"Rhythm and sounds are born with syllables."
Jean Philippe Rameau

"I would imagine that if you could understand Morse code, a tap dancer would drive you crazy."
Mitch Hedberg

"The mathematics of rhythm are universal. They don't belong to any particular culture."
John McLaughlin

No one really knows when the phrase "tap dance" was first used -- perhaps as early as 1900 -- but it didn't appeared in print until around 1928.

Merriam-Webster defines it two ways, first: A step dance tapped out audibly by means of shoes with hard soles or soles and heels to which taps have been added.

The second definition is more interesting: An action or discourse intended to rationalize or distract.

"Given her history, it makes political sense for Hillary Clinton to send cultural signals that she's much more conservative than her caricature. Still, her tap dance toward the right carries a cost."
Eleanor Clift





"If you play a tune and a person don't tap their feet, don't play the tune."
Count Basie

"Jazz is rhythm and meaning."
Henri Matisse

"Perhaps of all the most basic elements of music, rhythm most directly affects our central nervous system."
George Crumb

The early slave trade in America resulted in a rhythmic collision of cultures. Slave-holders already fearful of revolt, began to panic when it was discovered that Africans could communicate with each other - over long distances and in code - through the use of drums. All over the South, slave-holders forbid the use of drums and other native instruments in African religious ceremonies.

But African-Americans held on to their traditional rhythms by transferring them to their feet. The tapping out of complex rhythmic passages was developed, and a subtle, intricate and vital physical code of expression was born.

By the mid-nineteenth century, African-Americans had combined their footwork with Irish and British clogging steps to create a style  called "buck and wing." which became Modern Tap Dance.

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The purely American art form of Tap Dance was originally associated with the names Master Juba, George H. Primrose, King Rastus Brown and Bill Robinson.



William Henry Lane (1825 - 1852) was known as Master Juba and the "Juba dance," also known as "Pattin' Juba," was a mix of European Jig, Reel Steps, Clog and African Rhythms. It became popular around 1845. This was, some say, the creation of Tap in America as a theatrical art form and American Jazz dance.

MASTER JUBA

Tap dancing started with the Africans in early America who would beat out rhythms in their dances with brushing and shuffling movements of the feet.

These dancers came to be called Levee Dancers throughout the south. White performers copied many of these intricate steps and the Shuffle Dance style would eventually find fame within the minstrel shows around 1830.

Tap Dance and Irish Clogging share deep roots. The most difficult of the Irish clogs are the Irish Jigs and Hornpipes. In some of these the feet can tap the floor more than seventy times in fifteen seconds. Irish clog dancer, John "Jack" Diamond (1828 - 1850) was considered one of the greatest "Jig dancers" of all time.

In clog dancing, no thought is given to the upper body. Almost rigid -- the shoulders and the arms are kept motionless. This trait is evident in the early, Black "Buck and Wing" style tap dancing. The Irish clog dance all but disappeared by the end of the 19th century because of the mixing of the Clog and the African-American tap dances. Modern tap dancing evolved though the years 1900 to 1920.

Irish dancer - 1905

The Hornpipe of England was a elaborate pantomime of English sailors, mimicking their duties while patting the feet to a tune.




The Lancashire Clog is a complicated Irish dance associated with George Primrose who danced the clog without the wooden soles and is said to have invented the Soft-Shoe routine. Barney Williams in 1840, was the first professional clog dancer to come to the U.S . The first professional dancer troupe in the U.S. were the Irish Clog Dancers.



The Soft Shoe is a form of tap only done with soft soled shoes without metal taps attached. Performers originally wore all kinds of shoes to perform the Soft Shoe and as time went on the term soft shoe was applied to many eccentric styles of tap. The characteristics of the soft shoe however was the humor, wit, and delicate nature of the tapping performed with a very smooth and leisure cadence. Occasionally this is referred to as the Sand Dance.

Clog contests in the 19th century would have the judges sit behind a screen or under the dance floor, judging the sounds rather than the body movements of the dancers. Clog dances were often performed in wooden soled shoes.


For several decades tap and clog would flourish successfully.




In 1866 "THE BLACK CROOK," considered to be the first musical, featured Minstrel and Clog dancers who danced very stiffly and gave rise to the term "Pedestal dancer". The Pedestal dancer would climb upon a marbled pedestal with a 24 inch base, and tap out a routine while posing as motionless as a statue.

In 1902, Ned Wayburn who created a show called Minstrel Misses, coined the term "Tap and Step dance" in this musical play. This was the first time these names had been used professionally. Wayburn's dancers wore light clogs with split wodden soles.



Aluminum heel and toe taps did not appear until after 1910.

Buck and Wing

The origin of the Buck and Wing (Buck Dance and Pigeon Wing) or Buck dancing is a mystery. It is known to have been an early tap dance routine and was done by Minstrel and Vaudeville performers in the 19th Century portraying a character-style taken from of African-American males, known as "Bucks." It is said that the Buck and Wing routine was invented by James McIntyre of N.Y.

Pigeon Wing is also known as "Pistolets" and the "Ailes De Pigeon" in Ballet.

In the Can-Can the "Pigeon Wing" was kicking high and throwing the shoulders back while "carrying on the arm" (holding one leg up against the cheek while hopping lightly on the other leg).

Bring the bust into play by leaping forward, lifting of the leg and move the leg to beat the back calf of other foot. Can also be done in front of other leg as in Michael Jackson's modern version.



The "Shout" or Ring-Shout was a union of dance and song which gave birth to what were called camp meeting hymns and work hollers in the old south.



The Cakewalk became a very popular group dance because it had "attitude" wherein the dancing couples made fun of people who think themselves important and superior.









The Shim Sham or Shim-Sham Shimmy was a Tap dance routine done by Vaudeville performers in the early 1900's and is still taught in most tap dance classes today. (Shuffle-Step, Shuffle-Step, Shuffle Ball-Change, Shuffle-Step) The Sham's basic is the "Time Step" that is done by tap dancers -- except the dancers use a more shuffled rhythm than lifting of the feet. The Sham also incorporates the "break".

The Shim Sham Shimmy can be done as a solo, couple or group dance with each person's arms around the next, and originally was done at the Savoy ballroom to a song entitled "The Song of the Freaks," written by Luis Russell. Cab Calloway's "Jittering Jitterbugs" musical short has this form of shim sham routine.

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson

The dance known as the Black Bottom started in New Orleans and later worked its way to New York. Some say the Black Bottom was introduced by blues singer, Alberta Hunter, however -- it has been reported that the Black Bottom was derived from "The Echo," an earlier dance.

The Black Bottom was formally introduced by Perry Bradford in Nashville, Tennessee in 1919 when he wrote the song "The Black Bottom Dance." Bradford's sheet music had the music as well as the dance instructions printed on them. In 1926, the stage play "Dinah" featured the Black Bottom and almost overnight the dance became as popular as the Charleston.

The Black bottom was basically a solo challenge dance, predominately danced on the "Off Beat." It is thought to be the rhythmic prototype for modern tap dance phrasing. The dance featured the slapping of the backside while hopping forward and backward, stamping the feet, and gyrations of the torso while making arm movements to music with an occasional Heel-Toe scoop.

Basic Step: (from Dance Magazine -- September 1927): This, as with all other dances, is a mixture of Jazz steps. The Basic step, however, is one dependent entirely on rhythm. This step is 2 long stamps, first right, then left, followed by 4 short ones; they are done off the regular beat of the music. Accompanying this, the index finger on both hands is pointing up, and the eyes are rolling. Any other steps may be done to lengthen the dance.


Black Bottom Lyric's: (from George White Scandals -1927)
Hop Down front and then you doodle (Slide) back,
Mooch to your left and then you mooch to your right,
Hands on your hips and do the mess around,
Break a Leg (Wobble) until you're near the ground








"The two elements the traveler first captures in the big city are extra human architecture and furious rhythm. Geometry and anguish. . .

At first glance, the rhythm may be confused with gaiety, but when you look more closely at the mechanism of social life and the painful slavery of both men and machines, you see that it is nothing but a kind of typical, empty anguish that makes even crime and gangs forgivable means of escape."
Federico Garcia Lorca





Flamenco Dancing

The Malagueña (Flamenco) shares with the Fandango the rank of the principal dance of Andalusia. The Flamenco is a Spanish-Sevillian gypsy, also known as Sevillian or Sevillinas. The dance is a non-formal folk dance from Andalucía, Spain. The Flamenco is rich in rhythm and refined technique.

The Baile flamenco was originated by the gypsies of southern Spain and may be of some Indian origin, however the gypsies believe they are descendents from the Moors (the Moors invaded Spain).

The Granada gypsy calls himself gitano and the Sevillian gypsy calls himself a flamenco. Spain has 47 provinces and they each have their own style of dance.

The Flamenco has strict rhythmic rules one must follow to achieve the correct look. Rhythm forms include Alegrias, Soleares, Bulerias, Farruca, Zapateado, Tango and the Zambra. The foot and heel beats that the dancers perfect are called Zapateado while the heel work done in Flamenco is called Taconeo. La Argentina was one of the first to put Flamenco on stage.

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