Hoofer Hillary-Marie Michael’s first audition for the New Jersey Tap Ensemble didn’t go well. But it did lead her to NJTE’s founder and director Deborah Mitchell–who in turn introduced Michael to another one of her future mentors: Karen Callaway Williams.

“I had a terrible audition. Ms. Mitchell called my house–I was 12 or 13–but asked if she could speak to me, instead of my parents. She said, ‘Listen, I don’t think you’re ready for this company yet, but I see something really great in you, and I want to have you in a couple of years. But I need you to go study with my friend, Karen Callaway Williams.’ I started taking her class a couple of times a week. And then I got into the New Jersey Tap Ensemble two years later.” 

Michael now directs the annual Jersey Tap Fest August 14-17 at Michele’s Dance Studio in Livingston, NJ.