Dianne Walker, widely known as “Lady Di”

Dianne Walker is a rhythm-tap performer, choreographer, teacher and cultural bearer who has connected Leon Collins's generation of Boston dancers to today's artists. Born in Boston in 1951, Walker began dance study as a child with Mildred Kennedy, a rigorous teacher and former vaudeville performer whose lineage rooted tap in Black performance tradition, discipline and musical knowledge. After years in California, Walker returned to Boston and studied intensively with Leon Collins, whose clarity, melodic approach and attention to jazz phrasing shaped her dancing. She worked with Collins's company and studio, learning repertoire through demonstration, correction and musical conversation—the traditional methods by which tap knowledge moves across generations.

Walker began her professional career in 1979 and became part of the tap resurgence that reintroduced master hoofers to festival, theater and film audiences. She performed alongside artists across generations, including Leon Collins, Jimmy Slyde and Charles "Honi" Coles. Her controlled elegance and refined phrasing earned her the honorific "Lady Di" within the tap community.

Walker's most visible theatrical milestone was *Black and Blue*. She appeared in the Paris production and subsequently in the Broadway production that opened in 1989, where she performed as a Hoofer in the production's celebrated Hoofers Line. She also served as dance captain and assistant to the directors, joining performance with stewardship of timing, spacing and repertory.

Walker made her Jacob's Pillow debut in 1996. Her dancing to the jazz waltz "Emily" demonstrated ease, softened crystalline sound and refined phrasing. She went on to direct the Pillow's Tap Program and became an advisor, extending the lineage through structured education. Her teaching has reached universities, festivals and international gatherings, and her mentorship has made her a trusted elder to artists associated with contemporary rhythm tap.

Recognitions include Oklahoma City University's "Living Treasure in American Dance" honor in 1998, a 2012 Dance Magazine Award and a 2008 United States Artists fellowship. Yet her deepest contribution lies in maintaining a living network of stories, steps, ethical credit and personal guidance—stewarding tap history while remaining a working virtuoso.