Tamii Sakurai

Tamii Sakurai is originally from Tokyo, Japan, where she was trained as a tap dancer by her grandfather, Satoshi “Bin” Hino. She moved to New York by herself at the age of 16 to pursue her education and explore opportunities. Since living in New York, she has become a founding member, dance captain, and rehearsal director of Tap City Youth Ensemble, an American Tap Dance Foundation project. Tamii had the privilege of working with numerous leading tap dancers including Barbara Duffy, Derick K. Grant and Caleb Teicher, and companies such as Brenda Bufalino’s “New” American Tap Dance Orchestra and Michelle Dorrance’s Dorrance Dance.

In 2006, she founded her own company, Team Walt with her close friends in Tokyo. She has recently graduated from CUNY Hunter College with a BA in Mathematics and Dance and is focusing more on teaching tap dance and looking for challenging projects to gain perspective. Her most recent work includes joining the New York City cast for the long-running Off-Broadway show STOMP, where she feels humbled to perform with a talented cast every night. Tamii is extremely thankful to her grandfather for introducing her to tap dancing, and she continues dancing as a tribute to him.