Faculty Profile for Acia Gray

Biography Section

Biography and Education

As a soloist, choreographer and master teacher, Ms. Gray has toured extensively across the U.S. and abroad as a tap dance artist and in 1989 co-founded Tapestry Dance Company in Austin, TX with Deirdre Strand. She currently serves as Producing Artistic Director as well as the Artistic Director of The Soul 2 Sole International Tap Festival. Along with being recognized as a leader in the rhythm tap community for over four decades as a master teacher and solo artist, she has produced over 68 full-length concert premieres as Artistic Director of Tapestry Dance - a company that existed as the only full-time, salaried dance company specializing in tap dance in the world from 1995-2021 when COVID took its toll. With a refocused vision, she continues to produce collaborative and socially relevant works through Tapestry as well as additional new works with leading artists in the field.

A graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts/NYC, Ms. Gray has shared the stage with Lon Chaney, Chuck Green, Steve Condos, Brenda Bufalino, Donald O’Connor, Fayard Nicholas, Buster Brown, Savion Glover, Gregory Hines, Jimmy Slyde, Sarah Petronio, Dianne Walker and many others in such productions as The Great Tap Reunion, Tap Do/Wop, Just Friends, Masters of Tap, Chicago on Tap and Women in Tap at UCLA. She was chosen to work with legend Charles ‘Honi’ Coles in America’s first creative residency for tap at The Colorado Dance Festival and again with Jimmy Slyde and was featured in the documentary A Class Act: The Magic of Honi Coles. She was a founding member and Managing Director of the touring company Austin on Tap, served on the Steering Committee of The International Tap Association and served as its director from 2008-2018 and was also a featured soloist in the Dance Magazine Calendar. She has also danced, choreographed and taught for numerous tap festivals including The St. Louis Tap Festival, The Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Tap City / NYC, Tapology, A Tap Fest, OC Tap Fest, RIFF, The Monterrey Tap Fest, Tanzhaus NRW Dusseldorf Tap Dance Days and more as well on faculty for The University of Texas, The Colorado Dance Festival, International Summer School/Cyprus, Dance Masters of America, TASIS/London, Tanzsommer/Austria, Le Festival De Danse Encore and many, many others since 1991.

Her book The Souls of Your Feet – A Tap Dance Guide for Rhythm Explorers has been translated in the Czech Republic and China and debuted as an Amazon.com Bestseller in its category since 1998. Her numerous awards include the “Hoofer Award” by The New York City Tap Festival and she was honored to be a premiere member of the Austin Arts Hall of Fame. She was also nominated for a Princess Grace Award in the early 1990's and honored for her work in the field at the 2018 Dance USA Conference.

Ms. Gray has received numerous "Best Of" awards by the Critics Table in Austin and her work The Souls of Our Feet – A Celebration of American Tap Dance was chosen as an NEA American Masterpiece production and toured throughout the US, Canada, and China from 2009-2012. She can also be seen in the documentaries Tap or Die, Thinking on Their Feet - Women of the Tap Renaissance and Passing it Forwardproduced by PBS.

Ms. Gray is also proud to be a 2019 Austin Creative Alliance Honoree and currently serves as an Arts Commissioner for the city of Austin, TX and on faculty at Texas State University.

www.aciagray.com / www.tapestry.org

Teaching Interests

Connecting dancers of all ages and levels the musicality and history the Black American art form of tap dance as well as the collaborative journeys of music and cultural styles that brings it to its current and future forms as choreography, music and an improvisational musical instrument.

Research Interests

American History with a focus on indigenous dance and music forms including jazz and tap dance.