Today we’d like to introduce you to Ellen Keane.
Hi Ellen, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
In 1997, my sister Cathy Keane Wind and I co-founded Keane Sense of Rhythm tap dance company (KSR). We started the company in 1997 with the purpose of building a solid tap community in the Twin Cities. Our mission is to preserve, present, create and expand the boundaries of American Tap Dance. We accomplish this through educational programs, creation of new works, performing, presenting accessible tap events, collaborating with other artists, and investing in talented youth.
The face of our company is our Youth Tap Ensemble, where tap crazed students find their way to us to study the art, history, and culture of American Tap Dance, a distinctly African American creation. We strive to bring these youth, ages 8-18 to a place of confidence and accomplishment in a non-competitive environment. We teach life skills through tap dance.
Sometime before 2006, I started offering an adult beginning tap class on Fridays and called it Tappy Hour. The beginning classes prioritize building brains, bones, and balance, which are especially important for us as we age. It was such a hit that I trademarked the name and offered free classes at Can Can Wonderland to promote the program. I currently teach adults through KSR and local community education programs. We are gearing up to expand our program in additional venues such as retirement communities.
The third arm of KSR’s education program is outreach. Each year, we work with nearly 200 low-income students at St. Paul Public Schools, providing them with a free arts enrichment program that teaches the art of tap. These students come from a variety of ethnic and linguistic backgrounds: 78% are BIPOC, 34% are English language learners, 16% utilize special education services and 72% are eligible for lunch programs. For many students, this is the first dance class they have ever taken.
Keane Sense of Rhythm has produced 3 Twin Cities tap festivals, 3 Fringe Festivals (two in Minneapolis and one In Thunder Bay), and dozens of tap master classes open to the public. Annually, we produce a community-wide tap show for National Tap Dance Day. This National holiday honors Bill “Bojangles” Robinson’s contribution to the art and culture of American Tap Dance. Most recently, KSR co-produced “Jazz on Tap,” which showcased the bright talent of dancer/choreographer Davon Suttles and the tap dancing chops of a talented young group of performers.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Our idea of a professional company was premature. In the late 1990s, there were very few qualified tap dancers in MN. We spent a lot of time teaching them for what we needed. Consequently, our first festival in 1997 lost a lot of money. It took us years to recover. In 2006, we had to close the studio.
KSR has been rather nomadic since then with class offerings reserved for our Youth Tap Ensemble. However, with many qualified tap dancers on the scene, we can use pick-up dancers for projects. That keeps the cost of performances affordable and sustainable.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My sister Cathy and I grew up in Minnesota dancing at the Virginia Luoma Dance studio learning ballet, jazz and musical theater tap style dancing. After college, we attended the “Jazz Tap Ensemble” performance at the Ordway and saw tap dancing with live jazz music. We were so inspired by the performance that we decided this was the “circus” we wanted to run away and join. Since Minneapolis did not have a strong tap dance scene, we flew to tap festivals across the county and flew in artists to train us.
In addition to our work with Keane Sense of Rhythm, Cathy and I have broad performance, teaching, choreography, and production backgrounds. I have taught tap or body rhythm residencies in St Paul schools for the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Ordway and the East Side Arts Council, and at numerous art festivals in the area. I was a University of Minnesota adjunct faculty member for nearly 20 years. Cathy Keane Wind has been on staff at St. Paul Conservatory for the Arts, St. Cloud State University, prominent dance studios, and has won numerous Spotlight choreography awards. As Artistic Directors of Keane Sense of Rhythm and previous owners of a dance studio, we have been the primary force in developing these curricula.
We strive to effect social change and to create a better understanding of American history and culture including race and gender issues by sharing the American art form of tap with its complex roots in our history. Within this context, it is important we continue to broaden and diversify our audience and participants.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I am the oldest of 6, I have always been independent. I was a monkey who would climb everything I could. My dad taught me a cartwheel and I would dance standing on his feet. My parents both loved dancing so it was always a part of my life, for which I am grateful. I didn’t participate in group sports really until college where I got hooked on broomball and then floor hockey. I loved art, recess, and tumbling. I started dance classes at 4, and come February of every year I wanted to quit, mom said yes I could quit but not until I finished the year out. Well, spring comes with the sun and warmth and of course…the recital. I never did manage to quit dance. I also developed a love of gymnastics and joined a club where I flourished for a few years. It was 4 hours a night, except Friday when I got to dance in a trio with two good dance friends. 9th grade meant a new school and the risks were getting greater in my routines. I decided that since I wasn’t shooting for the Olympics, I would quit and spend some time developing my social skills by becoming involved at school. My parents were great examples to me of the importance of being in service to my community, I found countless ways to do that in and out of school and it is a value of KSR now as well.
Pricing:
- Tappy Hour classes $15/hour
- Youth classes pay monthly starting at $60/mo.
- Our adult classes are drop-in
Contact Info:
- Email: ellen@tapcompany.org
- Website: tapcompany.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keanesenseofrhythm/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keanesense
- Youtube: keane sense of rhythm
