According to Larisa Hall, Executive Director, Tap Fever Studios in San Diego, California, provides accessible dance opportunities to people of all ages, with and without disabilities. They empower students to achieve their goals through the performing arts.
Larisa believes that their dance studio is different from others because they try their best to remove the obstacles that may prevent someone from dancing by offering dance scholarships for those with financial hardship due to family expenses, medical expenses, or educational expenses, and by making accommodations for people with disabilities.
Tap Fever Studios is a non-profit dance school that has something for everyone! With an array of classes that complement their focus on tap dance, people from all walks of life learn how to mobilize the rhythm from their hearts. Students are offered a strong foundation through fun and dynamic classes that accelerate basic skills into fantastic moves. All the major disciplines are represented: tap, jazz, ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, and partner dancing. Their programs provide accessible classes for people with disabilities, scholarships, and leadership mentoring for teens! In addition to dance classes, they also offer dance-styled (Zumba-inspired) Cardio Tap fitness classes. They offer dance classes for all, starting at age 2 and have dance classes for children, teens, adults, and senior citizens.
It is always so heartwarming to Larissa when students excel, when their love of dance grows, when the shy ones come out of their shells, and when the wild ones become more focused. These are the moments she would consider her proudest.
According to Larisa, each style of dance has a certain finesse that can be difficult to get the hang of and dancers sometimes are very hard on themselves and get discouraged, thinking that they’re the worst one in the class. In Larissa’s view, this is the biggest mistake dancers make. She tries to remind them that it takes practice, and once they have developed the muscle memory for a few of the basic steps, they will pick up the other techniques easier. She also tries to relate many of the steps to how people move in everyday life. For example, when doing flaps (in tap dance), it should feel like you are just walking regularly, but on your toes. After getting the feel of a natural stride, she tells them to just add a little kick along the way. She also learned a great trick for remembering rhythms (that she learned from one of her teachers years ago). The trick is to pick a word with the same number of syllables as the sounds in a tap step you are doing, and repeat that word each time you do your step to keep correct timing.
The first thing Larissa did after moving to San Diego in 2003 was to look for a dance studio that offered advanced tap classes for adults. There were not many options. It made her realize how much she loved dance and always wanted it to be a part of her life. She has seen dance studios that have a strong focus on modern dance or hip-hop, but it is rare to find one with a focus on tap. At that point, she realized that was the direction she wanted to go. As a result, she decided to open a studio that focused on Tap but also offered important genres such as ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, and jazz! Along with these classes, she wanted to make sure that anyone who has the desire to dance would have an opportunity, including people with disabilities.
Dance has been a part of Larisa’s life for as long as she can remember, but it didn’t come easily at first. She was born with severely clubbed feet and had to wear casts on both legs as an infant. After the casts, she slept with a brace to hold her feet in a turned out position, which the medical team hoped would correct the problem. Doctors had their doubts how well she would walk, but by age 1½ she was on her feet! By kindergarten, doctors suggested taking ballet class to assist with physical therapy for her clubbed feet. Dancing definitely helped her. Although she had a lot of ankle pain while growing up, she never wanted to stop dancing once she got the “fever” for it! Knowing that dance helped her, and working with so many people that have an array of disabilities, it is one of her goals to make sure that people are worried about their limitations have the opportunity to dance. She does whatever she can to help people learn how to dance.
From 1997 to 2008, Larisa used her degrees in Television and Radio Production working in many areas of both fields. Her last job (before opening Tap Fever Studios) was as a Promo Writer, an Editor, Voice Over talent, and finally, as a Segment Producer for KUSI NEWS in San Diego. Her background in performing arts coupled with the TV producing skills she acquired affords her the experience and knowledge to manage Tap Fever Studios and its performances. Larisa is always working to make Tap Fever Studios the best it can be, and to serve the community with quality dance classes for all.
Dancing since kindergarten, Larisa has experienced many styles— jazz, ballet, contemporary, swing, hip-hop . . . she loves ’em all, but the rhythm and unique art of tap dance has always been her favorite. Born and raised just outside of Washington D.C., Larisa learned a Broadway style of tap with Mary Lou Peters, and performed in many shows. After college Larisa left the snowy east coast and landed in the Bay Area of Northern California, where she broadened her skills with more classic and rhythm steps at Pamm Drake’s Dance/10 Performing Arts Center in Alameda. With this experience Larisa received high marks in regional and national competitions and performed as a member of Pamm’s professional tap team, “The Tap Dancing Christmas Trees.” One of Larisa’s most memorable experiences with that studio was dancing in the 2001 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, just two short months after the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings.
Larisa has been in San Diego since the summer of 2003 and teaching her own style of tap, which is a culmination of the variety of dance experience she’s had over the years. Larisa’s classes focus on making technique easy to understand, and having fun! Larisa loves all types of dance and wants to share that joy with anyone who is willing to try. By opening Tap Fever Studios, Larisa has been able to help other students overcome their own obstacles and experience the joy of dance. Larisa firmly believes that anyone can dance if given the chance.
Larissa’s goal for Tap Fever is a small studio in the community of Pacific Beach in San Diego. The teachers and the students love the family feel that they find here. Their ongoing goals are: to provide an uplifting atmosphere for students to excel in their classes, to grow their programs for dancers with disabilities, and whenever possible, to integrate students with disabilities into our regularly scheduled classes. As a non-profit organization, of course they rely on donors. For anybody who would like to assist to help Tap Fever help those without other resources and/or those with disabilities, following is their PayPal donation link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=PEXAJKZU66EHL.
Tap Fever continually strives to prove their message, “Anyone can dance if given the chance!”
If you would like more information about Tap Fever Studios, visit their website at tapfever.com, call or text them at 858-456-7301 or email them at info@tapfever.com. You can also “Like” them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, google them on google+, connect with them on Instagram and LinkedIn, check them out on Yelp and watch them on YouTube.
Please post a comment if you have had any experience with Larisa Hall of Tap Fever Studios.
