and tap dancer to win the CAPEZIO ACE AWARD. She is also a recent recipient of a 2013 World Dance Award for Best Choreography in the category of Television Episodic. Her choreography has been featured at Duke on 42nd, Birdland Jazz, 54 Below, the Blue Whale, REDCAT, and the Alvin Ailey Theatre.

Melinda continues to teach, perform, and choreograph worldwide at tap festivals, universities, and dance schools across the country. She is on faculty at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, as well as New York City Dance Alliance.

Melinda is committed to presenting many styles of tap dance to a broad audience in a theatrical setting while maintaining authenticity to tap dance’s roots and musicality. For her unique video collaborations featuring her choreography and performance, visit Melinda on Youtube.

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Class Descriptions

I am inspired by all the great tap dance masters before me and around me, and hope this class will inspire all to love the dance even more! Class begins with a technique warmup. I will cover some of the more important points that can help problem solve the "challenges" of tap: weight shifting, relaxed ankles, identifying which muscles need stenghening, etc. A combination will follow, where we will explore being a musician and embodying space at the same time. For ALL tap dancers....hoofers, Broadway style, whatever!