1. Max Pollak was born in Vienna, Austria and became known for his work in percussive dance, World Music, tap dance, and choreography.
13 Facts About Max Pollak
1. 2.
Max Pollak created "RumbaTap", which merged American Rhythm Tap with Afro-Cuban music and dance.
3.
Max Pollak is the only non-Cuban member of the Afro-Cuban Rumba and folklore ensemble Los Munequitos de Matanzas.
4.
Max Pollak was first exposed to the African American style of rhythm tap when he was 17 years old and met 71-year-old Carnell Lyons.
5.
Max Pollak began his professional career performing in musical theater in Europe.
6.
Max Pollak appeared with the original company of Eric Woolfson's musical Freudiana at Theatre an der Wien.
7.
Max Pollak used the move to New York to launch his career with a variety of Tap-based dance troupes.
8.
Max Pollak appeared regularly at New York City jazz club La Cave with Dr Jimmy Slyde, Dr Buster Brown, Chuck Green, and Lon Chaney.
9.
The ideas behind RumbaTap began when Max took a class with Afro-Latin jazz icon Bobby Sanabria at the New School: "It changed my life," Pollak recalls.
10.
Max Pollak asked me if I wanted to tap dance to Cuban music, or tap dance Cuban music.
11.
Max Pollak practiced doing just that, drawing on his drummer's ability to walk and chew gum at the same time.
12.
In 2001, Max Pollak received a grant from Arts International to help establish Cuba's first tap festival in Havana.
13.
Max Pollak has since performed with members of both the Vienna Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic, and as a soloist in the Morton Gould Tap Dance Concerto with the Duluth Superior, East Texas and Plano Symphony Orchestras.