Our Connex for Cancer Day campaign began on 1 July, and we’re asking Melburnians to do their bit to raise money for cancer research.
Over the month of July we will be raising the awareness of Connex for Cancer Day. For every Metcard bought at any of our Ticket Offices on Thursday July 31 we will [...]

The festival will take place from Wednesday 15th – Monday 20th October

World Class Tap Dancers Jason Samuels Smith and Chloe Arnold as well as some of the best Tappers in Australia who you can check out in the Local Artists section.

Jason Samuels Smith won a 2004 Emmy Award as well as a 2004 American Choreography Award for Outstanding Choreography for the Opening number of the 2003 Jerry Lewis/MDA Telethon. Jason received a Proclamation declaring April 23rd “Jason Samuels Day” from the City of Shreveport, Louisiana in 2004 and was also presented with both the Ivy [...]

Chloe Arnold recently starred in and was Associate Choreographer for Debbie Allen s new hit show Alex in Wonderland at the Kennedy Center. She is also featured in the new hit show Imagine Tap, Outkast s movie Idlewild, Beyonces video Upgrade You as her dance double, Sean Pauls music video for the movie Step Up [...]

For over 20 years Grant Swift has been bringing tap performance and education to the shores of Melbourne, Australia. A former state boxing champion, Grant now continues with that same drive and determination to better the education and awareness of tap dance in Melbourne, throughout Australia and around the world. He gets flown nationally [...]

Lamine Sonko was born in Senegal, West Africa to a family of Griots. He began performing the dance, drum and song traditions of his culture when he was only 10 years old. After only a short period, Lamine featured as a solo dancer, percussionist and vocalist and different local groups that are well known [...]

A collaboration of some of Australias’ most accomplished and cutting-edge tappers. This unique combination have collectively performed throughout Asia, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Mexico and America.
As a troupe their performance experience working with live musicians such as the Sedegreen Jazz family, Lamine Sonko and King Morang to name but a few makes them one of [...]

Aussie tap stars of the future “Melbourne Youth Tap” (MYT) is a jam-packed troupe of kids taught by Grant Swift. In their show you will see a diverse range of influences going right back to the root of the art form – Africa (see Lamine Sonko). It’s important to know the spirit and soul of what [...]

Melita started learning Classical Ballet and Jazz from Cheryl Witchell and then Tap with Kaye Emmett.  By age 8 she was exposed to both latin American and Ballroom. At age 10 Melita represented Australia in an International Dance tournament, that toured South East Asia, and as a Victorian representative for the South Pacific Ballroom championships. [...]

“The Swift Brothers” - Harry, 12 and Oscar, 10 are the sons of Grant Swift, internationally recognized performer, teacher and tap producer. Inevitably they have inherited the passion for the art form of Tap as they have grown up around Tap, Live Jazz, Reggae music and African song and dance bands.
The Swift Brothers have been [...]

“Better than Tap Dogs, Better than Stomp, Better than Bootmen, Raw Metal is the ultimate entertainment package… they’re brilliant!”
- Townsville Bulletin
“Raw Metal’s idiosyncratic beat makes it hard for audiences to keep still. It’s been dubbed Funk Tap, a noisy, energetic dance which leaves audiences almost as exhausted as the performers.”
- Canberra Times
Raw Metal is Australia’s [...]

Rachel Cusack started tap dancing at the age of 4 along with jazz, contemporary and classical ballet. In 2002 she “came home” concentrating all her energy on tap and commencing study with Grant Swift. Her hard work and talent would see her progress to troupe rehearsals within a year and by 2005 she was a [...]

Christopher Horsey is the winner of the ‘Fred Astaire International Tap Championship’ (Waldorf Astoria, NYC). He has performed in the Frank Sinatra Concert, and alongside Stevie Wonder in ‘Quincy Jones, 50 years In The Business’. Original cast ‘42nd St’, ‘Chicago - The Musical’ and ‘Singin In The Rain’, Chris also created the role of Tip [...]

Shane studied tap in Newcastle with the late Les Griffith, winning his first tap championship at age seven. Tap is now his forte (25 years experience), Shane trained in Jazz, modern, classical and acrobatics as a child. During his career so far Shane competed in countless eisteddfods and danced in two Fred Astaire Performing Arts [...]

Red Hot Rhythm - Tap with a Touch of Class.
Featuring a troupe of Queensland’s best performers, RHR aims to push the boundaries of tap dance in Australia through experimentation with the art form in new and unique ways, such as the incorporation of aspects of Celtic and African culture. In addition to this, RHR aspires [...]

By the time Calisha was 3 years old she had moved from her country of birth New Zealand to Melbourne and did private tap dance lessons with Grant Swift. Over the next ten years Calisha and Grant developed into Australia’s real-life version of Hollywoods’ Bill Bojangles and Shirley Temple.
They progressed to be a unique [...]

Gambian Master Djembe Drummer, pecussionist, singer, composer, teacher and cultural ambassador.
Born in Bakau, The Gambia West Africa, King has been performing professionally since the age of 12. King developed his skills in the coastal fishing village where he grew up surrounded by the griots (hereditary musicians) and international musicians who were his mentors for [...]

The concept is to dance around one fire in the spirit of reconciliation and harmony. The core dancers are Geof Tye (the leader and owner of the One Fire Business name) and his brother John Tye (Geoffs older brother). The Tye boys are from the Yorta Yorta people situated around the Barmah forest near Echuca [...]

Marabou is music for the feet, hips and soul. A pulsing blend of Afro latin hip hop that leaves you sweaty and asking for more. Inspired by a hard working tribal percussion section this band is a refreshing and sensual explosion of traditional tribal beats and fat sounds. Featuring Boubady on the ‘Afro-Kit’ and Senegalese [...]