TAP
Tap dance is a form of dance in which a tapping sound is made when metal plates on the dancer's shoes touch a hard surface. Because the dancers make sound, they are considered percussive musicians.
Classes Offered
- Intermediate Tap -- Ages 8-11
- Advanced Tap -- Ages 12 & up
Tap at Off the Wall Dance Productions
Beginning Tap classes are offered in combination with either Jazz or Ballet for ages 3-7. Intermediate and Advanced students are taught to listen to the sounds that they are making. Correct timing is achieved by a “repeat after me” back and forth with the instructor. Tap students work on relaxing the ankle to achieve clean sounds and keeping the weight in the balls of the feet to attain speed and agility.
Wikipedia
Hoofers are tap dancers who dance primarily with their legs, making a louder, more grounded sound. This kind of tap dancing, also called "rhythm tap", came primarily from cities or poor areas. Today this is not the case, especially with such a wide variety of styles spreading throughout the world. Steve Condos rose out of his humble beginnings in Pittsburgh, PA to become a master in rhythmic tap. His innovative style influenced the work of Gregory Hines, Savion Glover and Marshall Davis, Jr. Savion Glover is the best-known living hoofer, who helped bring tap dance into mainstream media by choreographing and dancing for the major motion picture Happy Feet, a film about a tap dancing penguin. Another well-known tap film is 1989's Tap, starring the late Gregory Hines and many of the old-time hoofers.
Early dancers like Fred Astaire provided a more ballroom look to tap dancing, while Gene Kelly used his extensive ballet training to make tap dancing incorporate all the parts of the ballet. This style of tap led to what is today known as "Broadway style," which is more mainstream in American culture. It often involves high heeled tap shoes and show music, and is usually the type of tap first taught to beginners. The best examplesof this style are found in Broadway musicals such as 42nd Street.
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