John Hanks is the Coordinator of Musicians for the Duke University Dance Program. He plays percussion, piano, and synthetic/electronic instruments, for Modern/Contemporary, Jazz, Ballet, Improv, etc. As a longtime musician for the American Dance Festival (1980, 1985-present), he also participated in ADF/Seoul (1991, 1992) and ADF/Henan (2012, 2014). As part of a jazz trio, John performs with the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble, as well as their annual NC Rhythm Tap Festival that features notable tap dancers Michelle Dorrance, Derick Grant, Brenda Buffalino, and others. He composes electro/acoustic percussion scores and audio collages for dance and has released several albums of his music for dance educators, including: “Here Come the Drums” and “Drumjazz”, both widely available online (iTunes, Spotify, etc.)
