jazz é-tap
a theater, live music & tap dancing company
art as a human adventure
art in the service of the encounter
 

current projects | trio improv'iste    photos    press & references    CD
a jazz trio whose rhythm section is entirely managed by a tap dancer

 

trio improv'iste. Tap dance and acoustic jazz music concert and show to swing, middle jazz, mainstream, bebop, modern jazz, contemporary and experimental jazz, Cuban music, latin and Brazilian and funk. Music and dance improvisation. Lausanne, Switzerland.
photo: Jack Carrot | Rencontres Culturelles de la Vallée de Joux

Elation | Baignade | Eronel | Armando's Rhumba - tap dance, piano, vibraphone
Donna Lee | Elation | Ants In The Pants | Susy Delair - tap dance, piano, guitare électrique
research work: Ants In The Pants | Bad Blood | Half Man Half Cow

The "trio improv'iste" is a jazz trio that explores the rhythmic possibilities of tap dancing as a percussion instrument in jazz. It works in a polymorphic way with different instruments (double bass, piano, saxophone, guitar, vocal, clarinet, vibraphone, etc...). The tap dancer takes the role of the drummer, music becomes dance, dance becomes music. Since their first appearance in 2006 at the Cully Jazz Festival, this project has never ceased to enrich itself with all kinds of musical traditions. It has toured in Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Mexico and Guatemala. In the most significant recent events, it has received a special research grant from the Fondation Parallèle (2021) and played at à Chorus (2022, 2024), at the Guatemala Jazz Festival (2023), at the Sunset-Sunside in Paris (2023), at the Marigliano in Jazz Festival in Naples (2023), at the Festival de Musique Improvisée de Lausanne (2023) and at the Generations Jazz Festival (2023).

duration: 1h or 2 sets of 45min

Laurent Bortolotti - tap dance / Didier Todesco - piano / Jean-Yves Poupin - piano, composition / Ismaël Boerner - vibraphone, balafon, vocal, composition, lyrics

guests
Lou Rémy - violon / Balthazar Bodin - trombone / Mirko Maio - piano / Alix Logiaco - piano, composition / Gabriel Zufferey - piano / Edgar Dorantes Dosamantes - piano, composition / Ornella Ponnaz - piano / Giovanni Cigui - saxophone / Ramiro González García - saxophone / Yahir Parra - contrebasse / William Barrett - double bass / Louise Knobil - double bass, electric bass, vocal, composition, lyrics / Lasse Mørck - double bass / Fabien Sevilla - double bass / Merlin Breij - electric guitar / Ricardo Amadeus - guitar / Sergio Zepeda - guitar / Julio Valle - electric guitar / Sébastien Bride - electric guitar / Zoltán Kisák - guitar / Sandra Kluge - tap dance / Fredy Corado - tap dance / Thomas Wadelton - tap dance, ukulele / Laia Mollins - tap dance / Murielle Bortolotti - contemporary dancing / Raphaël Dumont - tenor saxophone, bass clarinet / Ernie Odoom - saxophone, vocal / Frédéric Jaupart - accordion / Elisabeth Barbey - vibraphone

former members
Andres Jimenez - piano, composition / Guillaume Martineau - piano, composition / Teis Semey - electric guitar, composition / Fédia Amice - electric guitar / Fabien Vuattoux - electric guitar, composition / Marc Drouard - electric guitar / Antoine Brochot - double bass / Latyr Boye - double bass / Stéphane Fisch - double bass, electric bass / Alex Bellegarde - double bass / Popol Lavanchy - double bass / Philippe Sola - double bass