As a performer, choreographer and teacher, Thomas Marek has been combining traditional and modern forms of tap dance with contemporary musical and theatrical elements in his work for over 25 years. The masters he learned from and who have inspired him were the innovators of their art: Charles Honi Coles, Cholly Atkins, Chuck Green, Buster Brown, Jimmy Slyde and above all Brenda Bufalino with whose American Tap Dance Orchestra he toured in 1994/1995.
Deeply rooted in jazz, Marek experiments with the possibilities of sound, phrasing, touch and tone. He explores the space in which tap dancing moves, he shifts boundaries and discovers new forms of expression that tie in with the origins of tap and draw on his own cultural context – revealing new stories.
Solo, as a duo with bass or piano or as a jazz quartet: The narrative in the abstract dance and musical form of tap is the driving force behind Marek’s art, especially in his large dance productions. Sold-out theaters testify to the fact that Marek's performances, his musical reflections on cultural tradition and individual self-expression in the context of jazz, choreography and improvisation, succeed in making the art of tap dance accessible to a wider audience.
He is a regular guest as a workshop leader and a featured soloist at festivals and stages in Germany, Europe and the USA. Thomas has worked, danced and shared the stage with tap dance greats such as Brenda Bufalino, Barbara Duffy, Sarah Petronio, Jimmy Slyde and Gregory Hines.
