Community Conversation – Tap Dance in Vancouver

Tap Dance is fundamentally about people. It has been a combination of dancers, presenters, enthusiasts, students, audience members, and collectors and historians, that have carried the craft through the years. We’re excited to gather three dancers who are invested in the Vancouver Tap Dance Community for an afternoon conversation.

Featuring Jennifer Bishop, Jim Hibbard, and Andrew Nemr.

Moderated by Maryann Kempthorne.

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Meet the conversationalists:

Jennifer Bishop has been active in the entertainment biz for over 30 years. She is highly sought after as a coach, performer & consultant. She is the “go to” for many local theatre companies for pre-show prep for their cast members. Her diverse background in dance and theatre has provided her with a massive variety of experiences in the entertainment world. She has numerous film & TV and voice over credits as both choreographer and performer. She has performed at The Chutzpah Festival, Harmony Arts Festival, Vancouver International Dance Festival and The Vancouver Tap Festival. You may have seen her in productions at The Arts Club Theatre (Cabaret, Singin’ In the Rain, West Side Story) and The Playhouse (Guys & Dolls, The Music Man), The Vogue Theatre (Godspell), Centennial Theatre (Godspell, Wizard of Oz). Her performing career has allowed her to travel across North America with percussion/dance ensemble “Rhythmatix” and as far as Taiwan for an adventure as a singer with a top 40/funk band. Jennifer is co-founder of THE WEST COAST TAP DANCE COLLECTIVE and Artistic Director of THE RHYTHM ROOM.

In his 60 year professional career Jim Hibbard has been in 26 movies, over 130 TV shows, and scores of stage plays , musicals, and night club work in Las Vegas, Reno, and Lake Tahoe. As a teacher, he currently teaches at Harbour Dance Centre, the Rhythm Room, Vancouver Tap Dance Society, periodically, and is on the faculty at Capilano University teaching dance for the Theatre Arts Program. Recently, Jim has performed in movies, Descendants 1 and 3, The Hunt, Good Boys. And for TV, Once Upon a Time, A Series of Unfortunate Events x 2, Date My Dad, Psyche, Man in High Castle, a commercial for Crown Royal shot in Mexico City, an acting role in the upcoming movie, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before 2. He just finished playing the role of Uncle Billy in the musical adaptation of It’s A Wonderful Life at the Gateway Theatre in Richmond, BC, and was very pleased to have received an Ovation Award nomination for best supporting actor in this play. Jim has received Lifetime Achievement awards from West Coast Tap Collective and Urban Alchemy. Also, He has been inducted into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame and his star is in the sidewalk in front of the Orpheum Theatre on Granville Street.

Mentored by Gregory Hines, Andrew Nemr is considered one of the most diverse tap dance artists today. An international performer, choreographer, educator and speaker, Andrew’s work explores tap dance as a vehicle for storytelling and community building. He has played with Grammy Award winning musicians across multiple genres, founded and directed the tap dance company Cats Paying Dues, and co-founded the Tap Legacy™ Foundation, Inc. (along with Hines). “A masterly tapper” (New York Times), Andrew’s work has been recognized with a TED Fellowship, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts American Masterpieces: Dance Initiative and the CUNY Dance Initiative. Andrew is recorded on the Grammy nominated recording Itsbynne Reel by Dave Eggar, the DVD Documentary and companion album Tuesdays at Mona’s by Mona’s Hot Four, and narrates the DanceTime Publications DVD, Tap Dance History: From Vaudeville to Film. An avid public speaker, Andrew now uses the story of his journey and the craft of tap dance to speak about identity, community, faith, and love.

Building on a background in libraries, media and culture as well as open access projects Maryann Kempthorne is always keen to leap to work of fostering conversation around the topics of social space and community engagement. A Vancouverite, Maryann is a board member for Rumble Theatre on their board and was Secretary and an organizer for the Vancouver Maker Foundation. Maryann is also a parent, a student of dance and currently the Manager of Innovation and Learning at the North Vancouver District Public Library. Maryann has worked in resource, access and learning roles with Capilano University, the Surrey and Vancouver School Boards, West Vancouver Memorial Library, Vancouver Public Library, Pacific Press, the BC Libraries Cooperative and the Museum of Anthropology (UBC). So happy to participate in Community Conversations via the Vancouver Tap

Dance Society.