the documentary Honi Coles: The Class Act of Tap, the documentary Songs Unwritten...Leon Collins, and most recently as the principal commentator in the PBS release JUBA. Ms. Walker holds a master's degree in education. She has taught at numerous colleges, including Harvard, Williams College, the University of Michigan, and UCLA. She has been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council Jacobs Pillow, and the New England Foundation for the arts. She was a participant in the Dance USA Task Force on Dance Education and in 1997 represented the United States as an adjudicator for the World Tap Dance Championships held in Dresden, Germany. She is on the board of several tap dance organizations and was appointed, by the governor of Massachusetts, to a seat on the board of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a post she has held since 1996. She is quick to recognize her debt to many of the tap legends that have given to her so generously throughout her career, such as Honi Coles, Cholly Atkins, Eddie Brown, the Nicholas Brothers, Peg Leg Bates, Steve Condos, Henry LeTang, Prince Spencer, Gregory Hines, LaVaughn Robinson, and many others. Leon Collins died in 1985, leaving Dianne to continue as one of the directors of his school (1982–1995). Awards In 1997 in Boston, she was presented with the Tapestry Award for excellence in teaching from Thelma Goldberg of the Dance Inn in Lexington, Massachusetts. In 1998, she became the youngest dancer and first woman to receive the Living Treasure in American Dance Award from Oklahoma City University. She received the “Savion Glover Award for Keeping the Beat Alive” in St. Louis, Missouri in 2000. In 2003, she received a Flo-Bert Award, presented by the New York Committee To Celebrate National Tap Dance Day, in recognition of her lifetime achievement regarding tap dancing. In 2006, Dianne's lifetime achievements were honored at a luncheon in Flint, Michigan. This award ceremony was sponsored by Tapology, Artistic and Executive Director, Alfred Bruce Bradley and the Mott Foundation. In 2005, she received another lifetime achievement recognition (Rhythm Bound) from director Sas Selford of the Vancouver Tap Dance Society. In 2004, Walker received the Hoofers Award from Tap City NYC and was also presented with an award in Los Angeles, in memory of Gregory Hines. That same year she was presented with The Humanitarian Award from Jason Samuels Smith of