Teaching and Training

“I teach the kind of tapping I learned – hoofing with soul that connects to the world around us.”

Reggio
My teachers included famous dancers like Jimmy Payne Sr. and Ernest "Brownie" Brown, the legendary vaudeville, Broadway, and film veteran.

I was in the second grade when I saw my first tap dance performance. Soon after I started putting bottle caps on the bottom of my shoes, trying to imitate tap dancing on the concrete sidewalk. I explored other art forms, but that feeling of "I got to tap" never went away.

Later, I began to dance in the Chicago subway stations, an underground world full of people from all walks of life. Down there I learned how to perform by watching how people reacted. I developed my style of hoofing flat-footed, rather than just on the toes, so that the sound of tapping could be heard over the noise of the trains.
“My 16-year partnership with Ernest 'Brownie' Brown who had co-founded the famous Copasectics tap company, let me learn steps and sequences of generations of elite tap dancers. After a while people started asking me to teach them what I knew about how to tap with this same style and soul.”

Reggio
“I hadn't taken a tap class in over 30 years when I signed up for Tap 1 with Reggio... After taking classes for over a year, I still look forward to putting on my tap shoes every Saturday afternoon.  Thanks, Reggio, for renewing my love of dance!”
Debra Baumgartner
Student

Class Schedules

Old Town School of Folk Music
4544 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
773.728.6000
www.oldtownschool.org

Tuesdays
5:00 - 5:45 pm Boys - Level 1
6:00 - 7:00 pm Level 3
7:20 - 8:20 pm Level 1
8:30 - 9:30 pm Level 2

Saturdays
1:00 - 1:45pm Kids Level 4
1:50 - 3:00 pm Adult Level 1
3:20 - 4:30 pm Adult Level 2
4:35 - 5:45 pm Adult Level 3

Private instruction is available.
Call for information.

Private instruction is available.
Call for information.

North Suburban YMCA
2705 Techny Road
Northbrook, IL 60062
847.272.7250
www.nsymca.org

Class schedules vary.
Contact Reggio or North Suburban YMCA for details.