American Tap Dance Orchestra

Founded by Brenda Bufalino, Tony Waag, and Charles "Honi" Coles in New York City in 1986, the American Tap Dance Orchestra (ATDO) was a non-profit tap dance company. According to its Statement of Purpose (1992), the organization sought to provide an international home for tap dance, perpetuate tap as a contemporary art form, preserve it through performance and an archival library, provide educational programming, and establish a formal school for tap dance.

Unlike other tap dance companies, the ATDO focused on the musicality of tap; the dancers' feet were used as instruments to simulate an orchestra through their performances. The ATDO performed in hundreds of international concert, stage, and film projects from 1986-1999, and, from 1989-1995, ran the Woodpeckers Tape Dance Center in New York City.

In 2002, the American Tap Dance Orchestra changed its name to the American Tap Dance Foundation. According to its website, the ATDF remains a non-profit organization "committed to establishing and legitimizing Tap Dance as a vital component of American Dance through creation, presentation, education and preservation." In 2010, the organization opened its new home in New York City, the American Tap Dance Center, which offers educational programming.

Sources: American Tap Dance Foundation. Accessed August 10, 2011. www.atdf.org.

From the guide to the American Tap Dance Orchestra records, 1988-1995, (The New York Public Library. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.)