Bril Barrett
MADD (Making A Difference Dancing) Rhythms
Bril Barrett is a dancer, instructor, educator and dedicated “taptavist,” with a mission to preserve and promote tap dance as a percussive art form, foster respect for the history and culture of tap, and continuously create opportunities for the art form and its practitioners.
A co-founder of M.A.D.D. (Making A Difference Dancing) Rhythms in 2001, Barrett is also the director of The Chicago Tap Summit and founder of The M.A.D.D. Rhythms Tap Academy. Co-founded with Jumaane Taylor and Martin ‘Tre’ Dumas III, M.A.D.D. Rhythms is a leading tap collective worldwide. In addition, Barrett initiated outreach programs in Chicago’s public schools and park districts and ran the After School Matters Youth Tap Program for more than 10 years, providing after school and summer jobs for more than 300 youth from underserved communities.
Barrett was named “Chicagoan of the Year” in 2016 and, in 2020, was awarded the Chicago Dancemakers Forum’s Lab Artist Fellowship; in 2022 he received the Helen Coburn Meier and Tim Meier Foundation for the Arts Achievement Award.
