Since 1979,
Footworks has delighted audiences
of all ages and cultures in
the United States, Canada,
the United Kingdom, Japan
and Finland. Footworks thrilled
audiences as guest artists
in the London run of Riverdance
and was honored to be one
of eight groups chosen to
represent American culture
in Japan on a tour with the
Smithsonian Institution. Footworks,
considered pioneers in bringing
traditional Americana music
and percussive dance to the
concert stage, has performed
in such venues as The Kennedy
Center, Lincoln Center, the
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall,
the Clarice Smith Performing
Arts Center, and Wolftrap
Farm Park for the Performing
Arts. More recently, the company
performed at Merlefest in
North Carolina, created and
performed a city-wide residency
in Long Beach, California
with the Smithsonian Institution,
and performed at the Vail
International Dance Festival
in Colorado. Founding director
Eileen Carson Schatz received
a two year National Endowment
for the Arts Choreography
Fellowship, a Maryland State
Arts Council Individual Artist
Award, a Celebration of the
Arts in Maryland Award, an
“Annie Award” form the Arts
Council of Anne Arundel County,
and was selected “Artist of
the Year” for 2006 by Young
Audiences of Maryland. Music
Director Mark Schatz is a
celebrated artist in Americana
music, best known for his
award-winning acoustic bass
and claw hammer banjo playing
and has performed and recorded
with such Grammy Award winning
artists as Tony Rice, Tim
O’Brien, Bela Fleck, and Nickel
Creek.
The roots
of Footworks are planted deep.
The year 1971 saw the formation
of the Green Grass Cloggers,
whose love of traditional
Southern Appalachian music
and dance inspired them to
seek out and learn from the
old time buck dancers and
flatfooters of North Carolina,
Virginia, and Tennessee. The
group helped to popularize
traditional Appalachian clogging
and was one of the first teams
to carry the form from competition
stages to performing arts
venues. In 1979, three of
these dancers, including Eileen
Carson Schatz, went on to
form the Fiddle Puppet Dancers.
The Fiddle
Puppet Dancers, who changed
their name to Footworks Percussive
Dance Ensemble in 1994, are
renowned for respecting the
integrity of traditional dance
while gaining recognition
for it as a performing art.
In search of the origins and
relatives of Southern Appalachian
clogging and flatfooting,
Footworks went on to collaborate
with and enlist masters of
many forms of traditional
percussive dance, including
Irish, Scottish, English,
Quebecois, Cape Breton, South
African and African American.
This resulted in their unique
theater productions presented
nationally and internationally,
receiving great reviews and
enthusiastic responses from
audiences and presenters.
Today, Footworks
remains true to the traditions
of Southern Appalachian music
and dance while celebrating
connected roots and branches.
Each principle artist adds
to the authenticity of Footworks’
presentations by bringing
his or her own cultural background
in traditional arts. Each
ensemble member is also committed
to teaching and supports the
company’s dedication to Arts-in-Education.
The company continues to grow
and evolve, securing the funds
to create new works and productions,
collaborating in recent years
with such artists as Grammy-winning
Tim O’Brien, Washington, D.C.
based Step Afrika!, and renowned
percussionist Steve Bloom.
As a non-profit
organization, Footworks receives
the support and funding of
local, state, and national
arts organizations, including
the Maryland State Arts Council,
The Arts Council of Anne Arundel
County and the City of Annapolis.
The company is dedicated to
bringing live music and the
power and joy of percussive
dance to audiences the world
over.
