The 8th international Feet Beat Tap Festival 2.-8.8.2004

By: Sofi Kyrklund, Artistic Director

The past festival gathered participants from 15 different countries in the capital of Finland, Helsinki.

The festival offered 27 different courses/workshops, two tap dance concerts, two tap jams with live music and furthermore improvised tap jams in the streets, open stage performances in conjunction with the closing of the URBan dance festival at the contemporary art museum Kiasma and more.

More than 850 watchers got a chance to dive into the versatile world of tap. The kind of tap you do not get to see very often. Something for all tastes: from classical to contemporary tap.

The festival was also nicely covered in three main television newsprograms and by the newspapers and magazines.

The tap concerts once again where credited in the press and by the audience for their versatility and amazing skills of the performers. Also more and more musicians are starting to get acqainted with tap as it is today. Every year I hear astonishing comments from the musicians. "How on earth is it possible to get performers like that to Finland?"

The secret behind the success are the multitalented performers we have had the past years: Tap dancers, Body musicians, Percussionists, Choreographers, Singers, Filmmakers and so on.

The Feet Beat Festival has its own fans that also contribute to a wonderful athmosphere at the different events including the concerts.