Iconoclastic American pianist Lara Downes collaborates with acclaimed tap dancers Max Pollak and DeWitt Fleming Jr to reflect on the music of Scott Joplin through a 21st-century lens, revealing its many layers of genre-blurring subtlety and nuance. 

The fullness of Joplin’s artistry shines through in a fluid interplay between Downes and these two exceptional dancer/choreographers as they explore the intersections between American art forms, the cross-currents of history, and the convergence of melody and movement. 

Joplin is revered as the “King of Ragtime". He’s acknowledged as a classically-trained composer of concert music whose ambitions were denied in his own time. He was both of those things, and more - an innovator who merged traditions and histories to make music at the crossroads of the American future. With emotional depth, subtle humor and a lithe, cosmopolitan flair, Joplin’s vision comes to life as his music shapes new movements, textures and perspectives.

In Lara’s words: "There's a multi-faceted, timeless beauty to this music - a world of emotion and expression waiting to be experienced and embraced. I'm profoundly moved by Joplin's innovative creative vision, the depth of his blended musical roots and the breadth of what grew from them."

Pianist Lara Downes has been called “an explorer whose imagination is fired by bringing notice to the underrepresented and forgotten” (The Log Journal). An iconoclast and trailblazer, her dynamic work as a sought-after performer, a Billboard Chart-topping recording artist, a producer, curator, activist, and arts advocate positions her as a cultural visionary on the national arts scene. Ms. Downes’ musical roadmap seeks inspiration from the legacies of history, family, and collective memory, excavating the broad landscape of American music to create a series of acclaimed performance and recording projects that serve as gathering spaces for her listeners to find common ground and shared experience.

Ms. Downes’ artistry has been called “a musical ray of hope” by NBC News, "luscious, moody and dreamy” by The New York Times, and "addicting" by The Huffington Post. She is equally at home on major stages including the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Boston Symphony Hall, the Ravinia Festival, Tanglewood, and Washington Performing Arts, and in clubs and intimate venues including Joe’s Pub, National Sawdust, and Le Poisson Rouge.

Lara Downes’ forays into the broad landscape of American music have created a series of acclaimed recordings, including her recent New Day Begun; her 2020 release Florence Price: Piano Discoveries, a world-premiere recording of recently discovered piano works by the groundbreaking African American composer; and Some of These Days, a collection of freedom songs and spirituals that reflect on social justice, progress and equality. She enjoys creative collaborations with a range of leading artists, including folk icon Judy Collins, pianist Simone Dinnerstein, multi-instrumentalist/composer/singer Rhiannon Giddens, former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove, baritone Thomas Hampson, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Max Pollak is one of the most prestigious names on the international tap scene today. He is recognized worldwide for his superior musicianship and his highly individual style as the first person to merge authentic Afro-Cuban music and dance with American rhythm tap and body music to create RumbaTap. Originator of Cuba's first tap festival, he has been teaching and performing there since 1998, and has worked with Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, Cuba's top Rumba group, Chucho Valdés, Lila Downs and jazz legends Ray Brown, Phil Woods, Paquito D'Rivera, Slide Hampton and Danilo Perez. He is also recognized for making European and South American classical music more accessible by playing with classical ensembles in prestigious venues like Vienna's Konzerthaus, Musikverein, Havana's Teatro Nacional and Teatro Amadeo Roldan. He has performed with members of both the Vienna Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic as well as the Duluth Superior and Plano Symphony Orchestras, with the latter two as soloist in the Morton Gould Tap Dance Concerto.

DeWitt Fleming Jr. is a world renowned Tap Dancer. He has toured the world as a lead tap dancer with Riverdance, Cirque Du Soleil, danced with Grammy award winning artist Alicia Keys, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, and was featured on the HBO Emmy Award winning show Boardwalk Empire. New York Times says he is a “non stop source of rhythmic variety and surprise….sparks seem to fly from those shoes!” Theater credits include, Jelly's Last Jam, The Scottsboro Boys, and After Midnight. DeWitt also made history by releasing the first jazz album recorded live at Dizzy’s Club Jazz at Lincoln Center with tap dancing; Sax and Taps Intersplosion! (Live at Dizzy’s Club).

MINDY COOPER, director

Mindy Cooper has had the privilege of spending the last 40 years as a working professional in the performing arts, as dancer, choreographer, director, producer and teacher/mentor. From Dance Companies (Twyla Tharp Dance, Eliot Feld Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Thingsezisee’m Dance Theater) to Broadway/Off-Broadway (Chicago, Titanic, Song and Dance,Beauty and the Beast, Dracula The Musical, Being Seen, The Eternal Space, Men Are From Mars-Women Are From Venus, Live!, 50 Shades — The Musical Parody, Soul Doctor, Wrong Mountain) her passion for new works has always steered her career as a performer and creator. Her work has won numerous Bay Area Theater Critics, Theater Bay Area and Broadway World Awards. She is the Chair of the Advisory Board of the Ann Reinking Scholarship Program, created to support and mentor young dancers early in their professional careers.