If you think Tap Dance is not cool, think again. Tap is not only cool but it is a discipline that teaches a dancer all about choreography, improvisation and syncopation. Sound complicated. It isn’t. But it does take practice and skill to learn it.  Tap dance uses the sound of a metal tap, that is on dancers shoes heel and toe. The sound is made by hitting the ‘tap’ on the floor or other surfaces (floor with sand, steps, pots and pans). There are two types of tap dance: rhythm and Broadway. Rhythm focuses more on the musicality of dance and Broadway’s focus is more on the dance.

Roots run deep in Tap

Tap has its roots in Irish stepdancing or clogging. Tap was thought to have started in the mid- 1800’s by minstrel troupes. As Minstrel shows fell out of popularity the Vaudeville shows picked it up.  Many Shirley Temple movies star a gentleman, by the name of Bill Robinson, who was a very famous tap dancer they called ‘Bojangles” in the 1930’s. Tap had a more recent re-emergence with the movie, Happy Feet (staring Gregory Hines, another legendary tap dancer) , in which a penguin tap dances his way into the heart of his beloved.  National Tap Dance day is May 25 (which happens to the birthday of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson”).  A still famous and touring Tap dancer by the name of Savion Glover will be performing April 25, 2015 at the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts (in case you want to see it, the event details are here.)

Famous Tap Dance Actors

Earlier famous actors like Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly were tap dancers who used more of a ballroom style in their tap dancing. Tap dancing can be done as a solo performance or in a group performance. It  can be done with or without music where the dancers create their own music through the sounds of their taps. Earlier group tap dancing performances used choreography steps that were usually simple and easy to control. Groups have to work diligently together to match their steps and sounds with one another in performance. However, with the entertainment value placed on more difficult and complicated moves, group tap dancing is anything but simple and easy today!

Tap dancing is an excellent way to combine a love of dance, music and performance! Catherine’s Dance Studio is offering tap classes to several of their students in the fall of 2014. If you are interested in pursuing tap as a student, contact the dance studio today. Many of the jazz classes are offering a tap component to the classes!