Group of young tap dancers performs choreographed moves on wooden platforms in front of a live jazz band.

Northwest Tap Connection performs their final set.(Photo: Susan Fried)

Rainier Beach Celebrates National Tap Dance Day With Jazz and Northwest Tap Connection

Published on:

May 29, 2025, 6:11 pm

On Sunday, May 25, the Rainier Beach community celebrated National Tap Dance Day in style with a special appearance by Northwest Tap Connection (NWTC) at the Rainier Beach Jazz Jam. The jazz jam usually takes place on the third Sunday of the month at the Rainier Beach Community Club, featuring a house band and guest musicians.

At this special "Jazz Meets Tap" performance, NWTC founder and Executive Director Melba Ayco — Ms. Melba, as she is affectionately known — gave a brief history of tap dance before some of her talented students performed with the Jazz Jam band. The day also just happened to be the birthday of Bill Robinson, a legendary tap dancer.

National Tap Dance Day means "everything to me," said Shaina Proctor, artistic director of NWTC. "Tap has been one of my true loves, and to have it honored on a national and international level shows how it is appreciated around the world. And for it to fall on Bill Robinson's birthday, shows the significance he had on the art form."

Proctor and students, including three of her own children, performed to a full house, demonstrating how tap dance and jazz have similar characteristics. Both art forms involve syncopated rhythm and lots of improvisation.

If you missed "Jazz Meets Tap," don't worry. Northwest Tap Connection is having an event on June 21 at Lindbergh High School in Renton called "One Nation Under a Groove," a tribute to funk music. And, of course, you can enjoy free jazz performances every third Sunday of the month at the Rainier Community Club. The next Jazz Jam is scheduled for June 15.

Musicians play brass, woodwind, and string instruments on a stage while several dancers perform in front of them in a community hall. Audience members are seated in the foreground.

Northwest Tap Connection celebrated National Tap Dance Day with a special performance during the Rainier Beach Jazz Jam on May 25, 2025, at the Rainier Beach Community Club.(Photo: Susan Fried)

A young Black woman in a red-and-black striped shirt and ripped jeans performs a tap dance on a wooden platform as a live band plays on a stage behind her.

Northwest Tap Connection instructor and dancer Rachel McKinney dances on National Tap Dance Day during the Rainier Beach Jazz Jam on May 25, 2025.(Photo: Susan Fried)

A smiling group of people gathers on stage. At center, a person in a red striped shirt holds a microphone while others, including children and adults, stand beside them. A drum set and musicians are visible in the background.

Rachel McKinney talks about her life as a tap dancer.(Photo: Susan Fried)

A smiling man leans over a drum set with drumsticks in hand mid-performance. The background includes a brick fireplace and a wooden piano.

Drummer Joe Rogel "trades fours" with the dancers from Northwest Tap Connection. Trading fours is when two or more musicians take turns playing four bars or solos.(Photo: Susan Fried)

A young girl in a floral dress performs a tap dance move in front of a group of people. A live band is playing in the background on a stage.

Sirena Proctor (center), 4, daughter of Northwest Tap Connection artistic director Shaina Proctor dances along with the music during "Jazz Meets Tap," the Rainier Beach Jazz Jam's celebration of National Tap Dance Day.(Photo: Susan Fried)

A young woman performs a tap dance routine on a wooden board in a community hall while a live band plays behind her.

Tap dancer Jocelyn McMillion.(Photo: Susan Fried)

Young girl in a floral dress and tap shoes performs on a wooden dance platform, mid-step with a focused expression and her tongue slightly out, in front of a live band.

Sirena Proctor shows off some of her tap dancing moves.(Photo: Susan Fried)

A Black man in a gray pinstripe suit and glasses plays a black electric bass guitar during a live performance.

Terrence Proctor, senior pastor of the Church By the Side Road and grandfather to three Northwest Tap Connection students, sits in with the Rainier Beach Jazz Jam Band.(Photo: Susan Fried)

A Black man in a suit and tie poses with three young children holding tablets and wearing backpacks.

Terrence Proctor with his three grandchildren — from left, Sirena Proctor, 4, TJ Proctor, 6, and Sade Proctor, 9 — before the start of "Jazz Meets Tap" at the Rainier Beach Community Club on May 25, 2025.(Photo: Susan Fried)

Northwest Tap founder and Executive Director Melba Ayco talks a little about the history of tap dance before a special performance by some of her students in honor of National Tap Dance Day on May 25, 2025, at the Rainier Beach Community Club.(Photo: Susan Fried)

Collage of five images showing children preparing for and participating in a tap dance event — tying laces on black tap shoes, putting them on, and dancing on a wooden board.

Northwest Tap dancers putting on their shoes.(Photo: Susan Fried)

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Rainier Beach Celebrates National Tap Dance Day With Jazz and Northwest Tap Connection

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