Ademola Junior Laniyan

Born and raised in South East London, Ademola Junior Laniyan has tap danced on stage at London’s Royal Albert Hall with the recording artist Robbie Williams; Canadian Tap Pioneer Heather Cornell in Finding Synesthesia for both the London and Salzberg Jazz Festivals and in The Purcell Room for Out of the Blues with his tap Mentor Tobias Tak.

His credits outside the UK include improvised tap solos in both Riverdance for its European and Asian tours & the Tony award winning Broadway show After Midnight (Various Caribbean and Mexican islands) as well as Los Sones Negros for Suma Flamenca (Spain) with Flamenco legend Juan de Juan, La Serena Festival Internacional de Jazz ( Chile) with Chilean jazz trumpet legend Cristián Cuturrufo, and the Ernesto Nazareth Chorinho Festival (Brazil) as part of the Michele Drees Jazz Tap Project. The Jazz Tap Project were also featured in the 2013 & 2014 London Jazz Festivals and had the honour of supporting the Jazz legend Jon Hendricks at London’s Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.

Ademola Junior Laniyan also works as a professional actor and has merged both skills on stage while playing the title role in the touring show Master Juba, and the children’s show Mrs Wobble the Waitress as Mr Wobble.

As an actor he played Pvt Bell in Danny Boyles 28 Days Later & The Photographer in Gareth Maxwell Robert’s Kill, Kill, Faster, Faster as well as numerous other television and theatre productions within the UK.

Tap choreography credits include Net A Porter’s online Autumn Winter shoes campaign, Sky 1’s Louis Spence’s Show Business, a commercial for Zain in Lebanon and Tap Dance consultant for London’s 2012 Olympic opening ceremony. He was also commissioned by The Space to choreograph a tap number in collaboration with British Jazz saxophonist Soweto Kinch.

Ademola Junior Laniyan has also taught extensively within the UK and continental Europe and South America

In his efforts to share his love of the dance with others, he co-founded the London Tap Jam, a regular opportunity for tap dancers to jam with each other supported by fantastic live musicians in the heart of London.

Deborah Norris

Upon graduating from Elmhurst Ballet School, Deborah continued her academic studies, gaining a BA Hons Communication Studies – Dance from the University of Leeds, and an MA in Dance Studies at De Montfort University and then received a scholarship to pursue her contemporary dance training at the Jose Limón Institute in New York.  Deborah is a trustee/committee member for the Society for Dance Research, Tap Dance Research UK, All England Dance and the British and International Federation of Festivals.

As a dance educator Deborah has taught internationally at conservatoires in Taiwan, Slovakia, Lithuania, and America. She has taught across the UK for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in both Dance and Musical Theatre, and as a guest teacher offering a range of styles from Contemporary to Tap.  Recipient of a One Dance UK Teaching Mentorship, Deborah was mentored by Amanda Britton, and in 2019 she was a nominated finalist for the Inspirational Lecturer One Dance UK Award.

As a choreographer Deborah has presented works internationally in both educational and professional settings. Youth Dance projects have taken her work to the Commonwealth Youth Dance Festival, and UDance Regional and National Platforms. Her company Ballet Folk, has a narrative focus and is embedded in folk traditions and music with recent premieres staged at Cambridge Folk Festival and Counter Pointe in New York.

Deborah is the Programme Manager of Rambert 2 at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance and Rambert Company.

Annette Walker

Annette is an accomplished, multi-talented performing artist who has appeared in a variety of theatre, film, television and concert productions. Her tap dance features include the BBC Proms 2019 Duke Ellington’s Sacred Music concert at the Royal Albert Hall, Swinging at the Cotton Club (UK tour) and the short film, Dateleap (2022). As an aerial circus artist, she was one of the Mary Poppinses in the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony.

Annette is the founder and the musical director of the band, Rhythmaticians, and headlined the Marsden Jazz Festival with her new tap dance show in 2021. She also works as a music director and musician for other dance, music and theatre productions with credits that include Swing Sister Swing (UK tour 2022), Myke Masters Band and Sandi Toksvig’s Mirth Control at the WOW Festival at the Southbank Centre.

Annette’s passion for integrating music and dance continues off stage as a researcher and educator and she has taught at many dance and music institutions including, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, Royal Academy of Dance, The BRIT School, National Youth Jazz Collective and Tomorrow’s Warriors. She led the Renegade Stage (tap improvisation workshop) at the London Tap Jam for over 15 years, and is currently a co-director of Tap Dance Research Network UK. Annette is a fully funded AHRC PhD student researching the influence of African American choreographer, Buddy Bradley, on the British musical stage.

Sally Crawford-Shepherd

Sally Crawford-Shepherd is a dance practitioner and academic. A Kansan by birth, she has moved around the world exploring dance in diverse cultures to share through performances, research, and workshops with professionals and students. She completed her PhD at De Montfort University and her thesis was a multi-sited ethnographic study of two self-named tap dance communities in Manchester and London, England. The aim was to understand how these communities engaged with music and tap improvisation as a social process within a non-theatrical context outside of the United States. Her current research interests continue along this theme, exploring how tap dance improvisation and individual performance identity move beyond the stage to become a medium for arts activism and dance scholarship in live and digital platforms.

Sally is currently the Programme Leader for the BA(Hons) Dance Performance course at Addict Dance Academy.

Jess Murray

Jess Murray is a dance artist interested in the relationship between dance and music and improvised performance. She is currently undertaking a practice research Ph.D funded by Midland4Cities at De Montfort University researching ‘Improvisational Dramaturgy for Dance and Music Collaboration’. Jess works collaboratively with musicians to create original performance work such as the Arts Council England funded projects SoundMoves and Sound Catchers. She is known for her work as a professional rhythm tap performer, teacher and tap jam host (Tap Rhythm Jam Nottingham, London Tap Jam, Tap Dance Festival UK), and also coordinates the Tap Rhythm Project.