American Tap Dance Foundation

ATDF Logo
Formation	1986
Type	Not for profit, 501(c) 3 - Dance Organization
Headquarters	154 Christopher Street Suite 2B New York, NY, 10014
Location	New York, NY, USA
Artistic/Executive Director	Tony Waag
Key people	Founded by Brenda Bufalino, Charles "Honi" Coles and Tony Waag
Website	www.atdf.org

The American Tap Dance Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose primary goal is the presentation and teaching of tap dance. Its original stated purpose was 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."

Originally called the American Tap Dance Orchestra (ATDO), the American Tap Dance Foundation was founded in 1986 by tap dancers Brenda Bufalino, Tony Waag, and Charles "Honi" Coles. Bufalino began working with Coles in 1973 when Bufalino produced the documentary, "Great Feats of Feet: Portraits Of the Jazz Tap Dancer" featuring Coles and The Copasetics.

ATDO's first major engagement was on July 4, 1986, at the Statue of Liberty Festival in Battery Park in lower New York City. For the next 15 years, American Tap Dance Orchestra toured the U.S. and Europe. In 1989, ATDO appeared on PBS "Great Performances Tap Dance In America with Gregory Hines".

On November 10, 1989, the ATDO opened Woodpeckers Tap Dance Center at 170 Mercer Street, near Houston Street in New York City. Mr. Coles served as Woodpeckers's chairman; Gregory Hines (who claimed that Woodpeckers was "the world's only tap-only center and had "the finest tap floor I've been on") was a member of the board. Woodpeckers began creating, producing, and presenting various educational programs for adults and children. It also initiated an annual winter tap intensive with master classes, courses and workshops taught by leading International artists and master tap dancers.

A review in The New York Times in 1990 said, "The rough-hewn little theater has the air of both a place where hard and serious work is done and a cozy family living room."

The Center closed in 1995 due to limited funding.

ATDO continued to perform and offer classes and workshops, renting classroom and rehearsal studios at various NYC locations and presenting new and classic works around the country and the world. Venues included Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater, the Sammy Davis Jr. Festival Plaza in L.A., and Gus Giordano's Jazz Dance Congress 96, (Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center) as well as on live television in Rome, Italy, at the Stadttheater Furth Germany, and at the Rio de Janeiro Tap Festival, Brazil.