Once Michela Marino Lerman learned how to make music with her feet, she never stopped. The New York City tap dancing aficionado became enamored with the art form at 5, when her mother put on movies starring tap dance legends Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. But what cemented her love for the dance style was Gregory Hines in the 1989 film “Tap.
” “I fell in love with Gregory’s spirit and also what he was doing artistically,” said Marino Lerman from home in New York City. “He was an advocate for tap being considered music as much as a dance form. He was trying to share with the public this concept of the dancing musician.
” The town of Green Mountain Falls might be tiny, but it attracts some big names to its annual Green Box Arts Festival, including Marino Lerman. The New York Times called her a prodigy and described her dancing as “flashes of brilliance.” Previous years of the festival featured one dance company.
This year there are five, including Marino Lerman, who will perform with her husband, bass player Russell Hall: New York City-based Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie and her company Ephrat Asherie Dance, which is rooted in Black and Latinx dances, including hip-hop, house and vogue; modern dance company GALLIM Dance from Brooklyn, N.Y.; Jesús Muñoz Flamenco from Albuquerque; and Barkha Patel, a kathak dancer, choreographer, teacher and artistic director of Barkha Dance Company in New York City.
The festival runs Monday through July 14 and features more th.