by Leigh Witchel
When four female tap dancers get together, what don’t they do? If this group’s name, Dormeshia Tap Collective, gave us any hints, they don’t compete.
“Rhythm is Life,” originally commissioned for Little Island last year, kept things simple: there was no set except a raised platform for the dancing. The dancers’ costumes were matching Wedgwood blue suits, with each woman getting an individual touch with a different top. Behind the platform, a jazz trio played a mellow overture. The one thing that felt basic rather than barebones was the lighting, which made so much use of smoke and searchlight gobos.
In the haze and sidelighting, Dormeshia took the stage first. The three other women joined her for an easy but syncopated opening, then into solo work, where each dancer showed her character. Amanda Castro started off both smooth and precipitous. She hammered on the heel as well as the ball of her foot, which didn’t just make sounds but had emotional overtones – it recalled an obstreperous kid. Tap is about its variety, the music changed from a slow introduction to allegro, and Castro reacted to the mercurial harmonic shifts in mood and rhythm.
The women’s solos were punctuated by bridges by the group; Melissa Almaguer’s shorter solo that followed was satirically ham-footed as she loped and limped between stomping taps. Castro continued the humor, making a face during her solo as if she disliked the music, then reinterpreting it as tap. The solos, even when humorous, let the dancer offer an alternate physicality and a parallel melodic line.
Dormeshia returned for another solo. You could see immediately the difference in her style to the other three. She was the smoothest, less comic and more airy, with the lightest carriage and unbroken phrasing.
When she was done, Christina Carminucci returned to humor, using her taps to shoo the others away. Sliding side to side, she covered the most space. The musicians dropped out during her solo except music director Noah Garabedian on the double bass. throwing a note or two to mark time.
During the next bridge, an uptempo strut, the women took off their jackets, then Shirazette Tinnin on the drums played alone to let the dancers bang out a melody, which transitioned to an insouciant trio without Dormeshia. She followed with a rapid solo done at first in shadow before the lights brightened. Her phrasing, again, was almost unbroken no matter how fast she tapped. She finished imperceptibly, merely stepping off the platform and backing out into the wings.
The quartet tapped to a rumbling percussion solo, and the performance, without intermission, was over before we knew it. It was interesting to note the differences (if these women can stand in for all women) between four men tapping and four women. Some things are no different. The interaction between the dancers was lighthearted and impromptu; at one point Carminucci didn’t move far enough so Dormeshia gave her a little push – both laughed.
Other differences were subtle and contrary. With Dormeshia a notable exception (she recalled Honi Coles in her lightness), these women used weight and force more and lightness less, almost feeling like a deliberate pushback against expectations. There was a lot of stomping and the mood was playful. But one dog didn’t bark. One of the most common conventions in tap is friendly competition, either as call and response or top-that solos. That didn’t happen here. When these women danced together, they danced together. It was indeed a tap collective.
copyright ©2022 by Leigh Witchel
“Rhythm is Life” – Dormeshia Tap Collective
The Joyce Theater, New York, NY
July 28, 2022
Cover: Dormeshia in “Rhythm is Life.” Photo credit © Steven Pisano.
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