Acia Gray

As a musician, soloist, choreographer and master teacher, Ms. Gray has toured extensively across the U.S. and abroad and in 1989 co-founded Tapestry Dance Company in Austin, TX with Deirdre Strand and currently serves as Producing Artistic Director & Artistic Director of The Soul 2 Sole International Tap Festival here in Austin.

A graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts/NYC, Ms. Gray has shared the stage with legends of the form including Donald O’Connor, Fayard Nicholas, Arthur Duncan, Savion Glover, Jimmy Slyde, Sarah Petronio, Dianne Walker and many others in such productions as The Great Tap Reunion, Tap Do/Wop, Just Friends, Masters of Tap, Chicago on Tap and Women in Tap at UCLA among others. She was chosen to work with legend Charles ‘Honi’ Coles in America’s first creative residency for tap at The Colorado Dance Festival and again with Jimmy Slyde and was featured in the documentary A Class Act: The Magic of Honi Coles.

She served on the Steering Committee of The National Tap Plan of The International Tap Association and served as its director from 2008-2018. She has also danced, choreographed and taught for numerous academic institutions and festivals around the world including courses at UT Austin and ACC in tap pedagogy. Her book The Souls of Your Feet – A Tap Dance Guide for Rhythm Explorers has been translated in the Czech Republic and China and debuted as an Amazon.com Bestseller in its category in 1998.

Her numerous awards include the “Hoofer Award” by The New York City Tap Festival, nominated for a Princess Grace Award in the early 1990's and honored at the 2018 Dance USA Conference among numerous tap festival honors. She has produced and choreographed for over 96 original full length works for Tapestry Dance Company many of which have toured the US and abroad including her work The Souls of Our Feet - A Celebration of American Tap Dance that was chosen as an NEA American Masterpiece production and toured throughout the US, Canada, and China from 2009-2012.

Ms. Gray has also received numerous local "Best Of" awards by the Critics Table in Austin and she can also be seen in additional documentaries including Gotta Move - Women in Tap, Tap or Die, Thinking on Their Feet - Women of the Tap Renaissance and Passing it Forward produced by the PBS series Arts In Context based on Tapestry Dance Company’s 2015-2016 Season and performance and mission legacy.

Ms. Gray is proud to be a premiere member of the Austin Arts Hall of Fame, a 2019 Austin Creative Alliance Honoree and is a current member of the Austin Arts Commission.