'''Pamela Joan Raff''' (January 13, 1952 - November 20, 2009) was a British-American tap dancer. Raff performed, developed choreography, and taught dance mainly in the Boston area.
== Biography == Pamela Joan Raff was born on January 13, 1952, in Oxford. She grew up in Morristown, New Jersey.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.music.tdabio.159/default.html|title=Pam Raff [biography]|last=|first=|date=|website=Performing Arts Databases|publisher=Library of Congress|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=25 April 2020}}</ref> At the age of three, she started tap dance lessons and later learned ballet, modern dance, and belly dance.<ref name=":0" /> She briefly attended American University, but dropped out to hitchhike across the United States (US) and ended up in Boston.<ref name=":0" /> She worked in malls around the US as a "dancing Magoo," and when she returned to Boston, she started to study dance in 1978 with Leon Collins.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bostonherald.com/2009/11/29/pamela-raff-of-upton-authority-on-tap-dance/|title=Pamela Raff of Upton, Authority on Tap Dance|last=|first=|date=2009-11-29|website=Boston Herald|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200425225934/https://www.bostonherald.com/2009/11/29/pamela-raff-of-upton-authority-on-tap-dance/|archive-date=25 April 2020|access-date=2020-04-25}}</ref> Raff also worked on dance choreography.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Temin|first=Christine|date=1994-06-05|title=Leaping Into a Busy Season of Dance|pages=230|work=The Boston Globe|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49795819/the-boston-globe/|access-date=2020-05-02|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Raff and Collins founded Collins & Company in 1982, and Raff taught and developed dance curriculum at the Leon Collins Dance Studio.<ref name=":1" /> She and others kept the studio running after the death of Collins in 1985.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|last=Marquard|first=Bryan|date=2009-12-04|title=Pamela Raff, 57; Fused Music, Movement Through Dance|pages=B11|work=The Boston Globe|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42736299/obituary-for-pamela-joan-raff-aged-57/|access-date=2020-05-02|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In 1994, she released the "first full-length digital recording of jazz tapping, called "Feet First"<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dancemagazine.com/transitions-2306877357.html|title=Transitions|last=|first=|date=2010-02-24|website=Dance Magazine|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200425231138/https://www.dancemagazine.com/transitions-2306877357.html|archive-date=25 April 2020|access-date=2020-04-25}}</ref> It was favorably reviewed by critic Patricia Myers, writing for ''JazzTimes''.<ref name=":3" /> Raff started teaching dance in her own studio in 1995.<ref name=":2" /> She also performed at the Boston Center for the Arts' Black Box Theater in 1995, where Diane C. Grant wrote in the ''Boston Globe'' that her performance "belies just about every tap dance stereotype."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Grant|first=Diane C.|date=1995-04-29|title=Pamela Raff's Foot Rhythms Bring Jazz to Life|pages=28|work=The Boston Globe|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49795105/the-boston-globe/|access-date=2020-05-02|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Raff died in her home in Upton, Massachusetts, on November 20, 2009.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />
== References == <!--- See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes on how to create references using <ref></ref> tags, these references will then appear here automatically --> {{Reflist|30em}}
== External links == *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bP9TtA-2vI Dianne Walker & Pamela Raff] (1990 video)
<!--- Categories ---> {{DEFAULTSORT:Raff, Pamela}} {{Authority control}}
Category:1952 births Category:2009 deaths Category:American tap dancers Category:Entertainers from Oxford Category:Entertainers from Boston