History of tap #3

Tap dance and Irish clogging share deep roots. In clog dancing no thought is given to the upper body. It all went away at the end of the nineteenth century because of all the mixing of clog and African american tap dances.

Before tap shoes were invented dancers wore soft shoes or clogs. Aluminum heel and toe taps came into use after 1910.

History of tap #2

During the time of Vaudeville dancers would paint their faces pitch black and dance around mocking slaves. This type of performance was called "blackface comedy", this is how tap became known.

Three styles emerged during the time of Vaudeville: The Charleston which made clacking noise on the stage. Also Buck and wing and soft shoe whcih were light tapping sounds.

Soft shoe: A form of tap done with soft sole shoes without the metal taps. Soft shoe is also known as sand dance. Sand dance is when a dancer puts sand on teh floor and performs soft shoe on the sand. The sand makes a noise which is consistent with the steps and music.

History of tap #1

Tap has been around or thousands of years. It oiginated as Juba which is a kind of dance by African slaves. Ring shouts were also linked to it. Slaves were not allowed to use drums or any other native instruments so they transferred it to their feet. By the middle of the nineteenth century African- americans had combined their dance with Irish and British clogging. The style this created was known as "buck and wing". Tap dancing has many ancestors.

Modern tap dancing evolved through the years 1900 and 1920. Savion Glover is the best known comtemporary tap dancer. He was born in New Jersey. He made his debut at the age of twelve. Glover is one of the youngest males to be nominated for a Tony award in 1989 at age fifteen for his performance in Black and Blue which was a musical. He won a Tony award in 1996 for best choreography in "Bring in 'da noise, Bring in 'da funk".

Tap dancing definitley became more popular in the 1900's thanks to dancers such as Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Eleanor Powell and Shirley Temple. Fred was a film and Broadway stagedancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His career lasted seventy- six years and he made thirty- one musical films. Gene was a dancer, actor, singer, film director, producer and choreographer. He is mostly known for his performance in "Singing in the rain". Eleanor was a film actress and dancer. She was a magnificent solo tap dancer. Shirley was a girl who started her career at the age of three. She made many movies.

From top to bottom: Fred, Gene, Eleanor, Shirley.

Senior spotlight!

So I'm going to talk a little about my experience of learning my solo routine and then performing it on stage. My tap teacher at the time at my dance studio tought me my dance because I was worried about creating my own choreography. I learned the whole routine in less than an hour which was very impressive. I did pick my own song with the help of my teacher as well. I picked out a few songs and she listened to the and picked "Circus" She said it sounded really cool and would be awseume to talk to. I was extremley nervous about perorming this on stage because I was only used to just dancing with a class (group of girls) and it doesn't help that I have horrible stage fright but I wasn't going to let that get to me. At my dance studio all the people graduating got to have their own solos, which were called Senior spotlights. Not everyone did them but I saw it as a chance to show people that I am really good at what I do and that I haven't been dancing for 14 years for no reason. I was also the only senior that did a tap solo which I liked too.

Are you gunna be my girl?

Tap Routine

May 14th, 2011

So, this was my class dance from my senior year of High school. I was the oldest one in the class.We had a new dance teacher that year and she was a little bit different than what I was used to. I really enjoyed this tap dance not only because of the tapping but because I thought the costumes were pretty damn amazing. It was fun to perform and the audience seemed to be into it and we got good feedback. This is also performed on the sae night as the video above which is my Solo.