About Us

 

 Jay T Schramek & Kerry Gage

Exclusive Canadian distributors of Miller & Ben Tap Shoes.

 

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Learn more about us below.

The company was originally founded as “Jooba” in 2011 by Cathy Barber. In 2017, she generously passed the thriving business on to Jay T Schramek & Kerry Gage. We are now known as Tap Shoes Canada!

For over 40 years, Jay & Kerry have been tap dancing, teaching, performing and choreographing. We are thrilled to work with Canada’s finest theatre companies and competitive dance studios. We are passionate about tap dancing and have worn Miller & Ben Tap shoes for decades. Our team is dedicated to bringing you the finest tap shoes and unparalleled customer service no matter what corner of the globe you are from!

We use Canada Post and a variety of other carriers. You’ll be asked to select a delivery method during checkout.

Avi Miller began designing tap shoes for Israel’s fast-growing local tap community in the late 1980′s. The need for local tap shoes arose due to the high cost of import.

Those first shoes were developed and created with an Israeli manufacturer and were sold worldwide. The Israeli-made tap shoes were considered among the best in the market.

Ofer Ben joined the company in 1990. Together Miller & Ben gained experience in fitting, sizing and inspecting tap shoes while personally “shoeing” their students at their studio, Jazz Tap Center, and by performing in those shoes with their company, Tap Tel-Aviv.

They continued their studies in shoe development, always striving to improve the quality of their final products. These studies involved all aspects of the art of ‘making shoes from scratch’, measuring, drawing and constructing lasts (the mold that the shoes are built on), cutting upper and sole shapes, as well as experimenting with the use of different components and various materials.

By speaking to the cobblers in their own “professional shoemaker’s language” they were able to set the highest standards at the factory. From the beginning, careful attention was paid to the quality of the sound produced by the footwork.

Through the choice of suitable materials and shapes, Miller & Ben were able to achieve the goal of building a superb ‘Musical Tap Instrument’.

In mid-2000, Avi & Ofer relocated their offices to New York City, where they began to present the Tradition In Tap workshops and regularly team-teach at Broadway Dance Center. They also teach and perform in workshops and festivals all over the world. In February 2003, they started to manufacture their Miller & Ben Tap Shoes in Asia.

In 2019, Miller & Ben acquired their own production facility to exclusively build their shoes and distribute them worldwide. All the models and ideas are personally tested at a tap studio by Avi Miller and Ofer Ben as well as by other tap colleagues. Every shoe coming out of the factory is carefully inspected by either Miller or Ben.