Cited as one of “Tap’s Leading Ladies” by Dance Spirit Magazine, Melissa Tannús is a world renowned professional tap dancer, teacher and choreographer from Brazil. In addition to her solo career, Melissa is a member of the Syncopated Ladies, tap dance company worldwide known for their viral videos that reached over 50 million views online and were shared by Beyoncé herself on both her website and social media. The company’s credits include the launch of Beyoncé’s clothing line Ivy Park for TOPSHOP in London, commercials for Cantu Beauty, their sold-out full-length concerts in Los Angeles, NYC, DC, Mexico and Dubai and many other performances all over the country and the world.

While in Brazil, Melissa trained at Studio Uai Q Dança and toured the country with the show Partituras as a member of Christiane Matallo’s tap company and the band O Teatro Mágico. Her talent and hard work was quickly noticed by acclaimed teachers such as the Emmy Award winner Jason Samuels Smith and the Bessie Award Winner Michelle Dorrance, awarding her with scholarships to train in the United States with some of the world’s best tap dancers.

Ever since she moved to the United States, Melissa has been a member of some of the greatest tap companies in the world such as Tapestry Dance Company, Sarah Reich’s Tap Music Project, Melinda Sullivan Dance Project, Jason Janas’ Co.MMIT, Rhythmic Tap Co. and Chloe Arnold’s Syncopated Ladies. She was also chosen to be a part of Universal Studios Hollywood’s weekly tap shows performing for nearly 20 thousand people a day.

Melissa has appeared on television several times including NBC’s America’s Got Talent, FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance, winning the Crew Battle with the Syncopated Ladies and many other news shows such as Good Day LA and DC. She was featured in articles on the New York Times, LA Times, DanceSpirit Magazine, Dance Magazine and also in various important websites such as the Huffington Post, Elite Daily, The Cosmopolitan, Elle, Self, Nylon, MTV News and many more. Furthermore, Melissa was featured on Visa’s Online Commercial “What’s Stopping You From Achieving Your Goals”.

Along with her extensive performance credits, Melissa has choreographed for the profes- sional adult tap company Footnotes Tap Ensemble (NC), directed the adult multiform dance company Tapestry Too (TX) and taught at Debbie Allen Dance Academy (LA), Millennium Dance Complex (LA), Pineapple Dance Studio (London), Academia Tap Jazz Center (Chile) University of East Anglia (Norwich) and many others. She is currently on faculty at Billy Clower Dance Studio, Dance Dimensions and Fifth Row Performing Arts Center. In addition, Melissa was invited to and taught at several tap festivals all over Brazil and the United States such as DC Tap Fest (DC), Portland Tap Festival (PO), Tap in Rio (BRA), Tap Week Brasil (BRA), Footprints Tap Jam (CHI) and the Syncopated Ladies Bootcamp (LA, NY, CHI, BRA).

Melissa continues to be passionate about tap dancing and aims to spread this art form all over the world and inspire young dancers to go after their dreams, like she did.