Tap Dancing - the practice of
Created | Updated May 11, 2005
Tap dancing is a form of dancing which is widely enjoyed by amateurs, professionals and audiences. It consists of a set of basic steps which are combined to form compound steps and amalgamations. These tend to grow as you advance, and become more difficult.
The steps
These are the basic steps, which are presented here with their descriptions. Apologies if you find this list a little arduous to get through1. This is by no means complete or definitive, but it is good as a rough guide. Different people use different terms or the same terms differently but they will normally show you what they mean. A few of these can be a little dangerous, and so exercise caution, and please don't blame us if you break your ankle
| Step or movement | What it is, or how to carry it out |
|---|---|
| Walk or step | A step or series of steps, usually in a specified direction |
| Step-heel | A walk or step, but with the ball of the foot coming down first, then the heel, making two distinct sounds |
| Heel-step | A walk or step, but with the heel of the foot coming down first, then the ball, making two distinct sounds, sort of like a step- heel in reverse. |
| Stamp | Where the foot is placed upon the floor rapidly, with the heel and the ball of the foot striking the ground simultaneously |
| Ball-change | This is a pair of steps, with the first one normally behind you (if you are the dancer) |
| Hop | This is where you jump from one foot and land with the same foot |
| Spring | Similar to a hop, but changing legs |
| Drop | This is similar to a spring, but onto a flat foot, with the knee well bent, and this is largely underneath you |
| Brush | This is where the leg is swung forwards or backwards, the tap on the ball of the foot striking the floor |
| Straight Tap | The ball of the foot striking the ground in front of you |
| Tap, as a prefix | Meaning the ball of the foot striking the floor before the action it prefixes |
| Toe tap | This is where the big toe strikes the ground, generally behind you |
| Heel | This is where the heel is brought down upon the floor |
| Shuffle (straight) | A quick forwards and backwards movement just in front of you. This is accented together, sort of clustered together in the middle of the note |
| Side shuffle | As with a straight shuffle, but taken beside you, with less of the tap striking the ground |
| Back shuffle | Similar to a side shuffle, but moved backwards, with the thigh pressed back, and the foot slightly toed out |
| Pick-up | In a pick up, the foot leaves the floor, the ball of the foot strikes the floor, and then the next step is carried out. It is normally taken from a flat foot, and it is always backwards. |
| Cramp roll | At its most basic level this is a jump into the air, landing on the ball of one foot, then the ball of the other foot, then one heel and then the other, in an even rhythm |
| Riff | This is a relative of the brush, but the heel strikes the floor as well. If taken forward this means the two beats are made by the toe and the heel, in that order, and if taken backwards the order of the beats2 is reversed |
| Wing | These are quite advanced, and can cause injury... not to be attempted unsupervised. They are a movement to the side, where the foot is dragged out to the side, and brought back in, with the ball of the foot striking the ground as it comes back |
The basic steps in this list can be combined and recombined in a vast number of ways, most notably with the shuffle, which gives shuffle-hop-step (which normally moves backwards to free the other foot); shuffle-ball-change; even shuffle step. These are then used as building blocks for bigger steps. A time step is a notable example, with a basic(or single) shuffle time step being: shuffle hop (pause) spring tap step step.
These basic steps are not only combined however, they are also modified, usually by adding beats or altering the rhythm, for instance three beat shuffle, where the heel will strike the ground as the middle beat. The shuffle is also used to make the double shuffle, which is two shuffles in an evened out rhythm. i.e. instead of something like this: ..|.|.....|.|... you will have ...|..|..|..|... you may notice that a double shuffle is just that: 2 of them 3. more of them together in this way is uncommon, probably because the dancer and the audience start getting bored.
As you approach the higher levels of tap dancing there are named steps, some of these are in the above table, most notably the cramp roll, which could just as well be called "the spring-step-heel-heel". There are others: including time steps and closework. Wings, ripples and riffs fall into similar categories. Of these the time step is most complex, so it will be dealt with last. At this point it is worth mentioning that separate steps tend to have slightly longer pauses between them than within the steps, except when combined to form these named steps4. The simplest of the operations on these named steps is the increase (or decrease) in the number of beats. For example, three beat wings or ripples make the four beat versions by adding a heel5 on the end. Then you have riffs, which are idiomatic and follow no logical sense: 3 beat riffs are the riff itself followed by a heel on the supporting leg6. Then, logically enough, you have a four beat riff as a riff followed by a heel-step. An extension only upon the idea of a riff, not on a three beat riff.
Time steps are perhaps the most complex combinations, characterised by a "hop spring" in the middle, for instance the basic time step is just "hop spring tap step-step7". Time steps then progress by two independant means, with additions before the hop step and with additions between the hop step. A basic shuffle time step is a basic time step with a shuffle on the front8, and a "double" time step includes a hop tap-spring9
The performance
Tap is normally performed with a broad grin, as if the dancer is enjoying themselves10. There is a characteristic posture, with bent knees, the back held straight but tilted forwards and the weight tilted forwards so that the shoulders, knees and the balls of the feet are in a near-straight line. The head is held to look out at the audience and the motion should be smooth. In most steps the head should not move, which gets difficult. All of these vary to some extent according to style, and the arm movements are governed almost entirely by style.
The shoes
The shoes worn for tap dancing are integral to the performance: the metal plates attached to the ball and heel of most tap shoes make the beats audible to an audience. There are different varieties available but the most common are of simple smart styles.
Lessons and teachers
This is a vital subject, as without a proper teacher you can hurt yourself in a variety of interestingly painful ways, including broken bones. It is difficult to imagine any viable way to teach a rhythm to somebody without being in their physical presence. Most dancing schools will have adult classes, especially in tap.
Links to related topics and websites...
wheelchair tap dancingISTD tap website
