Tap
was born when the time step was conceived and the time step was rearranged and
embellished by many dancers who wanted to put there own stamp on the step and
each tap-dancer was recognised by the time step they performed. In the beginning
each dancer would start with the time step then throw in the new routine
they had created. It was not long before just about every tap dance step had been
used up and this is when the tap started to take a new turn. The addition of wings,
over the tops, falling of the log were known as flash were added by dancers who
wanted to out do other acts, and these moves were later to be called flash steps.
Most of these moves involved the dancer appearing to apparently be nearly tripping
him self up. This made an exciting performance as
you would be wondering if he would make it on his feet till the end. Most of these
exaggerated moves usually came into play towards the end of the act as there was
a tendency for the bands to have a loud finish, and also after these vigorous
moves you were in no condition to do any thing else.
Through this evolution was born the specialist tap-dancer who had a particular trade mark step or combination of steps. The best example of this was the slide, which was performed by many and mastered by few. It involved appearing as though you were dancing on ice and the same principles applied, as in the flash steps. You wondered if he would ever fall over. There were also sand dancers, acrobatics and even influences from Russia. The great few who were able to master all of these skills were later to become masters who were well respected by all, in the entertainment business and most of all the tap community.
American tap dancing set it self apart from any other form of tap or clogging dance any where else by the fact that it was born and developed in the evolving jazz era. The rhythms which played a big part in the jazz and tap evolution were due to the historical forced integration of African slave labour, whose loose interpreted the European step dances like the jig and clog, coupled with religious African so called "juba" dances and "ring shouts". The syncopated jazz rhythms were incorporated into the dance, where as the other forms of clogging were performed to comparatively straight time, and so American tap was set apart from most other forms of dance.
From
the theaters, tap in the 1930's, made the transition to the big screen, unfortunately
many of the masters were past by in favor of white entertainers. Although they
were highly talented,they did not represent the Afro-American jazz tap of the
time. Tap was brought onto film but it was heavily choreographed and the technique
of adding the taps after the dance was filmed removed the "what you see
is what you hear" aspect. This produced incredible audio visual tap sequences,
but the live heart of jazz tap was lost. In the 1950's tap lost is popularity,
due to many reasons some of which were the changing style of music and the trend
towards classical balletic dances in films. Tap still existed in the clubs and
continued as a social dance for pleasure. In the 60's a number of events stimulated
renewed interest in tap by the emergence of a few tap related shows on Broadway.
Then a while later in the early eighties a few films staring Gregory Hines brought
tap back onto the map. As the popularity increased in tap, there was a call
for in to be recognized and this was done by a vote of Congress in 1989, and
National Tap Dance day May 25th was born.
Tap
has now been brought up to the 90's with shows that have a contemporary funk
feel as Gregory Hines once said "Tap is here, it's now", just as it was in it's
day. The need for knowledge of the history of tap has been
met by a few tap companies, new young stars and surviving tap masters. Tap rhythms
can be used to express any type of popular music that is with us today. No matter
how tap evolves in the future its exponents will always be "Tap dancing in
the shadow of the masters."
