Tap dance

thumb|upright=1.3|Tap dancing class at [[Iowa State College, 1942]]

Tap dance (or tap) is a form of dance that uses the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion; it is often accompanied by music. Tap dancing can also be performed with no musical accompaniment; the sound of the taps is its own music.

It is an American art form that evolved alongside the advent of jazz music. Tap is a type of step dance that began with the combination of Black American and Irish dance traditions, such as the juba dance and Irish step dances. The fusion of African rhythms and performance styles with European techniques of footwork led to the creation of tap dance. This fusion began in the mid-17th century but did not become popular until the mid-19th century.

There are two major versions of tap dance: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely performed in musical theater. Rhythm tap focuses on musicality, and practitioners consider themselves to be a part of the jazz tradition.

History

thumb|[[Jimmy Slyde tap dancing]]

thumb|Students performing a tap dance in [[Mexico City]]

Tap dance is an American dance form with roots to Central African, West African, and Western European musical and step dance traditions. During the 17th – 19th centuries, it developed from the blending of the Central African djouba, and the Irish jig and the Welsh clog, that were brought to the North American continent by immigrants.

Another notable figure during this period is Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, a protégé of Alice Whitman of The Whitman Sisters around 1904 (then known as "Willie Robinson"). Well versed in both Buck and Wing dancing and Irish Step dancing, Robinson joined the Vaudeville circuit in 1902 in a duo with George W. Cooper. The act quickly became famous, headlining events across the country, and touring England as well. In 1908, the partnership ended and Robinson began dancing solo, which was extremely rare for a black man at that time. Despite this, he had tremendous success and soon became a world-famous celebrity. He went on to have a leading role in many films, notably in the Shirley Temple franchise.

Shortly thereafter, the Nicholas Brothers came on the scene. Consisting of real life brothers Fayard and Harold, this team wowed audiences with their acrobatic feats incorporated into their classy style of dancing. A notable scene in the movie "Stormy Weather" features the pair dancing up a staircase and then descending the staircase in a series of leapfrogs over each other into a full split from which they rise with no hands. "Stormy Weather" was a six-minute performance performed in one go with no retakes. The Nicholas Brothers danced on pianos and many other structures during this performance. The 1974 compilation film That's Entertainment! highlighted many famous tap-dance scenes from classic Hollywood musicals into a single retrospective feature film. Among the most celebrated of these is Gene Kelly’s rain-dancing tap number in Singin' in the Rain.

During the 1930s, tap dance mixed with Lindy Hop. "Flying swing outs" and "flying circles" are Lindy Hop moves with tap footwork. In the mid-to-late 1950s, the style of entertainment changed. Jazz music and tap dance declined, while rock and roll and the new jazz dance emerged. What is called jazz dance evolved out of tap dance, so both dances have many moves in common. But jazz evolved separately from tap dance to become a new form in its own right. Well known dancers during the 1960s and 1970s included Arthur Duncan and Tommy Tune.

No Maps on My Taps, the Emmy award-winning PBS documentary of 1979, helped begin the recent revival of tap dance. The outstanding success of the animated film, Happy Feet, has further reinforced the popular appeal. National Tap Dance Day in the United States, celebrated May 25, was signed into law by President George Bush on November 7, 1989. (May 25 was chosen because it is the birthday of famous tapper Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.)

Prominent modern tap dancers have included Gregory and Maurice Hines, Sarah Reich, Brenda Bufalino, Melinda Sullivan, The Clark Brothers, James "Buster" Brown, Savion Glover, LaVaughn Robinson, Jason Samuels Smith, Chloe Arnold, Michelle Dorrance, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Ayodele Casel, and Dianne "Lady Di" Walker. Indie-pop band Tilly and the Wall also features a tap dancer, Jamie Pressnall, tapping as percussion.

One recent innovation in the world of tap dance is the development of the long form "tap opera," which tells an entire story during single performance, similar to a story ballet. This format was initially developed by Mark Yonally, founder and artistic director of dance company Chicago Tap Theatre in the early 2000s.

Segregation's impact

During the 1930s and the 1940s, Americans were able to watch tap dancers perform on film. This led to some tap dancers performing comedic tap duets. There were stereotypes placed on black Americans such as the "Uncle Tom" stereotype, and many tap dancers were forced to wear "black-face" onstage to perform. Black Americans joined these minstrel performances, where they would be forced to act on black stereotypes in their performances.

Characteristics

thumb|(video) A man practices tap dancing in front of a station in Japan.

thumb|upright|A teen tap dancer is performing a tap step known as a "toe stand" onstage.

Tap dancers make frequent use of syncopation. Choreography typically starts on the eighth or first beat count. Another aspect of tap dancing is improvisation. This kind of tap dancing, also called rhythm tap, was employed by slaves in America.

Steve Condos developed an innovative rhythmic tap style that influenced the work of later tap dancers such as Gregory Hines and Savion Glover. The majority of early hoofers, such as Sammy Davis Jr., Glover, Hines, and LaVaughn Robinson were African American men.

Tap Steps

Basic tap steps are known as "one-sound steps" and are either weight shifting or non-weight-shifting steps. Common basic tap steps include heel drops, toe drops, heel digs, toe taps, a brush, scuff, chug, pull, hop, leap and step. and drawbacks.

Time steps is an umbrella term that is widely used in tap for any combination of steps that follows a specific rhythm or pattern. These consist of a rhythm that is changed to make new time steps by adding or removing steps. There are many variations of the basic time step, including the single, double, and triple time steps. Time steps consist of single- and multi-sound step combinations. The soles of modern tap shoes are either full-sole or split-sole. A full-sole tap shoe has a continuous base material along the underside of the shoes; a split-sole tap shoe has a gap in the base material under the arch of the foot, making them more flexible. Modern tap shoes have soles with heels of varying height (one inch or more) and are commonly made of wood or stacked leather. The toe box of the tap shoe is located on the front of the shoe for the purpose of reinforcing the shoe; however there are tap shoes that use a soft leather instead.

Popular tap shoe makers include Bloch and Capezio.

Styles

There are several styles of tap shoes:

Mary Jane
Character Heel
Oxford

Taps

Depending on manufacturer and model, tap characteristics can vary considerably. For example, some taps have relatively low weight and small footprint whereas others may be thicker and fill out the edge of the shoe more, making them heavier as a result. A tap's "tone" is influenced by its weight as well as its surface shape, which may be concave or convex. The tonal quality of a tap can also be influenced by the material it is made from, and the presence of a soundboard.

File:TapShoeSide.jpg|Side view of tap shoe, showing taps mounted to bottoms of heel and toe

File:TapShoeHeel.jpg|Metal tap on bottom of heel

File:TapShoeToe.jpg|Metal tap on bottom of toe

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Taps are mounted to the sole of the shoe with screws, and sometimes adhesive as well. The screws are driven into a soundboard – a thin fiberboard integrated into the sole that can be firmly "gripped" by the screws – to reliably attach the tap to the shoe. When no adhesive is used, the screws can be loosened or tightened to produce different sounds, whereas tonal quality is fixed when adhesive is used.

References

External links

The Origin of Tap Dance at beholders.org
All About Tap Dance at TheatreDance
Interview with Donald O'Connor on the history of tap dancing
Tap dance dictionary
"The Black History of Tap Dancing"—Afropop Worldwide, 1 December 2022