Lane Alexander

Chicago Human Rhythm Project Founder and Artistic Director
(more about Lane Alexader, including classes he is teaching in your area)

LANE ALEXANDER co-founded and directs the Chicago Human Rhythm Project, the oldest and largest American institution dedicated to the presentation of concert tap art. His performing career spans over 30 years and includes an Emmy nomination for the WTTW/ITVS documentary “JUBA!”, television, film and concerts at Carnegie Hall, the Royal Festival Hall in London with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Chicago’s Symphony Center with the Chicago Sinfonietta. Lane toured nationally and internationally with Austin on Tap and the National Tap Dance Company of Canada and has appeared as a soloist at major tap festivals in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Helsinki, New York, Paris, Prague, Seattle, and Vancouver. In a former life, Lane danced in the Candlelight Dinner Theater’s long running production of 42nd Street and Marriot Lincolnshire’s Funny Girl among others.

Lane received the Ruth Page Award in 2000 for Outstanding Contribution to the Field, was recognized by the Chicago Tribune in 1999 as a Chicagoan of the Year, was awarded Illinois Arts Council Choreography Fellowships in 1998 and 2004, and was most recently honored to receive a 2004 Chicago Dancemakers Forum project grant.

Alexander has served on the adjunct faculty of Northwestern University and has taught for the Lou Conte Dance Studio, the Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Center, the Joel Hall Dance Studio, Columbia College, Stephen’s College and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He choreographs dances for companies and soloists throughout the United States and Europe, including Especially Tap Chicago, Tap Unlimited (Zurich), Macadam (Paris), Footlights (Helsinki), Keane Sense of Rhythm (Minneapolis), Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble, RPM (San Antonio) and Tappers with Attitude (Washington, D.C.). He also designs tap dance shoes for Leo’s Dancewear.

Alexander served on the Board of Directors of the Chicago Dance Coalition, as a grant panelist for the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, as an International Tap Association Illinois State representative and is currently working on the International Tap Association’s Tap Interim/Historical Project as a moderator. He has appeared with such greats as Donald O’Connor, Gregory Hines, the Nicholas Brothers, Buster Brown, Prince Spencer, Peg Leg Bates, Jimmy Slyde, Savion Glover and Luke Cresswell. He studied with Laine Johns, Susan Beil Connally, Steve Condos, LaVaughn Robinson, Fred Strickler, William Orlowski, Dianne Walker, Sam Weber and Bobby Wells.