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People
 John KlossJohn Kloss was inspired to start tap by early performances of tap on film, and gained his first training in Chicago with many of tap's masters. John has appeared in the short film "Tap Heat," as an ensemble member and soloist with Jazz Tap Ensemble and Especially Tap Chicago, as a founding member of the tap duo The Swift Brothers, and in festival productions such as the St. Louis Tap Festival, the Chicago Human Rhythm Project, and the Maui Tap Experience. John has also been a featured performer at the San Francisco Bay Area Dance Awards. Inspired also by the many incredibly gifted performing artists and variety of styles in tap, John's interests have led to a performing resume that includes a notable list of tap artists and work in a wide range of settings. He has performed in concert ensemble choreography of Gregory Hines and Jimmy Slyde, in film choreography by Danny Daniels and Jason Samuels Smith, with Samuels Smith in early incarnations of the group ACGI (Anybody Can Get It), as "the Guide" in the Universal Arts production of the Beat in San Francisco (a role originated by Baakari Wilder), and in numerous events alongside many of today's top tap artists. John has also appeared in festival and other events honoring such luminaries as the Nicholas Brothers, Four Step Brothers Maceo Anderson and Prince Spencer, Peg Leg Bates, Arthur Duncan, and Michael Jackson, and at national conferences of corporations such as Wal-Mart and AT&T. In addition to his work as a performing artist, John holds a law degree from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, and was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1997. John has served as a panelist for the San Francisco Arts Commission, and currently teaches ongoing classes in San Francisco at the ODC Dance Commons, City Dance Center, and San Francisco Dance Center. In 2003, John established the California nonprofit STEPOLOGY (www.stepology.com), San Francisco's Bay Area Tap Festival, and the festival's concert performance component, the Bay Area Rhythm Exchange. In his roles as founder, director, and performing artist, John's efforts have led to programming which has twice been listed in the San Francisco Chronicle's "Top Ten Dance Performances of the Year," earned an "Access to Artistic Excellence" grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and been described by the San Francisco Bay Times as invoking "an appreciation of tap's history while inspiring an excitement for tap's present and future." |