The annual Beijing International Dance Festival will end this weekend with the British ballet Madame Butterfly at the Poly Theater and a performance of American tap dance at the Beizhan Theater.

Local theatergoers have already experienced Irish tap in River Dance, Lord of the Dance and Spirit of the Dance. And from the musical 42nd Street, which just wrapped up its China tour last month, they tasted one style of American tap. Now the real deal is set to hit the Beizhan Theater from December 23.

The show, JUBA! Masters of American Tap captures the dynamic renaissance of tap as performed by the finest dancers from Chicago, LA, San Francisco and New York, including Harold Cromer who started out in the 1950s. There's also Dianne Walker, the acclaimed "America's First Lady of Tap", Sam Weber, who combines ballet with tap choreography, and Lane Alexander, the artistic director of the show.

In 1990, Alexander and the late Kelly Michaels co-founded the Chicago Human Rhythm Project (CHRP) as a workshop at the Gus Giordano Dance Center in Evanston, Illinois. The Project organizes for master tap dancers to tour throughout the US and teach in various communities.

Alexander once said that he realized at the beginning of his career as a dancer that tap dancing was a homeless art, nomadic and poorly supported. So he founded the CHRP to celebrate tap dance as a quintessentially American art form.

"The Chicago Human Rhythm Project, through its educational and entertainment program, promotes understanding of the intricacies and techniques of tap dancing, and creates performance opportunities for tap artists," Alexander says.

"Tap dancing, which was almost a lost art, is having its renaissance - and this time, it's here to stay!"

Time: 7:30 pm

Place: Beizhan Theater, Xizhimen Waidajie Street, Xicheng District

Tel: 6406-8888, 400-818-3333

(China Daily December 22, 2007)