Hoofer, Choreographer, Filmmaker, Actor
Cartier kicked off Paris Fashion Week 2020 with a spectacular star turn for Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh, the culmination of his 25-year ascendance to the stratosphere of tap superstardom. Williams, who hails from Washington, D.C., began his tap-dancing career at the age of four when his grandmother, Audrey Williams, taught him his first steps. Two years later, six-year-old Cartier won the Apollo Kids competition at the iconic Apollo Theater and became the youngest inductee in the Apollo Legends. Later that year Cartier danced at the Kennedy Center Honors alongside Robert Downey Jr.
Mr. Williams studied at the prestigious Washington School of Ballet under the tutelage of Mary Day. At the age of ten, Cartier co-starred with tap royalty Buster Brown, Jimmy Slyde, and Dianne Walker in the International tour of Footnotes. Mr. Williams considers it a blessing that he danced and shared the stage with tap pioneers and masters Peg Leg Bates, The Nicholas Brothers, and Gregory Hines.
Cartier performed for two U.S. Presidents: Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. In 1998, he co-starred in the PBS Special: In Performance at The White House with President Clinton. He toured the U.S. and Japan in the Tony Award-winning Bring In 'Da Noise, Bring In 'Da Funk, co-starring with Savion Glover. Williams performed at The Joyce Theatre, New York City Center, and the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles at The AFI Awards: A Tribute to Tom Hanks.
Other appearances include: Usher's birthday bash in New York City, and at the headquarters of the FCC, the CIA, the State Department, and the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. In May 2011, Cartier choreographed and directed Cartier Williams Rhythm Refix at Joe’s Pub at New York’s Public Theater.
In 2014, Cartier formed The Cartier Williams Dance Theatre, whose credits include: New York Botanical Gardens, ZIGITYBOP! (Oslo and Zurich), Children's Museum of Manhattan, Faison's Firehouse Theater in Harlem, Le Bain at the Standard Hotel in New York, and Black Coffee's music video Come With Me sponsored by Smirnoff. Cartier also performed at The Opening of the Cannes Film Festival for Moulin Rouge.
Additional credits include; The Palms Hotel/Resort in Las Vegas with Super-DJ Chew FU, National Tap Dance Day at Macy’s, Chicago Sinfonietta Orchestra, Philadelphia Pops Orchestra and The New York City Pops Orchestra. Cartier also attended The New York Film Academy studying directing. Other credits include Phone Bait, The Violinist, and My Love Awaits all written, directed and produced by Williams. He’s also appeared in Spike Lee’s Bamboozled and Tales of Poe (available on itunes)
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