Meet Taps
Check Out Our Executive Board and Members
Executive Board 2020-2021
Meet the 5 dedicated members of Taps who work to make sure everything runs taptastically.
Co-President:
Gabrielle Niederhoffer
Class: 2022 +1
Major: American Studies
College: Pierson
Hometown: New York, NY
Years Tap Dancing: 18
Gabrielle choreographs for musicals, operas, and dance groups across campus. As a dancer, Gabrielle is mentored by Caleb Teicher and is an alumna of the School at Jacob’s Pillow Tap Program, directed by Michelle Dorrance and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards. With the support of the Schwarzman Center, Gabrielle is creating a festival focused on vernacular dance. In her spare time, she can be found annoying her downstairs neighbors with the sound of her tapping.
Co-President:
Fiona Benson
Class: 2022
Major: American Studies
College: Saybrook
Hometown: New York, NY
Years Tap Dancing: 9
Fiona is the Assistant Musical Director of her a cappella group, The New Blue, she is an Editor of The Yale Historical Review and an Editor of La Francophonie à Yale, she works at the Yale University Art Gallery, and she is the Director of Academics for Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women. Fiona is also receiving a certificate in French Language! Fiona is a national medalist in Irish step dancing, and began tapping at the age of 11 to complement her Irish step dancing. Some of her fondest memories of Yale come from Taps rehearsals and performances, and she is deeply grateful for the friendships she has made, and found, in the group.
Social Media:
Sam Heimowitz
Class: 2023
Major: East Asian Lang. & Lit.
College: Branford
Hometown: Washington, DC
Years Tap Dancing: 15
Sam has performed professionally across the East Coast with his twin brother Max and trained with numerous world-renowned tap dance artists, including Baakari Wilder, Michelle Dorrance, Brenda Bufalino, and Sarah Reich. He has also attended many audition-based residency tap dance festivals. Notable performance venues include the Kennedy Center (DC), Symphony Space (NY), and Arena Stage (DC). He is a prospective East Asian Languages and Literature major with a concentration in Chinese, a co-choreographer for Steppin' Out, a Branford Head of College Aide, and volunteers for CityStep.
Social Chair:
Shira Minsk
Class: 2023 +1
Major: History
College: Pauli Murray
Hometown: Chevy Chase, MD
Years Tap Dancing: 11
Shira has been tap dancing on and off for over 11 years, and grew up a die-hard musical theater kid. After taking a hiatus in high school, she was so happy to get back into dancing with Taps! Outside of Taps, Shira is an active member of the Yale College Democrats, an Associate Editor of The Politic, and a Yale Tour Guide. You can almost always find her eating tater tots at Donut Crazy, eating raw cookie dough in Bass, complaining about how Murray is far away from the rest of civilization, or loser to her friends at pool in the Buttery. Even though she won't b e on campus this semester, Shira is excited to remain involved in the Tap community from afar!
Treasurer:
Max Heimowitz
Class: 2023
Major: French
College: Benjamin Franklin
Hometown: Washington, DC
Years Tap Dancing: 14
Despite being Sam's twin brother, Max only started tap dancing after being convinced by Sam's tap teachers. Since then, he's performed professionally with Sam and their DC-based youth ensemble, Capitol Tap, in addition to receiving commissions for choreography. He is an alum of the School at Jacob's Pillow Tap Program, under the direction of Michelle Dorrance and Dormeshia. At Yale, he is the Communications Chair of the Hillel Student Board, and a Single Classroom Educator with the Community Health Educators. Find out more about Max and Sam on their website, heimowitzbrothers.com.
Members
Members hail from all of the undergraduate residential colleges and many of the graduate schools at Yale.
First Years
TBD!
Sophomores
Malia Munley, SM '23 +1
Ris Igrec, JE '23
Jay Mehta, BF '23
Hannah Morrison, SY '23
Juniors
Ke'ala Akau, BR '22
Caitlin Chun, DC '22
Nora Massie, DC '22
Anna Tender, GH '22
Seniors & Grad Students
Matt Spero, MC '21
Laura Wayland, MY '21
Luke Benson, SY '21 +1
Lauren Bond, MY '21 +1
Lindsey Hughes, GRD '21
Hannah Kosman, GRD '22
Maddy DiGiovanni, Med '23
Ansley Walker, Div '21
Amanda Calhoun, Clinical Fellow
Allie Howard, Div '22
Special Note
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020-2021 school year has encountered many changes. Nevertheless, Taps is still running! We will be working to conduct rehearsals over Zoom and we will be finding innovative and creative ways to share tap dance with the Yale community, whether our members are enrolled remotely, on campus, or taking a leave of absence.