Our Patron – Avalon Rathgeb
Avalon Rathgeb: Artistic Director of ‘Old Kent Road’ and a world-renown tap dance teacher delivering classes on faculty of many international tap dance festivals. Her career highlights include principal dancer for ‘Tapestry Dance Company’ under the direction of Acia Gray 2017-19. dancing in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games and the closing ceremony of the European Games (Baku Azerbaijan) 2015. She is the recipient of two internships from the American Tap Dance Foundation 2009/11, Grant Swift’s TeAyPe (Melbourne, Australia) 2009-10, a scholarship for the Los Angeles Tap Festival 2012, winner of the 2013 cutting contest at Stockholm Tap Festival. She was invited to the 2014 Tap program at the School at Jacob’s Pillow in Massachusetts, USA. She is also an RSD world ambassador
Our Sponsor: Ruben Sanchez Dancewear
Ruben Sanchez Dancewear is a global brand and the home of the amazing tap dance instrument: the RSD Tap Shoe. Many thanks to CEO Ruben Sanchez for his support. We LOVE RSD tap dance shoes.
KTE Friend: Lucy Jones
Former Team GB Member, Tap Dancer, and Tap Dance Teacher. Lucy is six-time world tap champion as a part of Team GB & is the current female solo European champion 2018 & 2019. She has attended many international festivals and in 2019 received a partial scholarship to attend the tap dance program at the Jacob’s Pillow Festival, one of the most prestigious dance festivals in the United States. She recently joined Old Kent Road as an apprentice. and is the RSD UK Ambassador. She was a student teacher at Taptastic Tap Dance Festival.
KTE Friend: Miranda Westbrook
Miranda has been dancing since the age of three – studying a range of genres, but finding a particular affinity for tap dance. She holds a level two tap teacher training certificate from the American Tap Dance Foundation in New York, and has travelled the globe to study with some of the best tap dancers in the world today. Miranda runs the TP Tap Team in Sicily, Italy, where she heads up the tap dance program at The Academy Performing Arts School and runs the blog tptap.com. Miranda says:
I want to be a friend of Kerry Tap Ensemble, because after meeting Dr Trish several years ago at TDFUK I realised what amazing opportunities she is bringing to her students. I am always trying to do the same for mine and so I feel I have found a kindred tap spirit, who is keen on advancing tap in her area in much the same way as I’m trying to do in mine.