Welcome to my blog for the latest news and journals of my adventures. In the sidebar, find posts listed by Categories or Tags, or use keywords in the search bar. Browse posts about classes and workshops, read snippets of personal accounts of gigs, find out about my progress on projects... capture a glimpse into my life as a polymath.
Best wishes,
Annette
Whether you’re a hoofer or musical theatre tap dancer you’ll not want to miss this fantastic opportunity to attend a workshop in London with American hoofer, choreographer, filmmaker and actor, Cartier Williams!
Date: Tuesday 27 February 2024
Time: 1.30pm – 3.00pm
Price: £25 plus booking fee (limited places)
Venue: Colombo Centre, 34–68 Colombo Street, London, SE1 8DP
Brought to you by Jazz Dance Collective and Annette Walker Tap Dance Programme
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The Jazz Dance Collective is an educational hub for Tap Dance, Authentic Jazz, and UK Jazz. The Collective brings together the knowledge of Jazz, encompassing both its history and practice. These three disciplines of Jazz dance link its foundation and evolution, providing a coherent line to educate the future generation. Members of the Collective join together in projects, sharing space and discussion.
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(Posting this a few months late!) I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve been awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded Research Studentship by London Arts & Humanities Partnership (LAHP) for PhD research at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (CSSD) from October 2023. It’s for a project on Buddy Bradley that had started life in 2020 as independent research on the development of tap dance in Britain that was first presented as an online talk in March 2021.
Tue 5 Dec 2023
7pm
Silk Street Music Hall, Guildhall School of Music and Drama,
Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DT
Guildhall Improvisers’ Workshop, directed by saxophonist and composer Trish Clowes, present a programme of Geri Allen compositions and newly devised music inspired by her distinctive versatility, exploratory musicality and educational legacy.
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Other presentations and talks on Buddy Bradley and past events (2021-2022)
7pm – 8.30pm BST
Presentation and discussion on Zoom hosted by TDRN UK
By Annette Walker
In this visually engaging, online presentation, Annette Walker revisits and expands upon her original research on Buddy’s work and influence in musical theatre, film and television. She discusses the challenges of navigating racial tropes and stereotypes, shares the joy of meeting two of Buddy’s dance students (best friends now in their nineties), and reveals the journey from her first, 2021 presentation to a fully-funded, AHRC research studentship at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (2023-2027). The PhD project is titled, “Reclaiming Buddy Bradley: Black jazz dance and British musical theatre history”
Online recording available (below)
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Published version available from Black Ink, Issue 4, 20 September 2023
By Annette Walker, August 2023 (unedited)
In 2020, Buddy Bradley’s name appeared several times during my research on tap dance history in the UK and I was intrigued about how this American became the first Black choreographer of British musical film in the 1930s. How is it that hardly any dancers (including myself) had heard of him? The more I learned about Buddy, the more widespread I found his influence to be and by summer 2021, I was writing a research project proposal in order to recover the missing story of his contribution to British dance practice.
Saturday 12 August 2023
5-6pm
St Mary’s Church in Brecon, Powys, Wales
Jazz tap dance & bass
Annette Walker (tap dancer, BBC Proms 2019) and the multi award-winning jazz bassist, Gary Crosby (Tomorrow’s Warriors) bring their eclectic blend of rhythms and jazz.
Starring Lee Payne, Annette Walker and Yvonne Campbell
Written, directed and choreographed by Jack Evans, DATELEAP has played at 13 film festivals around the world to bring tap dance to new audiences in cinemas. It’s now available to watch online FREE (best viewed on a big screen).
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The Annette Walker Tap Programme has been able to deliver tap workshops and apprenticeships to its young adult Tap Ambassadors and students with the support of the Changing Times Tap Initiative grant (2022-2023). Read the highlights below or the full report (on Google Docs).
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Eeek! I’m so excited about my new solo tap show debuting in the Red Room at The Albany in Deptford, London, UK on Thursday 6th July 2023.
Part one: A relaxed sharing of the new solo storytelling tap show I’ve been developing accompanied by Alex Ho on piano
Part two: A jam with some of the top tap improvisers in the UK accompanied by my jazz quartet, The Rhythmaticians
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