The Essential Guide to Tap Dance E-Book

Derek Hartley

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 245

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

From the propulsive rhythm of the African dancer, to the swinging ragtime of the American jazz age, tap dancing has evolved into a unique blend of cultural expression, improvisation and creativity, open to all ages and abilities. With clear step-by-step instructions, The Essential Guide to Tap Dance covers basic steps such as the shuffle, pick up and paddle, before building these into traditional combinations such as the time step and shim sham. Additional material includes the history and development of tap dancing; rhythm and musicality; learning the language of tap dancing; the role of improvisation and choreography and finally, the basic steps to advanced techniques. This is the perfect companion to instruct the beginner tap dancer and expand the more experienced dancer's technique, offering full-colour pictures, helpful instruction and essential notes on this vibrant and accessible dance form. Illustrated throughout with 138 colour photographs and line artworks.

Leseprobe

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO

Tap Dance

DEREK HARTLEY

THE CROWOOD PRESS

First published in 2018 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2018

© Derek Hartley 2018

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of thistext may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 390 5

Picture credits

Many thanks to James Jinn, Karen D. King and Malcolm Smith for providing illustrations.

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

1. The History and Culture of Tap Dance

2. Rhythm and Music

3. Language of Tap Dance

4. Improvisation versus Choreography

5. Basic Technique

6. Advanced Technique

7. Professional Development

8. Fitness and Training

9. Shoes and Dance Wear

Conclusion

Further Reading

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Index

PREFACE

One of my favourite sayings goes like this:

I don’t particularly like tap, but I love tap dance.

To be clear, ‘tap’ refers to the purely technical, often without attention to the music, and to the efforts of those on social media – the obsessive search for the ‘next best way’ to tap by those who think they have invented steps that were in fact invented a hundred years ago. And there is ‘tap dance’, where it all comes together both in sound as well as vision. This is where the technical skill is put to use, and rather like ballet or golf, it only gets interesting when it’s being used fully, with affection for the music, the history of the genre, and the emotion it engenders. It is the intrinsic quality that evolves from hours of practising the technique, which in turn raises the question of ‘nature’ versus ‘nurture’: this means that tap dancing is undeniably fun to do, but as with any skill, the fun is in the work, and this is either God-given – natural – or learned through effort – nurture.

Tap dancing for a considerable length of time has its rewards. I have performed and choreographed thousands of routines – which is what a dance piece is called in old parlance – and still I love the tap… as long as it dances. Tap is a percussion instrument as well as a dance skill, which as such has to be gained through hard work and love for the subject. Tap dance is a joyful, creative and happy thing, a rhythmic experience and a fitness benefit. It has years of history to look back on and take reference from, and where rhythm and music come into play – and in the case of the Sydney Olympics in 2000, tap dancing too – the crowd is enthralled. Rhythm is a natural thing for almost all people on earth, and my whole life experience of tap dancing has been eminently positive. A dance that has its beginnings in ‘the folk’ has to be positive to survive.

For me, tap dance has often been my salvation through troubled times and uncertainty. No matter what else has happened, I always had tap dancing, and the shoes to do it with. My own personal career has spanned almost every area of the dancing world, and I feel almost that my tap shoe-clad feet tell me what to do, so that I only have to listen to music and they respond. I would refer to myself as an intuitive tap dancer, and rely on the feel and emotion of the music to tell me what to use from my own personal catalogue of steps.

‘Steps’ in this context is a strange word at times. A ‘step’ is a simple change of weight from one foot to the other; it’s a small collection of elements put together to form one piece, and a much bigger combination using sets of these elementals. I like to think of this as a vocabulary, beginning with single letters, then forming short and simple sentences, into paragraphs, then into more complex sentences, into chapters and into a completed story. The idea is that the movements of my feet use a vocabulary, and I call this the ‘addition’ method – and it still seems to work.

As a teacher of the professional and the amateur I meet all ages and all levels of ability. The young professional may be found at one of the many performing arts colleges in many parts of the country, and the amateur and professional are found at a dance centre, usually situated in a city. In London, for example, there is the renowned Pineapple Dance Centre in Covent Garden, which opened in 1979; the centre near to Oxford Street is called Danceworks, and then there is the lesser known but wonderfully bohemian Dance Attic in Fulham Broadway.

These places are where you go to really dance, to learn from the teacher and not from the concept or the syllabus; you don’t go to learn to dance hip hop, you go to experience that teacher’s way with hip hop.

As regards individuals who have influenced me, there was a Hollywood dancer called Matt Mattox teaching at what was then the Dance Centre in Floral Street in Covent Garden – the dance community will know that revered name. This man danced from the early years of American dance in the theatre and then on film, and for me was Hollywood royalty. At that time Astaire and Kelly had hung up their shoes, but I thought I was doing quite well if I was in a class with the Matt Mattox! Similarly I would like to hope that I have influenced many young dancers, and especially those boys from a completely non-dance background, like my own.

Regarding my own style, I was always watching the films of Kelly and Astaire on television from when I was about eight or nine; I became interested in ballroom dancing, and went on to do competitions. I didn’t realize for a while why I was motivated towards dancing and performing, but in my house my mum was always singing (and all her sisters too), and my father played bugle in the Boys Brigade marching bands. Later I learned that my great aunt was a performer on the Music Hall stage, and it became clear that I actually had a musical background, albeit a local one.

This all served to spur me on, and all I wanted to do was dance – and I began to wonder how I could turn this ballroom pastime into a professional career. I went on a holiday with my family and soon chatted to the choreographer of the shows at the resort. He watched me dance some Latin and ballroom, and advised me to get some classes in theatre dance in London. Then a week later he contacted me, and out of the blue and without any audition, he offered me my first-ever contract: a twenty-week contract for a summer season as a professional dancer!

There is a film called A Chorus Line, with music by Marvin Hamlisch and first performed in 1985. In the film is a dance number called ‘I Can Do That’. It is a funny and fast tap dance number and the character’s song is about him going along almost by accident to his sister’s dance school and liking it so much he goes away thinking he can do the tap she is doing: just as I in my own way had accidentally fallen into dance as a 16 year old boy.

The connection to the famous film continues, because it was the then-Pineapple Agency that got me the wonderful job of dubbing the taps onto the ‘I Can Do That’ routine. When you next look at the film of that number it is me that you are hearing. I was to prove the perfect choice for that job because of my natural and intuitive ability with tap dance. I am the fortunate product of that nature/nurture thing and it is what has moved me ever since. In such a short time I had come a long way; from nowhere, to dubbing a film that still inspires the students I teach now.

I have now taught tap dance for a long time, and have always been driven to find a style of my own, rather than following something everybody else does. It made sense to me that there must surely be room for other ways of dance, outside the accepted ways of a set syllabus. Dancing is a hard enough game as it is, so why would I want to do the same as everyone else? So I thought I would go my own way, though obviously using the sort of elements that are common to tap dance all over the world.

The desire for a personal style has never left me. I think now that in my business it is actually the only way to go, if you want to be in it for any length of time. Training is good, but a personal stamp is even better, and actually I believe it is what you need.

But enough about me! Let us get started on this particular journey into the world of dance, and especially tap dance. I am sure you will find lots of good things about tap dance you have not read before, so read on and enjoy the following pages!

INTRODUCTION

The adjective ‘essential’ in the title to this book suggests character and depth, and these are features that I want to pursue in an effort to illustrate this quite brilliant dance genre. Tap dancing is nothing less than food for the soul, and the proof of this presents itself time and again, as I have seen over many years in my role as teacher, choreographer, producer and director of tap-dance shows in London and many other countries since I began dancing. People do indeed ‘just love it’.

Tap is the dance that lasts a lifetime, and which can be taken up at any age or indeed at varying levels of fitness. It doesn’t recognize any size or shape, or any financial circumstance, since it can be practised anywhere, in whatever studio or cellar or backyard or shop. It is a dance of the people, by the people, and one that has, like so many dances, come about from the early beginnings of popular dance. By that I mean it began its journey on the streets and in the houses and workplaces of the people themselves… it is a proper social dance.

Popular dances such as the Gavotte, the Viennese Waltz, the Charleston, Hully Gully, Mashed Potato and the Twist – and there have been hundreds of such dances since the early days of the ballroom in Europe – are merely the beginnings of the huge story of social dance, and in truth I don’t know if there could be any other way for something such as dance to become popular. It has to be taken up and practised and perfected and, well, loved by everyone, in order for it to endure either as a simple hobby or as a professional vocation.

The amateur dancer can be as accomplished as the professional in tap dance, such is its appeal, and it can easily be compared to ‘Swing’ dancing, currently so popular at many dance halls up and down the country. Tap has this sort of mass appeal because of the reasons stated above; however, it does possess something which no other dance possesses: specific shoes with metal plates on the toe and heel to make the sound!

Two pairs of Capezio tap shoes, only different in size. The built-up soles give weight and substance to the work.

No other dance style is performed with this metallic addition: tap exists entirely alone in its definition, the metal plates being literally the ‘taps’. This sound aspect requires courage, and like any instrument, the practitioner has to realize there will be an initial period of extended practice and dedicated repetition before it can achieve something like a status that is pleasing to the ear. And then there is the visual look to be added, which is a whole other aspect! So it’s not only about the feet, though of course some styles focus entirely on that.

Tap is not an ‘easy’ dance, and requires an intelligence in the ear as well as the feet. Tap dance is cerebral, and because of this it will be ultimately satisfying and extremely kind to the soul when it is mastered. In essence it is an instrument, and every instrument if not practised will just sit in the corner waiting to be played. It is a musical thing, with a visual inclusion. It comes from within, and again, as with any instrument, it will find you, rather than the other way around. Once this happens, you can count yourself lucky indeed to have been found.

The main musical content in tap dancing is the rhythm content, and rhythm is a whole human story in its own right. Where does rhythm come from? Who began it? Why do we need to hear it, to use it, to copy it, to invent our own? And if we do indeed almost crave this rhythm, what better way to let it inhabit us than through the body itself, without the aid of an actual instrument, such as a guitar, a piano or a trumpet? We become the instrument in tap dancing: we are the listener, as well as the innovator and the doer. It is intensely satisfying and rewarding, and its history is our history, since social dance is like a personal record of all our lives.

Each decade we have lived has a marker in its social dance of the time, and these dances invoke in us feelings of our own personal history, and what we were doing at that time. For instance, where were you in the Rock and Roll years? Who were you seeing in the 1960s when the Twist was all the rage? Were you into Northern Soul dancing in the 1970s? In the 1990s you will also have had particular tunes from modern charts to shine a light on your existence; and as you read this, in whatever year, you will have personal connections to ‘your’ music.

Not for nothing has tap dancing survived for so long, and continues to entrance, entertain, amuse and satisfy. Many of us still marvel at the wonderful Fred Astaire, and the amazing Nicholas Brothers on film. With social media all around us today we can now revel in the knowledge that there were many other historical tap-dancing figures that up to now we perhaps didn’t know existed. Not everyone got into the Hollywood machine and was made famous, but it did produce the figures we can admire and be inspired by if we take up tap dance. Hollywood fed tap to the world, and we must be grateful.

WHY LEARN TO TAP DANCE?

Why we should learn to tap dance is a huge question, and one that has survived to this day. In my personal experience I can give many reasons why people learn to dance, and it has been my honour to have found such wonderful and sometimes completely unexpected people in tap classes.

Recently I have been looking at a couple of fascinating books written in the 1930s on learning to tap dance. They both offer a contrasting look into the learning ethos on dance in those days, and we can see upon reading them that it isn’t much different today! I would like to give you a sample of each because they are wonderful products of their time.

The first is called Tap Dancing in 12 Easy Lessons, written by Rosalind Wade and published by Foulsham in London. Ms Wade was the director of the BBC’s Dancing Daughters group, and the BBC came into being in about 1936, so it’s safe to assume this book was published about then. Rosalind starts the book as follows:

The modern dance of today is the ‘Tap Dance’; fortunately it is not difficult to learn … the essentials are an innate sense of rhythm, a natural aptitude, and infinite patience… First class instruction will quickly transform the amateur into a finished exponent... Many people fear that tap dancing may have a tendency to over develop the muscles. This is far from the case, for this dance tends to reduce the muscles and improves the shape of the ankles. Besides these benefits, it assists the student to acquire poise and symmetry of figure; muscle development is equalised and superfluous flesh is reduced.

It does not take much effort to see that this book is aimed entirely at women, and nowhere in the book is a man mentioned. All photographs are of the lady herself, and all are of legs showing the aforementioned slim ankles.

I simply cannot resist the last paragraph that Rosalind writes:

Clothes form a great factor in rehearsing. All garments should be of wool, light in weight, but elastic in texture, and should consist of woollen underwear, a jumper, shorts and stockings.

Phew! She must have always only been practising in winter!

The second book is called Tap-Dancing Made Easy by Isolde of ‘Isolde and Alexis, the International Dancing Stars’, published in 1936 by C. A. Pearson of London.

…There is no drudgery in learning anything as interesting as Tap Dancing… and though you may get hot and a little puffed…, you will find that Tap Dancing is one of the most healthy forms of exercise, especially in cold weather…

I have endeavoured to lead the pupil … by easy stages to teach him mainly the elementary foundations so that he may be able to interpret the rhythm in his own way. It will come naturally for him.

Evidently this book is aimed at the man, as there are only photographs of a man dancing, albeit in an oversized-looking dinner suit and black bow tie!

This situation about the student is in stark contrast to today’s classes, which consist of 98 per cent women with hardly a man to be seen. But Isolde does say that ‘after learning these basic principles he will be able to interpret the rhythms in his own way’. Strangely, I say exactly the same in my classes eighty years later: I ask that people dance it in their own way, but with my rhythms and the steps that I have taught them. Using shuffles, tap steps, pickups and ball change allows a myriad of rhythms to be created, and all teachers will use these basic things in different ways. From the same set of ingredients will come an untold number of dance ‘cakes’, if you see what I mean.

As in any profession, to succeed in it requires some kind of innate drive or wellspring, and this is not necessarily recognized by those who ride this wave at that time. Dancers are, by definition, the poor workhorses of any show, but who have trained like racehorses to be there. Only a distinctive and extreme passion can bring success from such hard work, and often for little reward.

Why, then, bother to learn to dance? Why learn to tap dance? The answer is ‘soul’, because dance is intimately connected to the soul of humanity and the folk of the world. Every society dances, as every society speaks; it is so natural and life-affirming that we simply take to it. If it’s also fun to do, it will be fun to learn, and we will benefit the more for it.

Dancing in shoes that make a sound enhances the movements being executed and adds to the benefits; one could perhaps say that tap is jazz dance with sound. In the next section I will explore the connection of dance to sound and to work itself, since all tap dancing is pre-dated by people dancing in the workplace or in the street and on the land where people congregate. In this way steps and moves are seen and passed on, ensuring the development of a sort of vocabulary across the generations.

Dancing gives a body life, and learning to tap dance will honestly thrill you if you can reproduce with tap shoes all the bouncing rhythms you are always (if you are like me) hearing in your head. You may even, like Isolde says, find it quite easy! And that alone makes learning anything joyful.

Your profession or your path through life should only ever be followed if you find the work pleasurable, or at least of little effort. For example, successful professional footballers, golfers, accountants, carpenters or musicians who earn a living from their vocation will find it quite enjoyable, and also easy inasmuch as the effort is enjoyable and not overly difficult. Tap dancing is undeniably fun to do, but as with any skill, the fun is in the work. This is either God given (natural) or learned through effort (nurture). The fortunate ones are blessed with both of these.

The professional has the belief, commitment and the certain knowledge that he or she is going to be good enough to earn a living at this fun thing they call work. To be gifted in such a way is one thing, but to make it your life’s meaning for a considerable length of time is quite another. So where does the line exist between the amateur and the professional?

From my own professional experience, the people who survive and continue in the entertainment business the longest are actors, followed by singers, and then dancers. I have known eighty-nine-year-old actors and eighty-eight-year-old singers, but very few dancers of great age. Of course, the body will dictate many of our decisions.

However, for the amateur or recreational performer it is all quite different. It is enjoyment versus constraint, own time versus company time, and leisure versus the pressure of getting the skill good enough to be taken on to be paid. The professional dancer must maintain a high level of fitness, since to be unfit will simply mean unemployment: if you don’t show up, neither does the pay packet. Dancing, they say, is the best of all ways to fitness, better than running, swimming, gym or walking. It is the engagement of the mind as well as the body, the spiritual as well as the physical, the emotional as well as the technical. It is a skill in all senses of the word, and one which is an unmatchable natural ‘high’.

As to the question ‘why learn to tap dance’, we can say that either it’s because we may need this skill in our profession as a musical theatre artist, or we simply like the sight and sound of it when we have watched it. I have taught people who were forbidden by their family to tap dance when they were younger, and made to do only ballet – no doubt in the belief that this may have led to something more ‘serious’ in terms of dance. I have also met people who tell me that tap dance is their therapy, who say they cannot not do it, that they have always dreamed of learning it… and many more reasons.

The reasons are honestly felt, and in particular I love to teach those who have discovered tap dance late in their life, who feel that now is their chance. Tap dance is a great leveller, and it seems almost anyone and everyone likes it, and many wish they could do it. I have talked with people who seriously regret having never learned to tap dance, and who wish they had learned to dance and had become a professional dancer instead of a lawyer or a local government officer.

Many years ago I taught a very grand lady of seventy-seven who couldn’t do too much jumping around, but danced with great expression and had a glorious feel for rhythm. Another man of eighty-nine years old could still move very fast on his feet, and remembered steps from when he was twelve years old to show me. There have been many more.

Why learn to tap dance? Surely the real question is why not learn to tap dance? So now, let us look at exactly who does learn to tap dance.

ABOUT THE STUDENT

Let us look at the difference between the professional student of tap dance and the amateur or hobbyist tap dancer. Both of these should be taught differently, but in the same manner and with the same goal in mind. If tap dancing is to be fun, then it has to be taught in a light-hearted way. The difference will out depending on the student’s desire to learn, which will decide his level of achievement. Of course, the teacher plays a major part, but as the saying goes, ‘Nobody can teach you to dance – only you yourself can do that’.

Teachers can lead by example, but dancing is of your own body. Thus one student may say ‘I love to dance’ and just jumps about with abandon at parties, while another may say the same and be a classical ballet dancer: it’s all a question of desire and level. The progression from amateur to professional status requires much more than just doing things more.

A typical class set-up, with a total wall mirror the teacher can use in a reverse way: the students see the feet the right way round to copy, and the teacher sees the result without needing to constantly turn round.

Dancing is beyond a look or a sound: it is a feeling, an inward connection and an outpouring, a soulful expression, and it’s the same for both sets of learner, amateur and professional. Training to dance for a living will be discussed later, but the desire to attain a level of excellence is a matter for every student.

Then there is the difference between tap styles. The syllabus style or regimented style is ideal for the young dancer learning from scratch, but adults would not necessarily like this because of its particular look, or because it involves the use of arms and body alignment. An adult learner is focused on the feet and the sound, and does not always look forward to the arm moves. The professional, however, will have to follow the ‘regimented’ style if they are working in a chorus in a show.

One outstanding difference between tap dancing and other styles such as ballet dancing is that students of any age, size, shape or form can learn to tap dance. This dance genre is classless, it is not dependent on financial circumstance, and actually benefits those of more advanced years because of the rhythm aspect, which will probably be enhanced by age and experience. Open to almost everybody, all you really need is an ear for rhythm, two feet, and shoes that make a sound on the floor. It would be extremely difficult to continue ballet after the age of about fifty-five, but at this age tap dancing can actually begin! The only dance style that comes close to this is ballroom dancing, which is also both a recreation and a vocation.

With Rhythm Tap, for example, you don’t need to leave the spot on the floor you are occupying, nor do you need add any set movement from the upper body. It is all and only about rhythm, and ideal for the late starter.

For the professional actor, singer or even the musician, tap dance is a perfect addition to their skills. For the office worker, librarian or boat builder it is a wonderful way to break away from the norm. It is an unobtrusive and quietly attained skill that becomes a personal instrument and is always there to impress work colleagues or family – who all wish they could do it too! Tap dancing belongs to every one of us if we take the time to learn it.

So, the student is everybody, and he or she is part of ‘the folk’, descended from a rich history of dance. Whatever your nationality, music will move those feet. Dance is so allied to music that they may be considered intrinsically linked – indeed, some would say that to dance without music is to miss the point. Of course, one can dance to any soundtrack, and this is entirely down to the individual imagination: classical music or the sound of the sea lapping the shore, spoken poetry or the sound of a train on a track – it’s all possible if one has the mind to do it.

There are exceptions, however, and a ballet dancer may find it hard to tap – which is not surprising since the two genres are almost completely opposite. The ballet dancer wants to be very much in the air and off the ground; the tapper loves the floor, which is his virtual drum. The ballet dancer strains to land silently and glide effortlessly; the tap dancer sees landing with a sound as a virtue. But these examples are pointers to the same thing, and that is discipline, in that dance is without doubt a learned skill, and without discipline there will always be doubt.