I have been “taking” tap in the not too distant past. That means, I have been studying tap dancing, in a city just far enough from Los Angeles that we were pretty sure nobody in the class would go pro. I had a real problem trying to get enough “sound” out of my taps. I believe, without too much in the way of pretention, that I was able to get my feet in the right place at the right time. Other students, obviously younger, just seemed to have more slap in their tap.
The sound is part of the great fun in tap dancing; I mean, come on, Fred Astaire danced on the radio. My dance-teacher (I still have a tendency to call her “dance-Mistress,” in the European way told me that if I imagined my feet hitting one inch below the floor, instead of on the floor, that would treat the problem. It did not. After a day of psychiatrizing it seemed to be hard for me to find the force to stomp loudly. Read more on Dancing Outside The Box…
Filed under News, weight by on Mar 3rd, 2014. Comment. 
While traveling extensively over the past year or so, I always check out “drop-in” dance classes when I get to a new city.
I’m serious. In the past year I’ve taken lessons in belly dancing, burlesque strip-tease (you should have seen that one!), classical ballet and tap.
Seriously. I can’t claim to be the next Eleanor Powell, but I have the basic steps down for real tap dancing. And yes – I have real tap shoes – a couple of different kinds.
But I had a real problem trying to get enough “sound” out of my taps. After all, one of the goals of this art is to make some noise! Otherwise it’s just “the old soft shoe.” I believe, without too much in the way of pretention, that I was able to get my feet in the right place at the right time. Other students, obviously younger, just seemed to have more slap in their tap.
Filed under Creativity by on Feb 3rd, 2011. 1 Comment.