Advanced Level Residencies
We are thrilled to present two advanced level residency opportunities at our 2026 festival and we are even more thrilled to have the incomparable Anthony Morigerato and Cartier Williams leading the residencies!
The OC Tap Festival Residencies are immersive experiences that are designed to elevate and provide tap dancers the opportunity to intimately study with leading and distinguished tap dance artists, gain insight into their artistic process and approach, all while learning an original piece of work.
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Residencies are audition-based and intentionally kept intimate to provide a one-on-one experience
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There is no cost to audition
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Up to 15 advanced-level tap dancers will be hand-selected for each residency
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Tap dancers may audition for and participate in both residencies
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Dancers must be fully registered at the Advanced/Pro level to be eligible for advanced residencies
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Residency programs begin the morning of Wednesday, July 8, 2026
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Cost: $300 per residency
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Each residency includes:
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7 hours of intimate rehearsal time to learn an original piece of choreography
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A residency dinner at the beach with the residency choreographers
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A featured performance in the professional festival closing concert, accompanied by live music
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Please see below for audition details and to submit an audition form
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Audition forms will be accepted until March 2, 2026
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Audition results will be shared in March 2026
Please audition only if you plan to attend the festival, as being accepted into a residency and not accepting the spot will prevent another dancer from participating.
If you are auditioning for a residency, please do not purchase your concert ticket just yet! For those accepted into a residency, we will provide further details regarding concert tickets and concert performance logistics.
Anthony Morigerato is a tap dancer, producer, director, content creator, writer, and Emmy nominated choreographer. Anthony is the executive producer and artistic director for AM Dance Productions. AM Dance Productions, short films include The Text (2015), The Subtext (2018), and the award winning When Snow Falls (2020). AM Dance Productions live theatrical shows include AM Dance Project (2006-2008), Matt and Anthony (2009), flood (in the dark corner) (2017), flood (redux) (2020), and Alternate Spaces (2021). In 2014, Anthony founded and is currently the co-director and managing partner of Operation: Tap, an online forum that is dedicated to immersing tap dancing into the public’s consciousness. In 2019, Anthony created CODA, Break The Floor’s online dance competition scoring system that provides dancers with genre specific score sheets, homework video content to improve their performance, and data analytics. Anthony worked as a tap dance teacher, performer, and adjudicator for NUVO Dance Convention from 2010-2020. As a performer, Anthony was a soloist and member of Michael Minery’s Tapaholics (2002-2012), a soloist and associate choreographer for Stacey Tookey’s Still Motion, and a soloist for various tap dance festivals, benefits, industrials, seminars, and performances since 1999. He has appeared as a choreographer and/or a performer on television shows including The Tony Danza Show (2005), America’s Got Talent (2009), The Arsenio Hall Show (2013), So You Think You Can Dance (2013-2018- Emmy Nomination 2016). Anthony holds the world record for “most tap sounds in one minute” having made 1,163 sounds. Anthony is an accomplished dancer in multiple disciplines, having trained at Marymount Manhattan College, where he performed the works of Robert Battle, Elizabeth Higgins, Jiri Kylian, David Parsons, Katie Langan and William Soleu. He has recently done choreographic residencies at Marymount Manhattan College (2014, 2016, and 2019), Pace University (2019), and is an artist in residence at the American Tap Dance Foundation (2020). Most recently Anthony performed and had choreography featured in Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic (2021), presented by the Joyce Theater in NYC. Anthony continues to travel as a teacher and choreographer for dance organizations, festivals, competitions, theater schools, and dance studios all over the world.
Cartier Williams is a hoofer, choreographer, filmmaker, and performer hailing from Washington, D.C.
Cartier kicked off Paris Fashion Week 2020 with a spectacular star turn for Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh, the culmination of his 25-year ascendance to the stratosphere of tap superstardom. Williams, began his tap-dancing career at the age of four when his grandmother, Audrey Williams, taught him his first steps.
Two years later, six-year-old Cartier won the Apollo Kids competition at the iconic Apollo Theater and became the youngest inductee in the Apollo Legends. Later that year Cartier danced at the Kennedy Center Honors alongside Robert Downey Jr. Mr. Williams studied at the prestigious Washington School of Ballet under the tutelage of Mary Day.
At the age of ten, Cartier co-starred with tap royalty Buster Brown, Jimmy Slyde, and Dianne Walker in the International tour of Footnotes. Mr. Williams considers it a blessing that he danced and shared the stage with tap pioneers and masters Peg Leg Bates, The Nicholas Brothers, and Gregory Hines.
Cartier performed for two U.S. Presidents: Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. In 1998, he co-starred in the PBS Special: In Performance at The White House with President Clinton. He toured the U.S. and Japan in the Tony Award-winning Bring In 'Da Noise, Bring In 'Da Funk, co-starring with Savion Glover. Williams performed at The Joyce Theatre, New York City Center, and the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles at The AFI Awards: A Tribute to Tom Hanks. Other appearances include: Usher's birthday bash in New York City, and at the headquarters of the FCC, the CIA, the State Department, and the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. In May 2011, Cartier choreographed and directed Cartier Williams Rhythm Refix at Joe’s Pub at New York’s Public Theater.
In 2014, Cartier formed The Cartier Williams Dance Theatre, whose credits include: New York Botanical Gardens, ZIGITYBOP! (Oslo and Zurich), Children's Museum of Manhattan, Faison's Firehouse Theater in Harlem, Le Bain at the Standard Hotel in New York, and Black Coffee's music video Come With Me sponsored by Smirnoff. Cartier also performed at The Opening of the Cannes Film Festival for Moulin Rouge. Additional credits include; The Palms Hotel/Resort in Las Vegas with Super-DJ Chew FU, National Tap Dance Day at Macy’s, Chicago Sinfonietta Orchestra, Philadelphia Pops Orchestra and The New York City Pops Orchestra. Cartier also attended The New York Film Academy studying directing. Other credits include Phone Bait, The Violinist, and My Love Awaits all written, directed and produced by Williams. He’s also appeared in Spike Lee’s Bamboozled and Tales of Poe.
Audition Instructions
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Submit a solo tap dance video performed a cappella, with a metronome or to music no later than March 2, 2026
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The solo may be improvised or choreographed
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The video must be at least one minute long (can be longer)
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Please ensure the video clearly showcases both technical skill and performance quality
What We’re Looking For
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Strong timing and rhythm
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Clear technical tap skills
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Engaging performance quality and presence