Lane Alexander

Lane Alexander, Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s co-founder and director for 38 years, has a performing career spanning over 49 years that includes work on the concert stage, musical theater, television and film. He is one of the foremost experts on Morton Gould’s Tap Dance Concerto and performed at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops led by Skitch Henderson and with Marvin Hamlisch, Nanette Fabray, and Maurice Hines; the London Philharmonic (Rachel Worby), the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra (Christopher Bell), the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (David Robertson), and his first performance of the piece in 1992 with the Chicago Sinfonietta (Paul Freeman). He was the first artist to publish a recording of the Tap Dance Concerto since the original recording with Danny Daniels in 1952. Additional performances have included the Chautauqua Festival, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Queens Symphony Orchestra (Stuart Malina), Long Beach Symphony Orchestra (with Fred Strickler and Sam Weber), the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (Michael Krajewski) and most recently the Greenville Symphony Orchestra (Edvard Tchivzhel). Lane choreographed and appeared in the Sell Film production of Outtakes, the television series The Untouchables and co-directed the Emmy nominated PBS documentary, JUBA! Masters of Tap and Percussive Dance. In 2004, Lane founded a new ensemble, BAM!, which has represented the United States at the Beijing Contemporary Dance Festival, the Gala de Estrellas Internacional de Danza in Caracas and at numerous international festivals. Lane has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts’ American Masterpieces program through the Illinois Arts Council, the Chicago Tribune as a “Chicagoan of the Year,” the Ruth Page Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Field, the Chicago Dance and Music Alliance for Outstanding Solo Performance, two Illinois Arts Council Choreography Fellowships and a Chicago Dancemakers Forum Award.