Questions about tap dancing

The form of tap dance is relatively open and free, without many formal restrictions. After years of development, tap dance has absorbed the rhythm of jazz and is also a very interesting movement. It gives people the feeling of being light, lively, free and full of rhythm.

Tap dance originates from Broadway in the United States and is a folk dance. The English name of tap dance is "TAP DANCE". TAP means tapping. It was formally formed in the United States in the 1920s. Prior to this, Irish immigrants and African slaves brought their own folk dances to this immigrant continent. These folk dances gradually merged to form a new dance form-tap dance.

In a tap dance performance, the performer wears special tap dance shoes and uses various parts of the foot to rub and slap on the floor, making various tapping sounds, coupled with the dancer's various graceful dance postures, forming a Tap dance is a charm that is rich in humor, wit and expressiveness.

After years of development, tap dance has absorbed jazz rhythms, improvisation and other elements. It is also a very interesting sport, more self-entertaining, more open and challenging, and feels light and lively. , lively, free and full of rhythm.

Tap dance originated from the lower classes in the United States and is mainly a combination of Irish folk dance and African black dance. The form of this genre is relatively open and free, without many formulaic restrictions. Dancers do not pay attention to their body movements, but show off the complex skills of beating the rhythm with their feet. They often gather in the streets to compete with each other. Its overall dance style is relatively simple and undisciplined. Later, in the long-term development, this genre was continuously affected by many factors. For example, the influence of cowboys in the American West, the influence of traditional black guitar drum rhythms, etc. The most important influence may be the influence of jazz. Tap dance absorbs elements such as jazz music rhythm and improvisation, which is more self-entertaining and also More open and challenging. In this way, a very rich dance form gradually formed, and it became a tap dance genre with a strong "black flavor" that represents the United States.

History should start with the Celtics, the Gaels of the Scottish Highlands. These peoples, who were scattered in Western Europe, including France, northern Spain, and the British Isles, immigrated to Ireland in the third century BC. They had the same language, Gaelic, and established some small kingdoms. The Romans and Germanic peoples later conquered the Gaels on the European continent, but did not conquer Ireland, allowing Gaelic culture to be preserved here. Although dancing was not yet popular during this period, the artwork survived and influenced the costumes and styles of Irish dance.

Historical records show that the British captured Ireland in 1170 and continued to ban Irish culture for the next two hundred years. But in Ireland in the mid-fifteenth century, many types of dances were created at this time. It was full of characteristics and popular throughout Ireland with its fast beat and side-stepping dance steps. At the same time, there were also quite a few works of Irish music. produce. The British still banned Irish culture at this time. For example, they banned the flute and arrested flute players. Despite this, the more forbidden it becomes, the more it becomes full of magical temptation. Even Queen Elizabeth has repeatedly said that she "very much loves" Irish tunes and country dances.

The power struggle between Ireland and Britain continued into the 16th century. This period of severe oppression lasted for more than 100 years, which is why the teaching of tap dance in Ireland was initially conducted in secret. Even so, dancing was still very popular in the 17th century, and was usually performed on holidays, weddings, baptisms, or wakes. At this time, Irish dance developed many different forms and styles, laying a solid foundation for Irish step dance.

Tap dance steps

Straight kick: tap the ground with your toes and then lift (only lift the ankle joint).

Kick forward: Kick the ground forward with the belly of your toes, and then lift (only lift the ankle joint).

Kick backward: Kick the ground backward with the belly of your toes, and then lift it up (only lift the ankle joint).

Heel kick: bend your knees, tap the ground with your heel and then lift it up quickly. There are three ways:

(1) Stand on one foot.

(2) Stand on your toes or action feet.

(3) A quick poke.

Heel blow: Like heel kick, except that the heel is lowered when completed, and the tone is heavier.

Toe kick: bend your knees, tap the ground with your toes and then lift them up quickly.

Toe beat: Like toe tap, except it ends with the toes down and the tone is heavier.

Ball tap: Hit the ground with the ball tap and then lift it up quickly. There are three ways:

(1) Stand on one foot.

(2) Stand on your heels or action feet.

(3) A quick poke.

Toe beat: Like the toe kick, but when completed the toe is lowered and the tone is heavier.

Forward brush: A larger movement than a forward kick, swinging from the hips and knees.

Back brush: A larger movement than a backward kick, swinging from the hips and knees.

Stamp: step down with the whole foot, with the center of gravity on the supporting foot or the action foot.

Hop: stand on one foot and land on the toes of the same foot after jumping.

Bounce: Stand on one foot, jump up and land lightly on the toes of the other foot.

Fall: Stand on one foot, jump and then land heavily on the toe of the other foot or the whole foot.

Jump: Put your feet together and bend your knees. After jumping, your feet will be together and land on the ground. You can face in any direction.

Re-stomp: Stand on the toes of one foot, push the foot forward and strike the ground hard with the heel.

Scuff: Stomp forward with a flat foot, then leave the ground and bend the supporting leg at the knee.

Shuffle: A forward and backward kick, counting beats & 1 or less.

Kick and bounce: A front kick followed by a bounce. You can move forward or stay in place. The movements should be light.

Slap: A forward kick followed by a stomp, with the focus on the action foot or supporting foot.

Recovery step: Stand with your feet slightly apart, lift the toes of one foot upward, and then tap the belly of the toes on the ground to lift the heel.

Recovery step bounce: The recovery step is followed by a bounce. Because the recovery step requires both feet to touch the ground, it cannot be repeated.

Recovery step and one-legged hop: The recovery step is followed by a single-legged hop and cannot be repeated.

Recover step and change step: stand on one foot, bend the knee, lift the toe of that foot upward, tap the ground with the belly of the toe backward, lift the heel, and touch the ground with the other foot.

The recovery step of one foot: It is the same as the recovery step, but with the same toe on the ground, it must not go backwards.

Wing preparation: Stand with your feet together and slide outward, move your right foot to the side, and wipe the ground with the outer edge of your foot. When finished, leave the ground and kick the ground with your right toes inward toward your left foot. When finishing, use your right foot and make a toe-belly beat next to your left foot.

Wing 3 beats: (Both feet) Put your feet together and bend your knees, wipe the ground with the outer edge of your feet, quickly move your feet outwards, when the feet are off the ground, kick the ground inward with the two toes to Both toes touch the ground.

Wing 3 beats: (One foot) Stand with your feet together, bend your knees, rub the outer edge of one foot on the ground, quickly move the foot outward, when the foot is off the ground, kick inward with the belly of the toe Kick the ground and land on the balls of your toes.

Wing 3: (Change step) Like the wing 3 on one foot but land on the other toe.

Wing 4 beat: (One foot with toe kick) Make a wing 3 beat with your right foot, and do a toe kick with your left foot behind the right foot.

Wing 4: (Pendulum) Make a wing 3 with your right foot, brush step forward with your left foot, wing

3 with your right foot, brush step behind with your left foot.

Wing 5 beats: with heel strike and heel toe kick, right foot wing 3 beat, right heel strike, behind the right foot, left toe kick.

Wing 5 beats: (one foot drag step) Right foot wing 3 beats and left foot drag.

5 Features of Tap Dance

Tap dance mainly involves wearing special dance shoes with iron soles and using flexible dance steps to create various rhythms on the wooden floor. It has an eclectic form and is a very free form of dance. Many dancers throughout history have continued to enrich the form of tap dance. There is a very vivid saying: No maps on the taps, which means that tap dance has no restrictions like maps.

In addition, compared with other dances that use footwork to strike the rhythm, tap dance pays more attention to the complex skills and rhythm of footwork, and has a closer relationship with jazz. For example, flamenco, a comprehensive performing art in Spain, includes footwork dance, but its rhythm is matched with Spanish folk guitar music, and the dance steps are also matched with the straight and vigorous posture of Spanish dance, which is powerful and concise. For example, Tibetan dance in China also includes "tap dance" with boots, which is mostly based on tapping, and is integrated with folk music and Tibetan dance. Tap dance, on the other hand, does not place much emphasis on body movements. For example, tap dance that focuses on the Irish style keeps the upper body still, while tap dance with a strong black flavor often swings the body casually. There are even a lot of funny moves, such as an early dance step called WING that absorbed the arm movements of Irish dance.

Tap dance is closely related to jazz, incorporating many "jazz-flavored" elements such as syncopated rhythms and improvisation. Some tap dance masters and jazz masters often perform together. Of course, tap dance also has some basic dance steps, such as TOE, HEEL, FLAP, BRUSH, SHUFFLE, BALL CHANGE, CRAMPROLL, etc.

Tap dancing has always been considered a stolen dance and a challenging dance, because it originated from the people at the bottom of society, on farms and on the streets, and in the early days, almost all black people danced it. On farms and plantations, black slaves were prohibited from performing traditional religious rituals of dancing and drumming, so they clap their hands and beat their feet on the floor instead of drumming in secret activities. In cities, black people cannot go to dance schools like white people. Instead, they often learn from each other, "steal" each other's dance steps, and compete with each other. This form of "competing" with each other still exists in today's performances.

In 1921, the Broadway performance format that combined singing and dancing was created, which further developed tap dance.

The development of tap dance has taken a huge leap in modern times. It has been widely used in various occasions such as club entertainment, touring performances, Broadway singing and dancing, and Hollywood movies. It has become a "traditional folk dance" representing the United States and a dance with world influence. dance. And it in turn influenced some of the original folk dances, such as Irish dance, which in turn absorbed the techniques and performance forms of tap dance, forming a highly entertaining stage performance that combines tradition and modernity. .

This type of tap dance performance more prominently reflects the development and packaging role of the modern entertainment industry. It makes full use of stage lighting, scenery, music, overall planning and emotional incitement, forming a more ornamental and entertaining performances. Some of the more successful ones include Australia's tap dog dance troupe.

Tap dance has a very close connection with music. There is even a saying that a great tap dancer is a musician. General dance teaching mainly involves imitating movements and then matching them to music when the teacher demonstrates. In the teaching of tap dance, teachers often say when giving demonstrations: IT LOOKS AND SOUNDS LIKE (it looks and sounds like this), which shows that it is more important not only to look, but also to listen to and feel the rhythm. It's not enough to learn the dance postures without knowing the rhythm. If the rhythm is right, the dance postures don't need to be completely imitated accurately.

In the early tap dance competitions, the judges even sat under the wooden stage and did not look at the dancers at all, but just listened to the priorities of their rhythm. The most important thing was whether the rhythm was clear. A good tap dancer, no matter how fast the rhythm, how complex the steps, or how soft the sound, must be clear. With good musicianship, you can also perform completely improvised along with the music. Another tap dance master, BABY LAURENCE, can create 32 or more types of rhythms in 16 bars.

With the development of tap dance, dancers can use various methods to produce more different sounds. The earliest dance shoes were made of a whole wooden sole and heel. Later, they were divided into two parts, the front and back. Later, iron soles appeared. Some people also deliberately loosen the screws of the iron palm to make more noise. Nowadays, there are more methods, some dance on the ground sprinkled with sand...some dance on electronic drums, pursuing more sound effects.

6 Basic steps of tap dance

ball tap[1]

Stand on both feet. Lift toe of one foot and tap ball of foot on the ground . Can be done standing on one food.

Put the soles of your feet up and tap the floor from top to bottom. At the end, the soles of your feet stay in the air.

back tap

Strike the ball of foot sharply back. (ankle action)

The ball of the foot stays in the air and taps the floor from front to back. (ankle action)

ball beat

Same as ball tap, but the ball of the foot remains on the ground.

The sole of the foot is raised from top to bottom Finish tapping the floor with the soles of your feet resting on the floor.

heel tap

Lift heel off the ground by bending the knee and strike the heel sharply down and up.

Heel lift and strike from top to bottom. floor, ending with the balls of your feet in the air.

toe tap

With point of toe sharply tap on ground and up again.

The toe (the front end of the iron piece) is raised and the sole of the foot stays at the end of tapping the floor. up in the air.

forward brush

A broader movement than a forward tap, the swing to come from the hip and knee. After the iron piece hits the floor, brush forward and swing the thigh. (leg action)

forward tap

Strike the ball of foot sharply forward. (ankle action)

The iron piece hits the floor and brushes forward lightly . (Ankle action)

heel beat

Same as heel tap, but leave toe on ground.

At the end of raising the heel and tapping the floor from top to bottom The soles of your feet stay on the floor.

heel dig

With heel of foot gave a sharp hard dig on floor.

The heel iron piece is at a 45-degree angle to the ground (DIG digs) the heel Stay on the floor.

ball dig

With ball of foot gave a sharp hard dig on floor.

The iron piece of the foot is at a 45-degree angle to the ground, and the sole of the foot stays on the floor.

straight tap

Strike the ball of foot sharply on ground and up Again. (ankle action) The iron piece is parallel to the ground, taps the floor vertically, and ends with the sole of the foot staying in the air. (Ankle action)

toe beat

Same as toe tap, but leave toe on ground.

The toes (the front end of the iron piece) are raised and tap the floor on both sides Cross your feet over each other in the back and end with your feet resting on the floor.

back brush

A broader movement than a back tap, swing to come from knee and hip.

Swing the thigh from front to back and tap the floor with the foot at the end Stay in the air. (Leg action)

step

Transfer of weight on ball of foot.

The body moves forward with the center of gravity on the balls of the feet and the heels off the floor.

stamp

Heavy down beat on flat of foot.

Move the body forward with the center of gravity on the sole of the foot and the sole of the foot close to the floor.