Teachers
Joseph Wiggan
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Joseph C. Wiggan, is a native of Los Angeles where he began tap dance with Paul and Arlene Kennedy at the age of nine. At age 10, as a member of the Kennedy Tap Company, he began traveling throughout the states and other countries performing in a diverse spectrum of shows. Joseph then joined the Jazz Tap Ensemble, and later became a member of Jason Samuels Smith's tap company, A.C.G.I. Joseph has appeared as a performer and teacher in many tap and jazz dance festivals in Guatemala City, Guatemala, Stockholm, Sweden, Berlin, Germany, St. Petersburg, Russia, Paris, France, Tokyo, Japan, Vilnius, Lithuania, and Barcelona, Spain to name a few. Joseph is a 2003 Spotlight Award winner, 2004 Presidential Scholar in the Arts and winner of the 2005 Princess Grace-USA Award for outstanding artistic achievement. Joseph performed in the 2006 tap dance musical Imagine Tap!, choreographed by Derick K. Grant, and toured two years in France and abroad in the parisian production of Looking for Josephine, directed by Jerome Savary. He has since performed in concert as a featured guest with Orlando Poleo, Roy Hargrove, Marcus Strickland, and Wynton Marsalis. Joseph works in a tap duo act, The Double J's, with his older sister Josette, recently in Cirque du Soleil's Banana Shpeel, and Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour. Joseph was accepted to the New School for Jazz and Contemporary music as a tap dancer, and hopes that other tap dancers will apply to university jazz programs worldwide. And in the later years he has also been seen frequently in broadway musicals.
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We welcome him back for the second time!
Josh Hilberman
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Groomed by tap and vaudeville stars of the 1930’s, tap dance artist Joshua Hilberman has shared the stage with Gregory Hines, Savion Glover, Jimmy Slyde, Brenda Bufalino, and most every tap dancer of note.
Long-time artistic collaborations include mentors Bufalino and tap’s great pianist Paul Arslanian. Together with dancer/producer Drika Overton, and the German duo Tap and Tray, Josh has been creating and performing original ensemble and solo theatrical productions for over 25 years.
Josh has taught hundreds of workshops and tap festivals, including New York, Chicago, Vancouver, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Stockholm, etc. His deep understanding of tap dance in performance combined with a healthy sense of humor make him a fun, patient, enlightening instructor.
Hilberman’s contributions to the evolution of tap dance receive mention in the 2010 book Tap Dance America, and he has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the US Presidential Scholars Teachers Recognition Award, and the Premi Claqueta from the dancers of Barcelona, Spain for significant contributions to the tap community. Since 2013, he has been living in Liege, Belgium with his wife Stéphanie and vibrant baby boy, Félix. Together they run the Claquettes Club, a center for tap dance in Belgium. Information at www.claquettesclub.be.
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We are excited to welcome him to Tap Oslo for the first time!
EstefanÃa Porqueras
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Born in Barcelona, and trained in the performing arts from the age of 4, she discovered tap when she was 10 years old and gradually was entirely dedicated to it.
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She started her professional trajectory in 2003 performing in different theaters with Basilio González's Clak&Roll and Big Band de Granollers. In 2004, she entered TAPEPLAS (Sharon Lavi Company), in which she was a dancer of its 4 full length programs. Currently, she continues to perform as a soloist in the company's last work FRAGMENTS. In 2010 she joins CAMUT BAND as the first female dancer in the show Life is Rhythm, consequently becoming a regular member of the group and a performer in its internationally touring productions.
Since the beginning, she combined her performing with regular teaching in different dance centers, and as of 2012, is part of the tap faculty of Escola Luthier, one of the leading tap centers in Barcelona. At the same time, she's invited to teach and perform in different European tap festivals and workshops. (Warsaw, Stockholm, Madrid, Turin, etc.).
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In 2015 she founded her own choreographic initiative UNUM Project. This unique encounter between tap dance and live electronic music debuted its first 30 min show in Turin (Italy, December 2016).
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We are happy to have her back again!
Lisbeth Sandnes Espeland
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Lisbeth started dancing at the age of 3 at Mona Løbergs Danseskole in Lørenskog. In 2004 she took a bachelor degree in jazz dance from Statens Balletthøgskole (Khio). She has performed in several productions at Oslo Danse Ensemble and Torgunn Wold Productions. And has also been a part of the ensamble in many great musicals at Det Norske Teatret, Folketeateret and Oslo Nye Teater (West Side Story, Singin'in the Rain, Evita, My Fair Lady, Guys and Dolls, Chicago, Den Glade Enke).
In 2009/2010 she took a PPU/Pedagogic degree in jazzdance at KhiO. Through the years she has on regular basis been teaching at Khio, Norges Dansehøyskole, Fagerborg vgs (now Edvard Munch vgs) and several private balletschools.
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We are happy to her have teach an open level musical theater class for the first time at Tap Oslo!
Jens Jeffry Trinidad
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Jens is one of the most sought out dancers, choreographers and pedagogs in Norway with his base in urban styles. He was the ambassador and the choreographer of "Dansens dager 2015". He is a dancer who has sought inspiration and learning, among other things. in Paris, LA and New York. In 2015 he attended Mitt Dansecrew on TV2 with Cre8 Dance Crew. He is also artistically responsible for Cre8.
Has worked with choreographers like Hooman Sharifi / impure company, Belinda Braza, Katrine Bølstad, Camilla Tellefsen and Bounce Streetdance Company. Has worked with artists like Madcon, Samsaya, Ylvis, Adelén and others.
He attend battles (competitions) and has won 1st place in Hyper week (IT), Soul Sessions Extended (NO), GBG City Jam (SE), Juste debout Scandinavia (SE / FR) with more. He has choreographed for, among others, Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo, Bårdar, Dansefeber, Adils Secret Dancers, MGP and MGP jr. Is a sought after educator and teacher at the Oslo Academy of Fine Arts, Subdans, Jump Dance Studio and PRODA - Professional Dance Training. In 2014 he received a Dancer Scholarship from Norwegian Dance Artists. He has also been voted one of 100 best male rolemodels of Utrop.no. in 2015 he received a 3-year scholarship from the Norwegian National Arts Scholarship (statens kunstnerstipend).
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We are happy to have him teach an open level house class for the first time at Tap Oslo!
Janne Eraker
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Janne Eraker is a Norwegian / German tap dancer, working mostly in Norway, the Netherlands and Germany. Her background is modern and contemporary dance, and she has a bachelor from Codarts, University of the Arts, Rotterdam. Since then she has studied with Heather Cornell in New York, Roxane Butterfly in Barcelona and several tap dance masters at festivals all over the world. Janne researches the artistic possibilities of tap dance in the context of genres and areas like music, contemporary dance and art. Her main projects at the moment are Sang, Stepp og Samtidsdans (Song, Tap and Contemporary dance), the folk-jazz-impro-trio One Small Step, the solo-project Friction, collaborations with bassist Bruno Ferro Xavier da Silva and the tap-beatbox-duo Janne // Julian. She also dances in the Sebastian Weber Dance Company. In spring 2018 she teaches at Stepperiet, PRODA, Musikkteaterhøyskolen and Bårdar. She is the recipient of a 3 year Norwegian Artist Grant (2015, 2016, 2018).
www.janneeraker.com
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We are happy to have her teach a kids class for the first time at Tap Oslo!
