Ashburn Tap Sensation Performs at International Children's Festival

Ashburn's own tap-dancing sensation, Luke Spring, will be performing at the International Children's Festival at Wolf Trap, Va., on Sunday, Sept. 19.

Spring and other dancers from Studio Bleu Dance Center in Ashburn will perform five numbers at the festival on Sunday beginning at 10:15 a.m. at the Meadows Stage.

The 7-year-old tap-dancing prodigy first came to the national scene after his debut performance last spring at the Washington, D.C., Tap Festival created an Internet sensation. It wasn't long before he was asked to perform on TV shows such as "Fox & Friends," the "Ellen DeGeneres Show," and the finale of the "So You Think You Can Dance" reality show.

Luke said he started tap dancing by watching other people. "It looked fun," he said.  Luke also enjoys hip-hop dancing.

His mother, Jill Spring, said his talent came as a complete surprise. "It's exciting because this was not planned for Luke. His sisters always danced, and he was always at the studio," she said, but she and her husband, Mick Spring, weren't expecting their son to have the same interest in dancing.  

Luke's love of tap dancing began at age 4, after he saw the movie "Happy Feet."  Luke found a pair of tap shoes in the lost and found box at the Studio Bleu Dance Center, where his sisters danced. He put the tap shoes on and was fascinated by the sounds he could make, his mother said.

After watching him dance, Studio Bleu director, Kim Rishi, told his mother that he had a natural talent for tap dancing. "He's making rhythm patterns without any structured training … he has tremendous natural ability," Rishi told her. "He would watch and be able to do it," Rishi said.

At the age of 5, he began taking lessons, and the rest is history. His mother also credits his teachers and the director at Studio Bleu for his success. "It's a great studio with a positive environment, and we are thrilled to have our kids here," she said.

Studio Bleu has more than 2,100 students in all dance disciplines.  Its dance company is ranked in the Top 25 of the Southeastern Region by the National Federation of Dance Competitions.

Spring's older sisters, Cami, 17, and Lucy, 15, also perform with Studio Bleu and have won national dance competitions. Spring and his sisters will be among those performing at ArtStream's Annual Gala on Monday, Sept. 20, at 6 p.m. at The Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda, Md. All three Spring children hope to become professional dancers someday, their mother said.

Next, Luke will begin working on some new dance routines to prepare for competitions in February. Luke said he doesn't have too many specific plans for the future. "We'd like to see what opportunities will come, and then decide what is good for him," his mother said.

The pint-sized powerhouse is just happy to perform, no matter where he is. "It truly is his passion … he likes to make people happy, and when he dances, he hears that, when people are clapping and cheering," his mother said.