In less than a decade, Emmy award-winning choreographer and hoofer Jason Samuels Smith has emerged as a leader in the tap dance world. For the New York premiere of his new dance work, Charlie’s Angels, he considers the complex intersections between inspiration, re-interpretation, and creative process, using Charlie Parker’s revolutionary harmonic ideas and tonal vocabulary as a point of departure. Revisiting Parker’s early influential recordings, Samuels Smith relates them to the history of tap dance, as well as to his personal development as a choreographer.

Developed in collaboration with and performed by three of the most innovative women tap dancers in the world, Chloe Arnold, Michelle Dorrance, and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, and also featuring Samuels Smith, the piece recontextualizes Parker’s music in the present moment. Samuels Smith takes us on a ride through fast tempos, virtuosic technique, and improvisation based on the harmonic structure that has become the legacy of bebop music.

Curated by Rashida Bumbray

Produced by Divine Rhythm Productions and Dulé Hill