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Mason City Clinic is proud to present Australian dance sensation “Tap Dogs” on the North Iowa Community Auditorium stage on Thursday, October 15 as part of the 2009-2010 NIACC Performing Arts Series. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $39 in advance and $45 at the door.

The international sensation “Tap Dogs” returns to the U.S. ready to leave dents on stages all across America. Olivier Award-winning choreographer Dein Perry created this one-of-a-kind show which features a construction-site set by designer/director Nigel Triffitt and a driving score by composer Andrew Wilkie. “Tap Dogs” features unprecedented dance numbers that combine the strength and power of workmen with the precision and talent of tap dancing. Winner of 11 International Awards, “Tap Dogs” premiered at the Sydney Theatre Festival, moved on to London and New York and has been a howling success all across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

This global hit started with only six guys from Newcastle, a small steel town north of Sydney, Australia. Perry, creator and choreographer of “Tap Dogs,” has come a long way from the garage behind his dance teacher’s house where the young men, he and the “Dogs,” learned how to tap. At the age of 17, with few opportunities for a dancing career, he earned his union papers as an industrial machinist and 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,” a very 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 first Olivier Award in 1995. A subsequent offer from the Sydney Theatre Company led to the collaboration with eclectic designer and director Triffitt, which resulted in the creation of “Tap Dogs.”

“Tap Dogs” was the instant hit of the Sydney Theatre Festival where it had its world premiere in January 1995. The new show caused an equal sensation at the Edinburgh Festival later that year. “Tap Dogs” went on to play to packed houses at Sadler’s Wells in London; return tours of Australia; a West End engagement, for which Dein won a second consecutive Olivier Award in 1996 for his choreography; and an off Broadway, New York season in 1997. So far the company has won 11 International Awards including a Pegasus Award at the Spoleto Festival in Italy and an “Obie” in New York.

The Australian dance sensation returned home in 2000 to take part in the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games. One thousand “Tap Dogs” from companies around the world performed to an audience of 3.4 billion viewers as the event was televised globally.

The “Tap Dogs” story was immortalized in the movie “Bootmen,” directed by the original “Tap Dog,” Perry. “Tap Dogs” is rough, tough, rockin’ theatrical entertainment you should not miss! For more information, visit www.tapdogs.com.

For tickets to see “Tap Dogs,” call the NIACC Box Office at 1-888-466-4222 ext. 4188. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.niacc.edu. Platinum Sponsors for the 2009-2010 Performing Arts Series include NIACC; Globe Gazette Elizabeth Muse Norris Charitable Fund; the Globe Gazette; Alliant Energy; Henkel Construction; Kraft; Mason City Clinic; Principal Financial Group; and Soener Foundation. Gold sponsors include Community National Bank; Diamond Joe Casino; First Citizens National Bank; First State Bank of Belmond; Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa; Martin, Cooney, MacNider & Cooney Financial Consultants of Raymond James & Associates, Inc.; Sukup Manufacturing; and Dr. Gary W. Swenson and Dean A. Genth. In kind sponsors include Country Inn and Suites and KIMT.

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