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Artist Statement
When asked to describe my work, I often say that I am a Tap Dance Artist, a visual music maker who tells vivid stories through the universal languages of music and dance.
But the truth is, I often find it hard to label what I do. I sometimes feel like I’m too much of a musician to be considered a dancer, and too much of a dancer to be considered a musician.
My approach isn’t just about blending different art forms; it’s about understanding that creativity doesn’t have to fit into neat categories.
By mixing tap dance, vocal percussion, body percussion, and even a bit of clowning, I aim to make people think, feel, and experience something they might not have expected. It’s all about letting these different forms come together in a way that sparks curiosity and wonder.
In my creative process, I’m constantly aware of the power of both spoken and unspoken language. Through the rhythms of my feet, the sounds of my voice, and the physicality of my movements, I weave stories that speak directly to the heart.
Each piece is a narrative—one that invites the audience to journey with me, to experience not just a performance but a living, breathing story. Each tap, gesture, and sound helps bring that character and story to life.
It’s about creating a language we don’t necessarily know, but one that feels natural and accessible once we experience it.
This is my offering: a space where rhythm, movement, sound and storytelling are completely intertwined.
Biography
Hillary-Marie is an interdisciplinary American tap dance artist, a visual music maker who tells vivid stories through the universal languages of music and dance. Her unique multi-modal voice blends foot, body, and vocal percussion with compelling storytelling to craft immersive rhythmic experiences that transcend traditional boundaries of performance art. Her dancing has been described as having "feet like feathers with steel bones," a testament to her rare combination of strength and grace.
She is the recipient of multiple Individual Artist Fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, some of their most competitive awards. She has received recognition in Choreography as a 2017 award recipient and 2023 funded finalist, and in Interdisciplinary Arts as a 2024 award recipient. From 2019 to 2022, she held a fellowship at NJPAC, where she developed her award-winning and touring one-woman show, In The Pocket.
Hillary-Marie has captivated audiences as both an award-winning, internationally acclaimed soloist and a sought-after collaborator. She has shared the stage with music greats, including Grammy-award-winning a cappella group Take 6, Grammy-nominated group Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, trombone legend Wycliffe Gordon, Luther Vandross' music director Nat Adderley Jr., and award-winning composer of A Chorus Line, Marvin Hamlisch.
Beyond the stage, Hillary-Marie is the founder and creator of iTapOnline.com, the go-to resource for tap dancers and teachers worldwide. Widely regarded as a teacher of teachers, she is committed to preserving the oral tradition of tap dance, ensuring its vibrancy for future generations. Her iTap Teacher Certificate Program trains 100 teachers each summer in her signature methodology, The 5 Fundamentals of Tap Dance and The Fundamental Fusion Approach.
A native of New Jersey, Hillary-Marie founded Jersey Tap Fest at the age of 17. This annual event, one of the largest tap dance festivals in the United States, ran through 2020 and was named the Best Place to See Live Dance Performances in New Jersey by New Jersey Stage. She also served as the Founder and Co-owner of Grooves Unlimited Dance Studio (2012-2023), the only dance studio in the U.S. dedicated entirely to hip hop and tap dance, and the home of FutureSTEP Tap Company.
Hillary-Marie has been recognized by and featured in The New York Times, Star Ledger, Dance Studio Life Magazine, Dance Spirit Magazine, and Dance Teacher Magazine. She has given a TEDxTalk about her artist-entrepreneur journey and has traveled the world as a featured artist at dance and music festivals in Europe, Central America, South America, Asia, and throughout the U.S.
Hillary-Marie's tap dance roots run deep. She began her dance training in jazz at the age of five at her local dance studio in New Jersey and learned to play the drums from her father. By combining her two passions, she began studying tap dance at age twelve. By fourteen, she was performing in eleven shows a week with the pre-professional company Showstoppers at the Edwards Nash Theatre. Her training continued under Karen Callaway Williams, whose credits include the Tony Award-nominated Duke Ellington musical Play On!. In 2006, she joined the New Jersey Tap Ensemble’s youth company and, three years later, became a principal dancer under the direction of Deborah Mitchell.
From 2007 until his passing in 2013, Hillary-Marie was mentored by and served as an assistant to Vaudeville legend Dr. Harold “Stumpy” Cromer, half of the world-famous duet Stump & Stumpy, who shared the stage with icons like Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. At 19, she moved to New York City and began performing weekly at Harlem’s Cotton Club as part of Bessie-award winner Dormeshia Sumbry Edwards’ group, The Cotton Club Sophisticated Ladies. During this time, she also worked with Emmy-award-winning artist Jason Samuels Smith (A.C.G.I.) and Derick K. Grant (Rhythm Is Our Business). Her performance credits also include collaborations with Heather Cornell (Conversations), Roxane Butterfly (New Dance Alliance), Maurice Chestnut (Above Ground Project), Christopher Scott (W-L-U-V), Lisa LaTouche (Tap Phonics), and as a featured guest artist with the Boston Tap Company (Rhythm in the Night).
Hillary-Marie’s original creative works include her debut full-length show, Soul Walk, described by renowned dance critic Robert Johnson as "a rosy bubble that floats off the stage and envelops the crowd, allowing grateful viewers to forget where they are." She followed up this success with her second show, VIBE, a production by her company Hillary-Marie’s Sole Music Collective, which Dance Metro DC described as "a springboard for locating tap dance within a concert dance context… serving to truly bring the house down."
Other notable works include the #Herspective video series and collaborations with vocalists Emily Braden and Nancy Harmes, bassist Jennifer Vincent, and singer-songwriter Ami Madeleine. Hillary-Marie has also worked with pianists Mark G. Meadows and Willerm Delisfort, percussionist Vincent Smith, and beatboxer Mark Martin. Her interactive and improvised UNplugged house concert series brought live music, tap dance, and storytelling into intimate, low-key settings, while her most recent creation, In The Pocket, continues to captivate audiences worldwide.
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