Rod Howell
Rod Howell (born March 23, 1975) is an American tap dancer, choreographer, dance teacher, and musician.
Biography
Rod lives in Southern California, and moved there to teach for L.A. Underground dance convention, which ultimately went under. However, Rod did not enjoy teaching conventions so it worked out well for him. When Rod was young, he saw Corky Pigeon tap dancing on Silver Spoons and told his mother that he wanted to do that.[1] His main teacher when learning tap dance was Gregg Russell, whom Rod now honors effectively. Rod Howell launched UnitedTaps.com in December 2005, which has a long history in the making.[2]
Teachings and Projects
Rod has been a tap dance teacher and choreographer for 19+ years.[2] He has taught at numerous dance studios and conventions across the United States, and now teaches at three studios.[1] [3] According to Rod Howell, he had a love/hate relationship with tap dancing as he was growing up.[1]
Rod has created the world's largest free online tap dance video dictionary. He demonstrates how to do over 280 different tap steps and also offers the steps organized by level (his free online tap dance video syllabus). He also offers online classes and combinations at his new site tapdancelessons.com.
Rod worked with collaborative soap opera star Drew Tyler Bell on May 18, 2006 to create Garage Tap, which is the first online tap dance show.[2]
As a musician, Rod has released two albums, No Rest in 2006, and his latest album titled "Action" at the end of 2008. His friend Joey Grady remixed his No Rest album, which was also released in 2006 entitled Parallel Inspiration.
References
- 1 2 3 "Learn How To Tap Dance: An Interview With Rod Howell". Musical Theatre Spot. 23 August 2007. Archived from the original on November 23, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
- 1 2 3 "Rod Howell". UnitedTaps.com.
- ↑ http://www.garagetap.com/rodanddrew.php Archived July 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.