Mark Mendonca
Tap Dancer/Choreographer/Director/Producer
Mark Mendonca’s extensive career as a performer and choreographer includes
performances for the last three U.S. Presidents, as well as performances on Broadway,
television, and concert stages around the world. Mark's dancing was motion captured for
the animated feature film, "The Polar Express," directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring
Tom Hanks. In the year 2000, Mark was chosen to open for Barbra Streisand's farewell
concert tour with performances at Madison Square Garden in New York and the Staples
Center in Los Angeles.
On Broadway, Mark danced in the Tony Award-winning production of "Bring in
'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk,” and has performed at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center,
Davies Symphony Hall, the Biennale de la Danse, the Joyce Theater, Jacobs Pillow, The
Tiger Palast in Frankfurt, Germany and the Apollo Theater, among many others. He has
shared the stage with the late tap masters the Nicholas Brothers, Jimmy Slyde, Charles
'Honi' Coles, Eddie Brown, Steve Condos, Chuck Green, Bunny Briggs, Lon Chaney and
Buster Brown, and has made numerous appearances with Gregory Hines, appearing with
him in "A Gala for the President at Ford's Theatre," and in "The Kennedy Center
Honors," both televised on ABC. Mark's dancing was featured in the Emmy Award nominated
documentary, "Juba: The Masters of Tap and Percussive Dance," aired on
PBS, and in “The Summit of the Americas,” which aired in Canada.
Mark toured both nationally and internationally with his own company, The Steps
Ahead Tap Trio and with the Jazz Tap Ensemble and has taught and performed at dance
festivals throughout the US including the Colorado Dance Festival, Florida Dance
Festival as well as festivals in San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Minneapolis, Boston,
Portland, and Anchorage. He has been on the faculty at Loyola Marymount University
and Santa Monica College, and has also taught classes at UCLA, Cal State LA, Cal State
Long Beach, Los Angeles County High School of the Arts and Orange County High
School of the Arts, among others.
Mark has worked with director James Brooks, choreographer Twyla Tharp and
fellow tap dancers Bill Irwin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Elizabeth Berkley, and Christopher
Walken. Mark was the first person to receive a Princess Grace Foundation Award for tap
dance and was the winner of the 1997 Lester Horton Dance Award for outstanding
achievement in individual performance (Los Angeles). Mark has also received a Brody
Art Fund Artists Fellowship in recognition of his work.
