Larisa Hall, tap instructor & owner of Tap Fever Studios

Dance has been a life-long love for Larisa, but it didn’t come easily at first. Larisa was born with severely clubbed feet, and had to wear double casts from the time she was one to nine months of age. She slept with a brace to hold her feet and casts turned out, hoping to correct the problem. Doctors weren’t sure if she’d walk, but thank goodness they were wrong!

Dancing since kindergarten, Larisa has experienced many styles: jazz, ballet, modern, swing, hip-hop…she loves them all! But the rhythm and unique art of tap dance is her favorite.

Born and raised just outside of Washington, D.C., Larisa learned a Broadway-style of tap with Mary Lou Peters and performed in many shows and competitions. After college, Larisa left the snowy east coast and landed in the Bay Area of Northern California, where she broadened her skills with more classic and rhythm steps at Pamm Drake’s Dance/10 Performing Arts Center. With this experience, Larisa received high marks in regional and national competitions and performed as a member of Pamm’s professional tap team. One of her most memorable experiences with that studio was dancing in the 2001 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, just two short months after the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings.

Larisa has been in San Diego since the summer of 2003 and teaching her own style of tap, which is a culmination of the variety of dance experience she’s had over the years. Larisa’s classes focus on making technique easy to understand, and having a fun style blend that’s danced to the music of today.

Q. How did you get into Tap?
A. I was inspired to start dancing by a kindergarten friend. It sounded so fun, that I just had to try it. Once I put on those dance shoes and started moving, I was hooked!

Q. What was your first choreography experience like?
A. The first time I choreographed a dance (other than for myself), I was filled with excitement and uncertainty at the same time. I was nervous about how easily the students would learn the dance, if they were going to remember all the moves and if they even liked what they were doing. Luckily, they were a great bunch of kids, and they seemed to have a lot of fun with it. Once performance time came, the students made me proud with all of their enthusiasm and dedication to the dance. I was very excited to see my ideas brought to fruition.

Q. What was it that made you decide to create Tap Fever Studios?
A. There are numerous dance studios that offer a few classes for each of a large variety of dance styles. These studios are fantastic for people who want to get their foot in the door to the dance world and really figure out which styles appeal to them the most. There are also many studios that focus primarily on one particular type of dance: there are ballet schools such as Balletiquette or San Diego City Ballet, there are modern/contemporary-focused schools like Malashock and Jean Isaacs, and Culture Shock is a hip-hop based studio. But I have yet to find anyplace that puts a focus on my very favorite style of all, TAP!

This is what inspired me to open Tap Fever Studios. I wanted to be able to offer people of all ages and skill levels as many opportunities as possible, to experience the same joy I get out of tap dancing. Just like any other focused dance studio, we still offer a handful of other non-tap classes, but the twist is that many of them are classes you’d have a hard time finding anywhere else, such as Body Percussion, Ballet Folklorico, Spoons and Zills! The common thread with all Tap Fever classes is rhythm, and the desire to create it.

Q. If you could dance with one dancer, past or present, who would it be, and why?
A. If I could dance with any dancer, past or present, I could easily say someone like Gregory Hines (which would be awesome) or any other of the numerous greats who have passed on. But honestly, I love dancing with anyone (famous or not) who has a true love for what they’re doing. I definitely feed off that energy, and it inspires me to do even more.

Not only that, but I really enjoy all the different styles of tap. I can always get down with some rhythm or even Broadway styles, but one of the coolest things about tap is that you can incorporate it into ANY style. You can take a hip-hop number and add tap to it. You can take a jazz number and add tap to it. You can even take a lyrical dance (yes, lyrical) and add tap to it. I don’t think there is just one person to experience tap from. I really believe it is important to take classes from different teachers to grow as a dancer.

Q. What show would you absolutely love to choreograph for, and why?
A. “So You Think You Can Dance” is probably one of my favorite shows EVER! I would LOVE to be able to choreograph a tap routine for them. One reason people enjoy that show so much (besides the immense talent of the dancers) is the amazing choreography that’s brought to the show and the strong emotions they can invoke from the audience. I would love to show the world that you can feel just as much passion from tap.

Q. What do you do in your spare time?
A. In my spare time, I’m always looking for fun things to do around town. Festivals, movies, a nice dinner, comedy show, the theater, even a nice walk, hanging at the beach, getting some mint frozen yogurt or singing some karaoke! Once in a while I just sprawl out on the couch and do nothing but watch TV! You gotta make sure to get some R&R in now and then!