ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Favorite food
Watermelon, mango, grapes, figs, custard apple, pizza
Most memorable tap class
Ted Levy’s class in LA – pumping the energy and having the room get really good at articulating, breathing and executing with range of movement, it transformed the room, the sound, the energy and the feeling.
What would you take if you are stuck in a room for 2 weeks?
Phone, laptop, box of organic fruit.
Winston's story
Winston created our Australian Tap Dance Festival in 2012 after being transformed by life changing tap festivals and events in his tap trips to America since 2008. He took the best ingredients like the residencies, discussions, evening events, the family atmosphere, live musicians, performance opportunities and inspirational mentors to create this amazing festival experience with Australian and international talent for our community to enjoy here in Australia.
A professional tap dancer and musician for over a decade, Winston founded and directs the annual Australian Tap Dance Festival now in it’s tenth year. He has had the pleasure of performing solo internationally at the Montreal Tap Festival, New York City Tap Festival (Tap City), Hong Kong Tap Festival and teaching masterclasses at New York’s Broadway Dance Centre, London’s Pineapple Studios as well as studios in Italy, France, Austria, Croatia, Czech, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Canada and New Zealand.
Winston has appeared on television and radio on shows like Channel 9’s Kids WB, ABC’s Studio 3 and Australia’s Got Talent. He has been tap columnist for Dance Train magazine and presented instructionals for Dance Infoma magazine. He represented tap in Commonwealth Bank’s “You Can Tap” campaign, co-created a tap dance musical, and has entertained at many corporate events as a soloist and with his troupe Melbourne Tap Dance.
Much of his growth as a tap dancer occured from performing, teaching, choreographing and from improvising on the streets and jazz clubs. Teachers and mentors such as Ted Louis Levy (Emmy Award Winner), Grant Swift, Dianne Walker, Derick Grant, Jason Samuels Smith, Dormeshia Sumbry Edwards, Ayodele Casel, Omar Edwards, Michelle Dorrance, Jared Grimes and Savion Glover, many of which he travelled overseas to take masterclasses were also great influences. He also spent years closely studying footage of past greats such as Gregory Hines, The Nicholas Brothers, John Bubbles and the Hoofers to name a few, soaking it all in and encouraging fellow dancers to become familiar with tap history and its pioneers.