Frances Bradley

 

Tap Dance

 

 

Frances Bradley is a Flint, Michigan native. She began her dance training under the guidance of her father, Bruce Bradley, at Creative Expressions Dance Studio.

 

At age 12, she won Amateur Night at "Showtime at the Apollo" with the female tap group The Stepettes. In 2004, she was an ensemble member in the musical "Bubbling Brown Sugar," directed and choreographed by George Faison and starring Diahann Carroll in Atlanta.

 

In 2013 Bradley was casted in the dance musical, "Noah Racey's Pulse: The Beat of Song and Dance," which premiered at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, FL. She was a featured tap soloist for the international touring company Illstyle & Peace Productions, and has performed in notable productions/venues, such as: "Black Girls Rock! & Soul Tour", Samsung Galaxy Unpacked at Radio City Music Hall and Salute to Betty Carter at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

 

She has taught at world renowned schools and organizations such as: The American Tap Dance Foundation, The Brooklyn Waldorf School, Mark Morris Dance Group, Black Girls Rock!: Year Round Program, Black Girls Rock! Queen’s Camp of Leadership and Excellence; Carol Morgan School of Santo Domingo, Charlotte Brookson Academy of the Performing Arts (SXM) and has currently formed a tap cultural exchange program with National Institute of Arts of St. Maarten through her family’s non-for profit Tapology, Inc.

 

As a visual artist, she earned a BFA in Illustration from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Shortly after graduating, Bradley worked for the world renowned Mural Arts Program in Philadelphia and as the Exhibition Coordinator for The African American Museum in Philadelphia.2006, Bradley was recognized for her visual artwork by the National Conference of Artist in Philadelphia and received the Artist Legacy Award.

 

She was also awarded studio space through 40th Street Artist in Residence (AIR) Program.Her strong passion for social change through the arts, inspired her to create The Murals for Flint Project - a project-based organization dedicated to teaching diverse forms of art to at-risk youth in the city of Flint, Michigan.

 

The program features public art to visually enhance impoverished communities. The Murals for Flint Project was awarded the Ruth Mott Foundation Share Art Mini Grant.2010, she created the art series, Womanhood or Woman's-Hurt: The Art of Healing, an autobiographical, visual testimony of surviving sexual assault. WHWH has gained the attention of LaGuardia Community College's Women's Center where she was invited as a lecturer; New York City's renowned organization, Connect: Safe Families, Peaceful Communities where Frances has been appointed as an Advisory Board Member.

 

Together they organized her first solo show Womanhood or Woman's-Hurt: The Art of Healing, during Sexual Violence Awareness Month at the YMCA-Brooklyn.2014, Frances served as a delegation member to attend the Conference of Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) with Brooklyn based, civil and human rights organization, Black Women's Blueprint at the United Nations of Geneva, Switzerland.

 

She was requested to present one of her pieces from her WHWH series as the visual representation of what sexual violence looks like in America.