Cheryl M. Willis, Ed.D. will be signing books at booth 39 at the Portland Book Festival on November 10th.
Temple University graduate, Cheryl M. Willis pursued her passion for Tap Dance writing the first doctoral dissertation on African American women tap dancers from the Swing Era. Recently, she published “Tappin At the Apollo: The African American Female Tap Dance Duo Salt and Pepper” (McFarland). Cheryl was selected as the National Dance Educator of the Year 2000 and published “Dance Education Tips from the Trenches” (Human Kinetics). She has also written numerous articles and book chapters on Tap Dance and Creative Movement. Willis is currently pursuing her interest as a screenwriting and picture book writer/illustrator.
About Tappin’ at the Apollo
Performing Rhythm Tap and Flash, Salt and Pepper spiced up the Swing Era. This biographical work, documents their success from New York’s Apollo Theatre to Chicago and throughout the South. Despite the challenges of racism, sexism and homophobia, they found joy in performance and were acclaimed as Headliners. Find out more.