Tap dancing can be defined as a dance in which the rhythm is sounded out by the clicking taps on the heels and toes of a dancer's shoes.

In tap dance, your feet become musical instruments with which the dancer can create wonderful rhythms and music. Tap dance is a dance form for all ages. At the Diamond Dance Center, students may begin tap dance at age five. Many people begin learning tap as children and continue to tap dance throughout their life. Tap dance is a wonderful form of expression and it is great exercise too. We recommend tap lessons for the young and the young at heart!

A Brief History of Tap Dance*

Tap – America’s True Folk Dance* -

Tap dancing was invented in America, beginning in Colonial times.

Tap dance began with the African slaves who took the rhythms and body movements of their own African dances and blended them new ones learned from their European masters.

Irish immigrants who brought the Irish jig with its fast footwork to America also influenced tap dancing.

English clog dance (a noisy foot-stomping dance done in wooden shoes) also contributed to the evolution of tap dance, as we know it today.

Over time the unique sound of clicking heels and toes against the ground became known at tap dancing.

Tap – Fancy Footwork & Glamorous Tap* -

During the next fifty years, the most popular form of entertainment in America was the minstrel show.

One of the most popular minstrel acts was “tap dancing!” Soon touring minstrel troupes were introducing tap dancing to audiences all over the country.

By the early 1900’s America had lost interest in minstrel shows.

Vaudeville became the new form of theater. Vaudeville was like today’s talent shows. Over the next thirty-five years, tap dancing became one of America’s favorite dancing styles.

In addition to vaudeville acts, tap dancing was often featured in nightclub acts, Broadway shows and the movies.

It was during this time that black tap dancers came to be known as “hoofers.” A hoofer can be defined as a dancer whose style is based on jazz syncopations and rhythm with lots of improvisation. Hoofers primarily used their feet to tap out rhythms and rarely had choreographed arm movements. Many “hoofers” developed their own unique style and tricks. They often challenged each other to decide who was the best tap dancer.

Meanwhile, a “show dance” style was developing for Broadway shows and the movies. This style used simple rhythms in highly polished routines with lots of arm gestures, body movement, leaps and turns.

American musicals of the 1920’s through the early 1940’s celebrated the tap dance with extravagant stage productions that featured famous tap dancers and dance couples.

Tap Today – A Rebirth

While American audiences lost interest in tap for awhile, it has certainly made a comeback in popularity.

Many Broadway musicals and revivals showcased the artistry of tap and put tap dance back on the map, such as “Black & Blue,” “Forty-Second Street,” “The Tap Dance Kid,” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” Other shows such as Savion Glover’s, “Bring In Da Noise, Bring In Da Funk,” “Tap Dogs’” and “Stomp” made significant contributions to the tap genre and its intricate rhythms.

The movies and especially movie musicals often featured tap dance. The list of famous tap dancers that can be seen in these movies is long and star-studded. The list includes Shirley Temple, the Nicholas Brothers, Eleanor Powell, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ann Miller, Ginger Rogers, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Charles “Honi” Coles, Savion Glover, and Gregory Hines just to name a few.

Bibliograpy
*Steven Caney and Peggy Spine. “Teach Yourself Tap Dancing Book” Workman Publishng,
New York, 1991.

Tap Links:

www.usatap.org

www.tapdance.org

www.offjazz.org

www.thinkquest.org **

 

**Click on library, then type “Dance” into the search engine. Several great sites created by fifth-grade students on dance. Dance Til You Drop - 2001 USA, The Art of Dance -2001 USA, and Dance – 2003 USA.

National Tap Dance Day Bill
The passage of US Joint Resolution declaring May 25th National Tap Dance Day, was the result of hard work by Nicola Daval, Carol Vaughn and Linda Christensen of the Tap America Project. It was introduced and shepherded through the process by Congressman John Conyers and Senator Alfonse D'Amato and signed into law by President George Bush on November 7, 1989. {The next project for TAP is a commemorative stamp.}
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 131
Introduced by John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI)
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 53
Introduced by Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY)
TO DESIGNATE MAY 25 AS NATIONAL TAP DANCE DAY
Whereas the multifaceted art form of tap dancing is a manifestation of the cultural heritage of our Nation, reflecting the fusion of African and European cultures into an exemplification of the American spirit, that should be, through documentation, and archival and performance support, transmitted to succeeding generations;
Whereas tap dancing has had an historic and continuing influence on other genres of American art, including music, vaudeville, Broadway musical theater, and film, as well as other dance forms;
Whereas tap dancing is a joyful and powerful aesthetic force providing a source of enjoyment and an outlet for creativity and self-expression for Americans on both the professional and amateur level;
Whereas it is in the best interest of the people of our Nation to preserve, promote, and celebrate this uniquely American art form;
Whereas Bill "Bojangles" Robinson made an outstanding contribution to the art of tap dancing on both stage and film through the unification of diverse stylistic and racial elements; and
Whereas May 25, as the anniversary of the birth of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson is an appropriate day on which to refocus the attention of the Nation on American tap dancing: Now therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that May 25, 1989 is designated "National Tap Dance Day." The President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe such a day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
Question: Why do we tap our feet in time to music?
Answer: A recent theory of rhythm perception, put forth by Duncan Brown, suggests that the perception of rhythm involves the motor system just as much as the sensory system. It postulates that a "beat" is actually perceived as a movement and that therefore, tapping your foot in time with the beat is a natural extension of the way motor and sensory systems work together.
National Tap Dance Day, May 25, falls on the birthday of
tap master Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.
Feet Feats: Listen to them slide, slam, and slip through
these steps at the Tap Dance Homepage:
riffbacks
riff-pull-walk
toe stand riff
four-for-three step
flap wings
scuff-front step
scuffback step
triple toe step
click wings
Origins of Tap
According to Smithsonian magazine, the origins of tap dance can be traced to the antebellum South African-American slaves, adept at copying Irish jigs, Virginia reels, and Lancashire clogging, improvised and embellished those dances with their own African-style rhythms and movements.
Tap’s Patriarchs
James Haskins’s Black Dance In America describes "Uncle" Jim Lowe, a black man who did jigs and reels in saloons, as an influence on the first great rhythm dancer, William Henry Lane, who was also known as "Juba." Lane was born in 1825, and was well known for his dance by the 1840s. His dancing included African steps, like the shuffle and slide, added to the jig steps. He was the first to add syncopation and improvisation to his dancing. He participated in a memorable series of challenges in Boston and New York with noted champion Irish step dancer Jack Diamond which, according to Haskins, had no clear victor. This didn’t keep Lane from declaring himself king. Lane toured with white dancers as a solo act, a feat not easily accomplished by black dancers in those days. Juba Lane died in 1852 at the age of 27; despite extensive research, though, we don’t know how.
Haskins credits black choreographer Clarence Robinson with bringing
tap-dancing to the Cotton Club in 1934.
Eubie Blake and Nobel Sissle created a Broadway show in 1921 called "Shuffle Along," which showcased jazz dancing, including just about every current dance step, and ran heavy on tap.
The Charleston was introduced in a black show called "Liza," but took off after the Charleston song was written for the musical "Runnin’ Wild," which featured tap dancers
Pete Nugent and Derby Wilson in 1923.
Bibliography - Gabrielle Seyffert Jacobson did a lot of background work on the subject of tap dancing, and references the following resources:
Books
Black Dance in America, by James Haskins. Harper Trophy, 1990.
Tap! The Greatest Tap Dance Stars and Their Stories by Rusty Frank. Wm. Morrow and Co., 1990
Black Dance from 1619 to Today by Lynne Fauley. Emery Princeton Book Co., 1998
Hot Jazz and Jazz Dance by Roger Pryor Dodge, Oxford University Press, 1996
Others
"Tap Roots: Ira Bernstein," by Maralyn Lois Polak, Inquirer Magazine, Sunday, Feb. 19, 1995, pp. 9-10.
Also check out the International Tap Association Newsletter of Nov/Dec 1994, Vol. 5: No. 4 for some interesting articles.