TAP DOGS Returns To Denver This Fall, Opens 9/21 At Buell Theater

The international sensation is now back and ready to leave dents on stages across North America. TAP DOGS is taking the world by storm, having performed in 330 cities worldwide with 12 million seats sold. Created by two-time Olivier Award-winning choreographer Dein Perry, with a construction site set by eclectic designer/director Nigel Triffitt and a driving score by composer Andrew Wilkie, TAP DOGS is a rocking theatrical event - pArt Theatre, part dance, part rock concert - and a rough, tough and rocking reinvention of tap. TAP DOGS will play the Buell Theatre beginning September 21 for eight performances only. Single tickets go on sale Sunday, August 8 at www.denvercenter.org or by phone and walk-up Monday, August 9 at 10am.

Australian Dein Perry, creator and choreographer of TAP DOGS, has come a long way from the make-shift dance school in Newcastle, a steel town north of Sydney, where as young boys he and the future "dogs" learned how to tap. At the age of 17, with no opportunities in sight for a dancing career, he earned his union papers and worked as an industrial machinist for six years. He then moved to Sydney where he tried to break into show business. Small chorus parts in Broadway-style musicals led to Dein's big break when he was cast in the long-running Sydney production of 42nd Street. When it closed, Dein decided to create a contemporary show around the themes of his industrial experience with his Newcastle tap dancing mates.

With a small government grant, Dein contacted his old friends, who had also taken up various "real" jobs by this time, and formed Tap Brothers, an early incarnation of TAP DOGS. From this, Dein was offered the chance to choreograph the West End musical, Hot Shoe Shuffle, which brought the group to London and earned Dein his Olivier Award in 1995. A subsequent offer from the Sydney Theatre Company led to the collaboration with designer and director Nigel Triffitt; which resulted in the creation of TAP DOGS.

TAP DOGS was the instant hit of the Sydney Theatre Festival, where it world premiered in January 1995, and caused an equal sensation at the Edinburgh Festival later that year. TAP DOGS then played to standing room only at London's Sadler's Wells, return tours throughout Australia and a second West End engagement.

TAP DOGS made their North American debut at Montreal's "Just For Laughs" festival in August 1996. The show then played to critical acclaim on a limited North American tour prior to an engagement in New York City, where Dein Perry earned a 1997 Drama Desk nomination for "Best Choreography" and the show received a 1997 Obie Award. TAP DOGS went on to be immortalized in the movie Bootmen, directed by Dein Perry and inspired by his TAP DOGS experiences. Since its debut, TAP DOGS has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe, Australia, the Far East and South Africa. Critics and audiences alike have praised TAP DOGS. The Chicago Tribune called it "exciting, athletically feisty, fun-loving, and often hilarious" and The New York Times declares "...it's two shows in one: It revels in both choreographed athleticism and masculine form."

Single tickets for TAP DOGS start at just $20. To charge by phone, call Denver Center Ticket Services at 303.893.4100. TTY (for Deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons): 303.893.9582. Groups of 15 or more, please call 303.446.4829. Tickets may also be purchased at the Denver Center Ticket Office, located at the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex Lobby, or at TicketsWest outlets, located in all King Soopers stores. Buy and print online at www.denvercenter.org.

TAP DOGS is an added attraction in the Denver Center Attractions 2010 season, which is generously supported by United Airlines and Vectra Bank. Media sponsorship for DCA is provided by The Denver Post, CBS4 and Denver magazine. The Denver Center for the Performing Arts is supported in part by the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District. Please visit our website at www.denvercenter.org.

For more information on TAP DOGS, visit www.tapdogs.com

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