TOFFAN RHYTHM PROJECTS PRESENTS

TORONTO INTERNATIONAL TAP DANCE FESTIVAL

After sold-out programming in 2022 and 2024, the biennial festival returns for its fourth edition as a three-day event. Reflecting a multiplicity of histories, aesthetics, and perspectives, the 2026 lineup showcases a range of artistic approaches and lineages through deeply personal and globally resonant works.

Program 1: Friday, August 21st – Milestones

Opening this year’s festival, we’ll pay tribute to Joey Hollingsworth – a tap dancer, singer, and conga player from London, ON, celebrating his 90th birthday a few short weeks following our event. Joey was the first Black man to appear on CBC television in 1954, as a competitor on “Pick the Stars.” Other TV appearances included the Ed Sullivan Show, Wayne and Shuster, and Mister Rogers’ Neighbourhood. We then shift our focus to Heather Cornell. Marking her 70th year, Cornell reflects on a career spanning more than five decades. Widely recognized for her impact on the evolution of tap dance, her work bridges improvisation, composition, and pedagogy, honours her mentors, and distinctly roots tap as the intersection of music, dance, and theatre. As co-founder and artistic director of Manhattan Tap, various solo and collaborative projects, she’s spent 40+ years abroad and has recently returned to Ontario as her home base, bringing with her a substantial artistic lineage and international career.

Closing the evening: Bril Barrett (Chicago) – acclaimed solo artist, outreach trailblazer, and leader in training some of the world’s most sought after tap dancers through his company MADD Rhythms, celebrating 25 years. Barrett’s credits include Riverdance and Imagine Tap, and in 2024 he received the National Heritage Fellowship, the United States’ highest honour in the folk and traditional arts. He is widely recognized for connecting contemporary practice with tap dance’s rich Black American roots.

Program 2: Saturday, August 22nd – Convergence

A split bill: Boys’ Club Tap Dance Collective – Laura Donaldson (Calgary), Elise McGrenera (Toronto), and Veronica Simpson (NYC), present Ostinati, a 30-minute work exploring the cycles that shape lived experience: personal, emotional, societal, and existential, moving through recurring patterns and shifting perspectives, drawing on the artists’ own experiences. Their work foregrounds original music and highlights solidarity and community among female-identifying artists.

Closing the evening is Boston’s Subject: Matter presenting With Far Hand, both a touring stage work and the company’s sophomore studio recording following 2024’s Songbook. Created by Berklee Master of Music graduates Ian Berg (tap dance) and André Sudol (drums/composition), the work explores tap as both movement and sonic composition, emphasizing the instrument-like qualities of the form through original music, improvisation, and contemporary jazz influences. The work expands the boundaries of tap while remaining grounded in its rhythmic lineage and collaborative roots.

Recognized for her consistent presence in Toronto’s most vibrant music venues, Victoria Miller will host our closing night jam where festival artists, community members, dancers, and audience members of all ages come together to celebrate the work, connection, and shared experience of gathering. In addition, TITDF includes masterclasses, clinics, workshops, free panel discussions, our production team internship, and the Bril Barrett Residency Program where 12 selected dancers ages 18-25 from across Canada will train with and perform alongside him.

The Toronto International Tap Dance Festival presents leading artists in the global scene, nurtures the development of Canadian excellence in tap, and is quickly becoming a focal platform for professional bodies of tap dance repertory. The festival connects and explores multiple perspectives of culture, background, generation, and aesthetic.

Performances: Friday & Saturday – Terminal Theatre, 8pm
Workshops & Masterclasses: Saturday August 22 – Waterfront Neighbourhood Centre, 10am-4pm & Sunday August 23 – Randolph Centre for the Performing Arts, 10am-4pm
FREE Panel Discussions: Friday & Saturday, 6-7pm – Terminal Theatre Lobby, Sunday, 4-6pm – Randolph College for the Performing Arts
PWYC Closing Night Jam: Sunday, 8-11pm, DROM Taberna