M.A.D.D. RHYTHMS
FOUNDED: 2001
Our mission is to preserve, promote and contribute to tap. We teach its history, represent its culture and advocate for its future. We use it to make a difference in under-served communities by connecting and caring for the youth. We believe that having access and options gives a child a greater chance at a positive life. We will spread the joy, love, discipline and expression of tap to as many children as we can! We work hard to ensure that all students have the opportunity to dance, regardless of their financial situation. We offer an alternative to the school-to-prison pipeline through our youth apprenticeship program: Studio to Stage.
PC: Photo of Bril Barrett by Rachel Neville Studios
Bril Barrett,
President & Director
Bril Barrett is a creative tap dancer, whose mission is to preserve and promote tap dance as a percussive art form, foster respect and admiration for the history and creators of tap, and continuously create opportunities for the art form and its practitioners. Bril is the founder of M.A.D.D. (Making A Difference Dancing) Rhythms, director of The Chicago Tap Summit and founder of The M.A.D.D. Rhythms Tap Academy. Performance opportunities include Riverdance, Tap Dance Kid, The St. Louis Tap Festival, The Calgary Tap Summit and many others.
Bril has taught and/or performed in Canada, Germany, Finland, Turkey, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Albania, Amsterdam, and across the U.S. He has started many outreach programs in Chicago’s public schools, Park districts, a performing arts high school in Gary, Indiana and several After School Matters programs on the city’s Westside and Southside.
PC: Photo of Star Dixon by Rachel Neville Studios
Star Dixon,
Assistant Director
Star Dixon is an assistant director, choreographer, and original principal dancer of world renowned tap company, MADD Rhythms. She has taught and performed at the most distinguished tap festivals in the country including The L.A. Tap Fest, DC Tap Fest, Motorcity Tap Fest, Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s Rhythm World, Jazz City in New Orleans, and MADD Rhythms own Chicago Tap Summit. Internationally, she’s taught and performed in Poland, Japan, and Brazil. She’s been featured in Dance Spirit Magazine (Artist on the Rise & Speed Demon), The Chicago Reader, and an independent film “The Rise & Fall of Miss Thang” starring Dormeshia Sumbry Edwards.
Outside of MADD Rhythms, she’s performed as a guest with such companies as Michelle Dorrance’s Dorrance Dance, Chloe Arnold’s Syncopated Ladies, Lane Alexander’s Bam, and Jason Samuel Smith’s ACGI. Star is currently on staff at numerous dance studios, schools, and After School Matters. You can find her videos on YouTube under dance13star.