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Dec 2, 2020 · Welcome to Tappy Talks! Today's episode features Fun Tap Dance Games you can play with you classes during the Holidays! *I reference another video in this post that I thought would be...
- 14 min
- 3.5K
- Jenne Vermes
- Overview
- Early history
- Vaudeville
tap dance, style of dance in which a dancer wearing shoes fitted with heel and toe taps sounds out audible beats by rhythmically striking the floor or any other hard surface.
Tap originated in the United States through the fusion of several ethnic percussive dances, primarily West African sacred and secular step dances (gioube) and Scottish, Irish, and English clog dances, hornpipes, and jigs. Until the last few decades of the 20th century, it was believed that enslaved Africans and Irish indentured servants had observed each other’s dances on Southern plantations and that tap dancing was born from this contact. In the late 20th century, however, researchers suggested that tap instead was nurtured in such urban environments as the Five Points District in New York City, where a variety of ethnic groups lived side by side under crowded conditions and in constant contact with the distinctly urban rhythms and syncopations of the machine age.
In the mid- to late 1800s, dance competitions were a common form of entertainment. Later called “cutting contests,” these intense challenges between dancers were an excellent breeding ground for new talent. (One of the earliest recorded such challenges took place in 1844 between Black dancer William Henry Lane, known as Master Juba, and Irish dancer John Diamond.) Dancers matured by learning each other’s techniques and rhythmic innovations. The primary showcase for tap of this era was the minstrel show, which was at its peak from approximately 1850 to 1870.
During the following decades, styles of tap dancing evolved and merged. Among the ingredients that went into the mix were buck dancing (a dance similar to but older than the clog dance), soft-shoe dancing (a relaxed, graceful dance done in soft-soled shoes and made popular in vaudeville), and buck-and-wing dancing (a fast and flashy dance usually done in wooden-soled shoes and combining Irish clogging styles, high kicks, and complex African rhythms and steps such as the shuffle and slide; it is the forerunner of rhythm tap). Tap dance as it is known today did not emerge until roughly the 1920s, when “taps,” nailed or screwed onto shoe soles at the toes and heels, became popular. During this time entire chorus lines in shows such as Shuffle Along (1921) first appeared on stage with “tap shoes,” and the dance they did became known as tap dancing.
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Tap dance was a particularly dynamic art form, and dancers continually molded and shaped it. Dancers such as Harland Dixon and Jimmy Doyle (a duo known for their buck-and-wing dancing) impressed audiences and influenced developing dancers with their skill, ingenuity, and creativity. In addition to shaping dance performance, tap dancers influenced the evolution of popular American music in the early to mid-20th century; drummers in particular drew ideas as well as inspiration from the dancers’ rhythmic patterns and innovations. Early recordings of tap dancers demonstrate that their syncopations were actually years ahead of the rhythms in popular music.
In the early 20th century, vaudeville variety shows moved to the entertainment forefront, and tap dancers such as Greenlee and Drayton, Pat Rooney, Sr., and George White traveled the country. A number of family acts formed, including that of the future Broadway actor, producer, and songwriter George M. Cohan, who with his sister, mother, and father formed the Four Cohans. The Covan brothers together with their wives formed the Four Covans, one of the most sensational fast tap acts ever. The comedian and dancer Eddie Foy, Sr., appeared with his seven tap-dancing children, the Seven Little Foys. By the late 1910s, more than 300 theatres around the country hosted vaudeville acts.
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According to the producer Leonard Reed, throughout the 1920s “there wasn’t a show that didn’t feature tap dancing. If you couldn’t dance, you couldn’t get a job!” Nightclubs, vaudeville, and musicals all featured tap dancers, whose names often appeared on the many marquees that illuminated New York’s Broadway. Stars of the day, including Fred Astaire and his sister, Adele, brought yet more light to the “Great White Way” with their elegant dancing. Bill Robinson, known for dancing on the balls of his feet (the toe taps) and for his exquisite “stair dance,” was the first Black tap dancer to break through the Broadway colour line, becoming one the best-loved and highest-paid performers of his day.
Because this was an era when tap dancing was a common skill among performers, a tap dancer had to create something unique to be noticed. The Berry Brothers’ act, for example, included rhythmic, synchronized cane twirling and dazzling acrobatics. Cook and Brown had one of the finest knockabout acts. King, King, and King danced in convict outfits, chained together doing close-to-the-floor fast tap work. Buster West tap-danced in “slap shoes”—oversized clown-style shoes that, because of their extended length, slapped audibly on the floor during a routine—and did break dancing decades before it had a name. Will Mahoney tap-danced on a giant xylophone.
The “challenge”—in which tap dancers challenged one another to a dancing “duel”—had been a major part of the tap dancer’s education from the beginning. It filtered into many theatrical acts. Possibly the finest exponents of the challenge were the Four Step Brothers, whose act consisted of furious, flying steps, then a moment when each attempted to top the others.
- Rusty Frank
Tap dance is an indigenous American dance genre that evolved over a period of some three hundred years. Initially a fusion of British and West African musical and step-dance traditions in America, tap emerged in the southern United States in the 1700s.
Do your kids love making noise with their feet? Have they asked you to take tap dance classes or even just love tapping away up the grocery aisles as you shop? These free and easy online tap dance classes for kids can be done in any hard soled shoe.
Jun 21, 2019 · Tap dance originated in the United States in the early 19th century at the crossroads of African and Irish American dance forms. When slave owners took away traditional African percussion instruments, slaves turned to percussive dancing to express themselves and retain their cultural identities.
- 3 min
What is the history of tap dance? Who was the first tap dancer? Who invented tap dancing? You will find interesting facts about tap dance here. Tap dance is rhythmic footwork in which the dancer uses specially designed tap shoes. They use these shoes to create an audible beat by tapping their heels and toes on the ground in time.
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ATDF Youth Programs for children & teens teach students about America’s own indigenous art form – Tap Dance. Our faculty shares their knowledge of the artistry & history of tap with each student in a fun, safe & supportive environment.
