National Tap Dance Day Famous tap dancers Today is National Tap Dance Day, celebrating an American art form that extended over the last century, from Bill "Bojangles" Robinson to the Irish heritage of Michael Flatley. The day was created in 1989 , the same year many of America's tap masters appeared in a cinematic celebration of tap. Gregory Hines This Tony Award-winning hoofer helped create a national holiday and starred in the dance movie "Tap" . He helped inspire a new passion for tap dancing through the '80s into the '90s, headlining his own TV series and starring in a Harlem-based classic by acclaimed film director Francis Ford Coppola. Ann Miller As a child, Miller helped support her hearing-impaired mother by dancing in the clubs of '30s Hollywood, which led to her using a fake birth certificate to work for a major Hollywood studio at the age of 14. Miller appeared with James Stewart in a landmark Frank Capra Film , moving to the stage later ...