Posted on May 10, 2024 | Dakota Arts Review
The Rise of Tap Dance in North Dakota
In recent years, North Dakota has seen a surge of interest in tap dance, with enthusiasts from Fargo to Bismarck eager to learn the rhythmic art form. The state's dance community has responded with studios and festivals that cater to everyone from four-year-olds taking their first shuffle to seasoned performers refining their time steps.
Whether you're drawn to tap's percussive energy, its rich history, or simply the joy of making music with your feet, North Dakota offers more opportunities than many might expect. Below, we profile three standout destinations shaping the region's tap landscape.
The Tap Academy: Building Foundations in Bismarck
Location: 123 East Main Avenue, Bismarck, ND
Best for: Beginners through advanced teens and adults
Trial option: $15 drop-in class (first visit)
Tucked into a refurbished downtown storefront, The Tap Academy has earned a reputation as Bismarck's most comprehensive tap destination. The studio occupies 4,200 square feet across two floors, with three classrooms featuring sprung maple floors—the kind of surface that matters when you're spending hours drilling flaps and paradiddles.
Founder and director Mara Ellison, who trained with the American Tap Dance Foundation in New York before returning to her home state in 2019, built the academy's curriculum around progressive skill-building. Beginners start with rhythm fundamentals and basic vocabulary; advanced students work through repertory drawn from both Broadway and rhythm tap traditions. The academy runs roughly 30 tap classes weekly during the school year, plus a two-week summer intensive that culminates in a studio showcase.
What separates The Tap Academy from a standard dance school is its dual emphasis on technique and improvisation. "We want students to understand tap as a language," Ellison told Dakota Arts Review earlier this year. "It's not just about learning choreography—it's about being able to hold a conversation with your feet."
Practical details: Monthly tuition ranges from $68–$140 depending on class load. The academy also offers adult beginner sessions on Tuesday evenings, a rarity in the Bismarck market.
The Rhythm Room: Tradition Meets Innovation in Fargo
Location: 456 Broadway N, Fargo, ND
Best for: Intermediate through professional dancers; contemporary tap explorers
Trial option: Open community class, first Saturday of each month ($10)
If The Tap Academy represents tap's classical foundation, The Rhythm Room pushes its edges. Co-founded in 2021 by Darnell Vinson and Sylvia Okonkwo, both former touring dancers with Chicago-based companies, the Fargo studio has become a gathering point for dancers interested in where tap intersects with hip-hop, jazz, and electronic music.
The 2,800-square-foot main studio features a custom sound system and a fully mirrored wall—practical necessities given how much of The Rhythm Room's programming involves live musical collaboration. Vinson, who teaches the studio's advanced tap company, regularly brings in local drummers and DJs for improvisation labs where dancers trade phrases with musicians in real time.
The Rhythm Room's calendar stays unusually active for a North Dakota studio. In addition to weekly classes, it hosts quarterly guest workshops; 2024 instructors have included Jumaane Taylor (Chicago Human Rhythm Project) and Margo Rodriguez (Los Angeles-based percussive dance artist). The studio also runs a small but competitive youth ensemble that has performed at the Fargo-Moorhead Regional Arts Conference for the past two seasons.
Class prices run slightly higher than Bismarck averages—$85–$165 monthly—but the studio offers sliding-scale scholarships for students who qualify.
The North Dakota Tap Festival: A Statewide Celebration
When: Third week of June (June 16–22, 2025)
Where: Alternates between Fargo and Bismarck; 2025 festival in Fargo at the NDSU Festival Concert Hall
Registration: Opens February 1 at ndtapfestival.org
No survey of the region's tap scene would be complete without the annual North Dakota Tap Festival. Launched in 2018 by a coalition of studio owners and NDSU dance faculty, the weeklong event has grown from 80 participants to more than 350 dancers, teachers, and spectators.
The 2025 festival schedule includes daily masterclasses divided by level, evening faculty concerts, and a panel series covering topics from tap history to dance entrepreneurship. A collegiate audition component, added in 2023, connects high school dancers with representatives from university tap programs across the Midwest.
Perhaps more valuable than the classes themselves is the sense of community the festival generates. North Dakota's population is spread thin; for many rural dancers, the festival represents their only annual chance to train alongside peers who
