Man tap dancing.

Tap dance was developed in the United States during the nineteenth century, and is popular nowadays in many parts of the world. The name comes from the tapping sound made when the small metal plates on the dancer's shoes touch a hard floor. This lively, rhythmic tapping makes the performer not just a dancer, but also a percussive musician (and thus, for example, the American composer Morton Gould was able to compose a "concerto for tap dancer and orchestra"). Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Percussion redirects here. ... Morton Gould (December 10, 1913 – February 21, 1996) was an American pianist, composer, conductor, and arranger. ...

The Encyclopedia Britannica definition for tap dance is: A style of American theatrical dance using precise rhythmical patterns of foot movement and audible foot tapping. It is derived from the traditional clog dance of northern England, the jigs and reels of Ireland and Scotland, and possibly the rhythmic foot stamping of African dances. Popular in 19th-century minstrel shows, versions such as "buck-and-wing" (danced vigorously in wooden-soled shoes) and "soft-shoe" (shoes) developed as separate techniques; by 1925 they had merged, and metal taps were attached to shoe heels and toes to produce a more pronounced sound. The dance was also popular in variety shows and early musicals.

History

The precursors to tap dancing may include:^{[citation needed]}

• African dance to drum rhythms
• African welly boot dance
• Irish Sean-nós step dancing
• Zapateado of Spanish flamenco, where nails are hammered into the heel and the front part of the dancers' shoes, so that the rhythm of their steps can be heard
• Spanish mad-step (practiced by early tap practicioners Eduardo Corrochio and Henry Rogers)
• Step dancing
• Stomp dancing, where the sound of other objects are used to enhance the stomping sound of the foot
• Clogging, for example from Lancashire, where there may be no accompanying music, just the noise of the shoes

Tap dancing as such may have begun in the 1830s in the Five Points neighborhood of New York City as a fusion of Irish and African Shuffle. Perhaps the most influential of all was the Irish jig. Dancers from different immigrant groups would get together to compete and show off their best moves. According to theory, as the dances fused, a new American style of dancing emerged. Master Juba was a prominent dancer in this period. The African welly boot dance is an African dance, which one may conjecture from the name is performed by dancers wearing Wellington boots. ... Sean nós is a highly-ornamented style of solo, unaccompanied singing in the Irish tradition. ... The zapateado is a Spanish dance characterized by a lively rhythm puncuated by the clapping of the dancers heels. ... Flamenco is a Spanish musical genre with strong, rhythmic undertones and is often accompanied with a similarly impassioned style of dance characterized by its powerful yet graceful execution, as well as its intricate hand and footwork. ... ... Henry Huttleston Rogers (January 29, 1840 – May 19, 1909), was a United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist. ... Step dance is the generic term for dance styles where the footwork is the most important part of the dance. ... Clogging is a traditional type of percussive folk dance which is associated with a number of different regions across the world. ... Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea. ... Five Points may refer to any of several small census-recognized communities in the U.S.: Five Points, Alabama Five Points, Florida Five Points, North Carolina Five Points, Ohio Five Points, Pennsylvania Five Points may also refer to various U.S. neighborhoods: Five Points (Athens), in Athens, Georgia Five Points... Shuffle, or shuffling, may refer to one of the following:: An act of randomization: Shuffling, the randomization of a deck of playing cards Shuffle play: the randomization of a playlist on a music playing device: see iPod Shuffle In music and dance: Shuffle note or swing note in music, and... The jig (sometimes seen in its French language or Italian language forms gigue or giga) is a folk dance type as well as the accompanying dance tune type, popular in Ireland and Scotland. ... Master Juba was the stage name of William Henry Lane. ...

Tap flourished in the U.S. from 1900 to 1955, when it was the main performance dance of Vaudeville and Broadway. Vaudeville was the inexpensive entertainment before television, and it employed droves of skilled tap dancers. Many famous bands included tap dances as part of their show. For a while, every large city in the U.S. had amateur street tap performers. At the time, tap dance was also called jazz dance, because jazz was the music with which tap dancers performed. This article is about the musical variety theatre. ... For other uses of Broadway, see Broadway. ...

Tap dance class at Iowa State University, 1942.

During the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, the best tap dancers moved from Vaudeville to cinema and television. Steve Condos, with his innovative style of percussion tap, created a whole new tap style that he introduced to audiences in Vaudeville, and later to the audiences of film and Broadway. Prominent tap dancers of this period included Fred Astaire, John W. Bubbles, Charles "Honi" Coles, Vera-Ellen, Ruby Keeler, Gene Kelly, Jeni LeGon,^[1] Ann Miller, Fayard and Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers, Donald O'Connor, Eleanor Powell, Rita Hayworth, Betty Grable, PrinceSpencer,^[2] Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Ginger Rogers, and Jimmy Slyde. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 786 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2812 × 2145 pixel, file size: 824 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)TITLE: Tap dancing class in the gymnasium at Iowa State College. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 786 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2812 × 2145 pixel, file size: 824 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)TITLE: Tap dancing class in the gymnasium at Iowa State College. ... Steve Condos was a Greek American tap dancer. ... Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987), born Frederick Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska,[1] was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. ... John W. Bubbles - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ... Charles Honi Coles (2 April 1911-12 November 1992) was a self-taught tap dancer who was very influential during the 20th century. ... Vera-Ellen Westmeyer Rohe (February 16, 1921 - 30 August 1981) was an American actress and dancer known best by just her hyphenated first name. ... Ruby Keeler, born Ethel Hilda Keeler, (August 25, 1909 – February 28, 1993), was an actress, singer, and dancer most famous for her on-screen coupling with Dick Powell in a string of successful early musicals at Warner Brothers. ... For the similarly-named American actress, see Jean Kelly. ... Ann Miller was born on April 12, 1923 and died on January 22, 2004. ... Fayard Nicholas (b. ... Harold Nicholas (March 27, 1921 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina - July 3, 2000 New York) youngest brother of the tap dancing pair The Nicholas Brothers. ... The Nicholas Brothers were a famous American tap dance pair of brothers. ... Donald David Dixon Ronald O’Connor (August 28, 1925 – September 27, 2003) was an American dancer, singer, and actor who came to fame in a series of movies in which he co-starred alternately with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule. ... Eleanor Powell, left, in Broadway Melody of 1938. ... Rita Hayworth (October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987), was an American actress who attained fame during the 1940s as the eras leading sex symbol. ... Betty Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American dancer, singer, and actress. ... Bill Bojangles Robinson ( May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949) was a pioneer and pre-eminent African-American tap dance performer. ... Ginger Rogers (Virginia Katherine McMath, July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an Academy Award-winning American film and stage actress and singer. ... Jimmy Slyde, whose real name is James T. Godbolt and who is also known as the King of Slides is a world renowned tap dancer and is especially known for his innovative tap style mixed with jazz. ...

During the 1930s tap dance mixed with Lindy Hop. "Flying swing outs" and "flying circles" are Lindy Hop moves with tap footwork. Dancing the Lindy Hop at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, Sacramento, California, USA (2006) Lindy Hop is an African American dance that evolved in New York City in 1927. ...

In the 1950s, the style of entertainment changed. Jazz music and tap dance declined, while rock and roll music and the new jazz dance emerged. What is now 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. Jazz dancers. ... Arthur Duncan (born September 25, 1933 in Pasadena, California) is an American tap dancer, most known for his stint as a performer on The Lawrence Welk Show (1964-1982). ... Thomas James Tune (born February 28, 1939) is a famous actor, dancer, singer, and choreographer. ...

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^[3] National Tap Dance Day in the United States, now celebrated May 25th, was signed into law by President George Bush on November 7, 1989. (May 25th was chosen because it is the birthday of famous tapper Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.) Prominent modern tap dancers have included Brenda Bufalino, Jay Fagan,^[4] Ted Bebblejad, Savion Glover, Peter Briansen, Gregory and Maurice Hines of Hines, Hines, and Dad, Alfonso Ribeiro, Jason Samuels Smith, Shirley Temple, and Grant Swift.^[5] Indie-pop band Tilly and the Wall also features a tap dancer, Jamie Williams, tapping as percussion. Animation refers to the process in which each frame of a film or movie is produced individually, whether generated as a computer graphic, or by photographing a drawn image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model (see claymation and stop motion), and then photographing the result. ... Happy Feet is an Academy Award-winning Australian-produced 2006 computer-animated comedy-drama film, directed and co-written by George Miller. ... Brenda Bufalino is a legendary artist of the tap dance world. ... Image:Savion Glover. ... Gregory Hines (February 14, 1946 – August 9, 2003) was a Tony Award-winning American actor, singer, dancer, and choreographer. ... Maurice Hines (born 1943) is an American actor, director, and choreographer. ... Alfonso Lincoln Ribeiro (born September 21, 1971 in New York City) is an American actor, singer, and dancer of Dominican descent. ... For the cocktail named after this person, see Shirley Temple cocktail. ... Twee redirects here. ... Tilly and the Wall is an indie pop group from Omaha, Nebraska. ... Jamie Williams is a musician from Omaha, Nebraska and is a member of the band Tilly and the Wall. ...

Characteristics of tap dance

Tap shoes

Main article: Tap dance technique

Tap dancers make frequent use of syncopation. Choreographies typically start on the eighth or first beatcount. Another aspect of tap dancing is improvisation. This can either be done with music and follow the beats provided or without musical accompaniment, otherwise known as a capella dancing. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Tap dance technique makes frequent use of syncopation. ... In music, syncopation is when a stressing of a normally unstressed beat in a bar or failure to sound a tone on an accented beat occurs. ... Look up Choreography in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... putang ina. ... Improvisation is the practice of acting and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of ones immediate environment. ... For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ...

Hoofers are tap dancers who dance only with their legs, making a louder, more grounded sound. This kind of tap dancing also called "rhythm tap", is typically found in cities or poor areas, but this is not always the case especially with such a wide [variety] of styles spreading throughout the world. Steve Condos rose out of his humble beginnings in Pittsburgh, PA to become a master in rhythmic tap. His innovative style influenced the work of Gregory Hines, Savion Glover and Marshall Davis, Jr. Steve Condos was a Greek American tap dancer. ... Gregory Hines (February 14, 1946 – August 9, 2003) was a Tony Award-winning American actor, singer, dancer, and choreographer. ... Image:Savion Glover. ...

The majority of hoofers, such as Sammy Davis Jr., Savion Glover, and Gregory Hines, are black dancers. Dancers like Fred Astaire provided a more ballroom look to tap dancing, while Gene Kelly used his extensive ballet training to make tap dancing incorporate all the parts of the ballet. Sammy Davis, Jr. ... Image:Savion Glover. ... Gregory Hines (February 14, 1946 – August 9, 2003) was a Tony Award-winning American actor, singer, dancer, and choreographer. ... Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987), born Frederick Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska,[1] was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. ... Ballroom dance is a style of partner dance which originated in the western world and is now enjoyed both socially and competitively around the globe. ... For the similarly-named American actress, see Jean Kelly. ... For other uses, see Ballet (disambiguation). ...

Common tap steps include the shuffle, shuffle ball change, flap (pronounced "Fil-ape"), flap heel, cramp roll, buffalo, Maxie Ford, single and double pullbacks, wings, cincinnati, the shim sham shimmy (also called the Lindy), Irish, Waltz Clog, shuffle hop step, running flaps, running shuffles, sugar, the paddle and roll, slap, stomp, running flaps, brushes, scuffs, and single and double toe punches. Higher levels of tap dancing also should consist of toe work, which are steps performed on the toes of the tap shoes. This may vary from simply jumping up onto the toe or doing steps mentioned above on the toe such as shuffles or wings.

Other steps include hotsteps, heelclicks, single, double and triple time steps, riffs, and chugs. In advanced tap dancing, basic steps are often combined together to create new steps. The flap heel toe heel step brush heel is a combination of basic tap steps that is usually practiced while spinning around in a circle.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Tap dance

• TapMoves.com - Site that contains video clips of many different tap dance combinations including notes on how to do each step.
• Unitedtaps.com - Video clips of over 275 tap dance steps shown slow as well as medium or fast. Also includes some combinations.
• TapDance.Info - Video, News, and Forums for tap dancers worldwide.
• The Tap Dance Blog - Site frequently updated with tap dance news, tap festival info, video clips, and tips.
• The Tap Dance Fotolog - Photos of Tap dance shoes and photos of Tap dancers