Search results
Jun 21, 2019 · Brief History. 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.
Mar 20, 2023 · When exploring the history of tap dance, one can trace its roots back to the African slave trade and the fusion of African and European dance styles in America. Tap dance as we know it today, with its intricate footwork and unique rhythm, evolved over time from a variety of dance forms.
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. The Irish jig (a musical and dance form) and West African gioube (sacred and secular stepping dances) mutated into the American jig and juba.
Nov 22, 2015 · Tap, which is the dance form of jazz music, has been around more or less since the late nineteenth century, but, unlike jazz, which has been the subject of many deep-browed books, it has a small,...
Dec 16, 2009 · Tap dance evolved from the oral traditions and expressive cultures of the West Africans and the Irish that converged and collided in America, and was perpetuated by such key features as the tap challenge—any competition or showdown in which dancers compete against each other before an audience of spectators or judges.
- www.encyclopedia.com
- › History
Between 1600 and 1800, the new American tap-hybrid slowly emerged from British step dances and a variety of secular and religious African step dances labeled "juba" dances and "ring-shouts." The Irish jig, with its rapid toe and heelwork, and the Lancashire clog, which was danced in wooden-soled shoes, developed quickly.
In 1844, a free-born black dancer William Henry Lane became one of the few black performers to join an otherwise white minstrel troupe. He fused European steps with African rhythms in front of...
