Mari FUJIBAYASHI

Mari Fujibayashi began tap dancing in her native city of Kyoto, Japan, and is the first tap artist to be awarded a grant from the Japanese government for artistic studies abroad. In New York City Mari has performed with the American Tap Dance Orchestra, appeared with Manhattan Tap, tap legends Buster Brown, Jimmy Slide and Brenda Bufalino. She has studied voice at Mannes College and contemporary dance at the Martha Graham school. With partner Mari Fujibayashi, she is the founder, dancer and choreographer of Tapage (Fujibayashi – Rosenkrantz).

In Japan, Mari has worked in collaboration with jazz musicians, composers and actors and performed at Dance and Jazz Festivals, clubs and theaters including Osaka Castle Hall, the Ebisu Garden Theater, the Kintetsu Theater and the Tokyo Art Theater. Mari also did various children shows as a featured tap dancer and singer, and many concerts for the victims of Kobe’s 1995 earthquake.

 She gave a series of lectures on tap for educational programs in theaters and on RCV, a TV cable channel broadcast in Japan. NHK Japanese national TV channel broadcasted an interview of Mari as a tap artist. A transcript of the documentary (along with DVD) was published nationally in Japan in an English textbook for universities.

 Mari is an award winning organ player with a BA in music from Dohisha Women’s College in Kyoto, a published composer (Yamaha textbook) and a music teacher. In New York Mari has taught tap at Steps, Woodpeckers and is a guest teacher/choreographer in the US, Germany, Russia, France, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Mexico and Japan. When not touring with Tapage, Mari teaches music and tap dancing in Japan, and performs with various artists.