Acia Gray,
TDC Co-Founder, Executive/Artistic Director
Instructs: Tap
As soloist, choreographer and master teacher, Ms. Gray has toured extensively across the U.S. and abroad to include England, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Spain, Brazil, Canada and Austria. In 1989, she co-founded Tapestry Dance Company in Austin, TX with Deirdre Strand and currently serves as Executive/Artistic Director as well as the Artistic Director of The Soul to Sole Tap Festival in Austin.
A graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts/NYC, Ms. Gray has shared the stage with such tap greats as Lon Chaney, Chuck Green, Steve Condos, Brenda Bufalino, Donald O’Connor, Fayard Nicholas, Buster Brown, Savion Glover, Gregory Hines, Jimmy Slyde, Sarah Petronio, Dianne Walker and many others in such productions as The Great Tap Reunion, Tap Do/Wop, Just Friends, Masters of Tap, Tap City, Chicago on Tap and The Soul to Sole Festival to name a few.
Ms. Gray was chosen as one of 12 dancers to work with the late tap legend Charles ‘Honi’ Coles in America’s first creative residency for tap at The Colorado Dance Festival in 1989 and again in l990 with Jimmy Slyde and was also featured in the documentary A Class Act: The Magic of Honi Coles. Along with Tapestry Dance Company, she was a founding member and Managing Director of the touring company Austin on Tap throughout the l980’s, served on the steering committee of The International Tap Association and was a featured soloist in the l990 Dance Magazine calendar.
Ms. Gray’s work, in collaboration with Tapestry co-founder Deirdre Strand, has shared the stage with numerous international dance companies including NYC Ballet, David Parsons Dance Project and Doug Varone to name a few as well as solo collaborative works with such dance artists as Bill Evans, Lambros Lambrou and Stephen Mills among others.
Ms. Gray has also danced, choreographed and taught for numerous dance and academic organizations across America and abroad including Columbia College, The Colorado Dance Festival, International Summer School/Cyprus, Dance Masters of America, TASIS/London, Tanzsommer/Austria, The St. Louis Tap Festival, The Chicago Human Rhythm Project, The NYC Tap Festival, Le Festival De Danse Encore and many, many others. In June/2002, Ms. Gray was inducted as a premiere member of the Austin Arts Hall of Fame chosen by the Austin Critics Table and was nominated for a prestigous Alpert Award in the Arts as well as being a choreographer chosen for the 2003 NEA National College Choreography Initiative.
Her critically acclaimed book and Amazon.com category bestseller The Souls of Your Feet A Tap Dance Guide for Rhythm Explorers is available at all major bookstores and has been translated in the Czech Republic. Recently profiled in Dance Teacher Now magazine, Ms. Gray also serves on the NEA funded Steering Committee for the National Tap Plan/International Tap Association Suzanne Callahan, Consultant.