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| Photo Credit Liza Voll |
Tap dance artist Joshua Hilberman has been creating and performing original theatrical
productions in New England and around the world for over 20 years. A unique solo performer
groomed by tap and vaudeville stars of the 1930's, his touring experience includes sharing the stage with Gregory Hines, Savion Glover, Jimmy Slyde, Brenda Bufalino, and most every tap dancer of note; three seasons with Manhattan Tap; national touring with Tap City on Tour; three seasons in Germany with Thomas Marek's "About Tap"; a decade as co-creator, choreographer, and performer in Mad Theatrical's "Clara's Dream: a Jazz Nutcracker"; and two full-evening collaborations with the noted Canadian company Decidedly Jazz Danceworks.
Hilberman learned jazz improvisation in performance with all-star musicians, including the
late great drummer Alan Dawson and noted pianist and composer Paul Arslanian. His "Best of
Boston" shows at Ryles and Scullers launched a decade of improvising adventures that included performances at the Boston Globe Jazz Festival, the Discover Jazz Festival (Burlington, VT) the Portsmouth Jazz and Blues Fest, Jazz Tarrassa (Barcelona), and Jazz is Toulon (France).
Recognized with the 2005 National Endowment for the Arts/Dance USA National College
Choreography Initiative Award; the 2006 Premi Claqueta from the dancers of Barcelona,
Spain for significant contributions to the tap community; and with the 2009 Presidential
Scholars Teachers Recognition Award, Hilberman is a sought-after and highly regarded teacher internationally.
Further propaganda can be found on his website: www.Hilbermania.com.
"…after modest opening remarks, he became the zany tap wizard he really is, dancing in
half a dozen styles with costumes of ever-escalating weirdness…With the inventive pleasure of all great tappers, he can throw a complex tornado of steps into the ground, but he can also fling a leg out in space to suspend the beat, or skim bodily across distances without suppressing the rhythmic storm that’s going on in his feet."
The Boston Phoenix, March 4, 2008
“An avant-garde tap dancer challenging conventional performance ideas while wearing
very little in Dusseldorf. A new-vaudevillian in a bright pink tuxedo, jumping around on small
drums. An award-winning choreographer working with dancers at Wayne State University in
Detroit. And the traditional ukulele-strumming, kazoo-playing, tap-dancing one-man band. All are incarnations of Chapel Hill native and current Boston resident Josh Hilberman, who, said the late great Gregory Hines, is “one of the best of the new generations of tap dancers.”
The Chapel Hill Herald, June 10, 2005
"A pianist embellishing finger and wrist action"
The Washington Post, Oct. 10, 1993
"That was far and away the best use of shading I've heard from a tap dancer in 50 years.
Ask a musician, they'll know what I mean."
Showbiz legend Fred Kelly (Gene's brother), Chicago 1999
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