Music from the Sole
Music From The Sole is a tap dance and live music company that celebrates tap’s Afro-diasporic roots, particularly its connections to Afro-Brazilian dance and music, and its lineage to forms like house dance and passinho (Brazilian funk). Led by Brazilian dancer/ choreographer Leonardo Sandoval (2022 Vilcek Foundation Prize for Creative Promise) and by bassist/ composer Gregory Richardson, their work embraces tap’s unique nature as a blend of sound and movement, incorporating wide-ranging influences like samba, passinho, Afro-Cuban, jazz, and house.
Since their first performances in 2015 at Baltimore’s Creative Alliance, Music From The Sole has grown to a group of 15 dancers and musicians, touring and engaging with communities across the US and abroad. They have received support from the New England Foundation for the Arts (2021 National Dance Project grantees), New York State Council on the Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Jerome Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation, and Dance/ NYC, and were recently commissioned new works by Works & Process at the Guggenheim.
As part of its mission to bring tap dance, America’s original vernacular dance form, to new audiences, they appear as both a dance company and a percussive-led band at dance and music venues. Recent credits include appearances at Lincoln Center, Jacob’s Pillow, The Yard, Kaatsbaan, Portland Ovations, Caramoor Jazz Festival, Bryant Park, the 92Y, and Tap in Rio; they are 2022 resident artists at Chelsea Factory.
Highlighting a commitment to community-centered artistic practice, the company partners frequently with organizations like the National Dance Institute and Lincoln Center Education, engaging through dance and music with communities across NYC and beyond.