ROOTS
As a musician, soloist, choreographer and master teacher of the Black American art form of jazz tap dance, Ms. Gray has toured extensively across the U.S. and abroad as a tap dance artist and in 1989 co-founded Tapestry Dance Company in Austin, TX with Deirdre Strand and currently serves as Producing Artistic Director & Artistic Director of The Soul to Sole Tap Festival.
As a graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts/NYC, a rock opera "gig" in Austin, TX derailed her theatre plans through an audition for a tap dance company by the choreographer in 1983. She spent the next six years on tour with Austin on Tap when she was chosen to work with legend Charles ‘Honi’ Coles in America’s first creative residency for tap at The Colorado Dance Festival in 1989. Her world officially shifted gears during that summer and Tapestry Dance Company was "born" in Boulder Colorado. Ms. Gray has since produced over 67 full-length premiere multi-dimensional concert dance works and has been blessed to have shared the stage as well as produced such tap dance legends including Dr. Arthur Duncan, Dr. Fayard Nicholas, Dr. Jeni Leon, Dr. Harold Cromer as well as many of the female leaders in the field including Sarah Petronio, Dianne Walker, Brenda Bufalino and many of todays leading contemporary artists. As soloist, she has also been featured in such productions as The Great Tap Reunion, Tap Do/Wop, Just Friends, Masters of Tap, Chicago on Tap and Women in Tap at UCLA as well as numerous tap festivals around the world.
She served on the Steering Committee of The National Tap Plan of The International Tap Association and served as its director from 2008-2018. She has also danced, choreographed and taught for numerous academic institutions and festivals around the world including courses at UT Austin in tap pedagogy. Her book The Souls of Your Feet – A Tap Dance Guide for Rhythm Explorers has been translated in the Czech Republic and China and debuted as an Amazon.com Bestseller in its category in 1998.
As well as serving on the artistic faculties of numerous US and global tap festivals and events over the past 35 years, her numerous awards include the “Hoofer Award” by The New York City Tap Festival, nominated for a Princess Grace Award in the early 1990's and honored at the 2018 DanceUSA Conference among numerous tap festival honors. Ms. Gray has received numerous "Best Of" awards by the Critics Table in Austin and her work The Souls of Our Feet - A Celebration of American Tap Dance was chosen as an NEA American Masterpiece production and toured throughout the US, Canada, and China from 2009-2012. She can also be seen in the documentaries Honi Coles: The Class Act of Tap, Gotta Move - Women In Tap, Tap or Die, Thinking on Their Feet - Women of the Tap Renaissance and Passing it Forward produced by PBS.
Ms. Gray is also proud to be a 2019 Austin Creative Alliance Honoree and a current member of the Austin Arts Commission.
Ms. Gray is proud to be a 2019 Austin Creative Alliance Honoree and currently serves as an Austin Arts Commissioner and commission liaison for Austin's Arts In Public Places.
Passing it Forward (PBS Arts In Context - 2016)
Be Somebody - Passion Portrait
A Vision In Rhythm - Documentary (2011)
2019 Tapestry Compilation (History) 2019