Sam Katz teaches tap at Orange Coast College. A native Southern Californian, Sam has been teaching tap for over 35 years. Specializing in rhythm tap and improvisation over the last 30 years, Sam studied intensively with Linda Sohl-Ellison of Rhapsody in Taps. She also studied locally with Sam Weber, Monie Adamson, Cathy Lozano, Liz Hess, Joan Golden and the late Eddie Brown and Henry LeTang. She has been a scholarship student at tap festivals in Boston, Colorado, Portland, and Austin; studying with such Tap Masters as: Honi Coles, Steve Condos, Cookie Cook, Chuck Green, Buster Brown, Dianne Walker, Heather Cornell, Brenda Bufalino, Lynn Daly and Sam Weber, among many others. She was an assistant instructor to Lynn Daly at the Portland Tap Festival. Sam was the assistant choreographer/ rehearsal director for the Orange Coast College Performing Dance Ensemble for 2 years in the early 90’s and has choreographed concert pieces in both tap and modern dance. Sam can be seen in Gene Nelson’s video “Come Tap With Me” and “Leonard Reed’s Shim Sham Shimmy” video. She performed with two So. Cal. tap companies, working for over 3 years as the Artistic Director of “The Next Step”, choreographing & performing with specially built electronic tap equipment. She has been commissioned to choreograph tap pieces for Laguna Beach High School students and has been a choreography coach for students in the LA Unified School District. In 2010 Sam was on faculty at “Tap into a Cure” In Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and performed in “Magical Rhythms.” As a long time writer and a So. Cal. Rep. for the International Tap Association, Sam is well versed in tap dance history. She is proficient in and teaches Kahnotation (a notation system for tap dance). Besides being on faculty at Orange Coast College, Sam teaches and runs a jam session at FOCUS Dance Center in Irvine, Ca. and often performs with the Ron Kobayashi Jazz Trio in Orange County.
Instructor of: Tap