Tap dance is a very popular form of dance in modern theatre. It is more about the rhythm made by the feet than about the whole- body movement. Tap dance first began way back in the early to mid 1800's. It was created from a combination of African slave's dance movements, Irish clog dancing, and European jigs. The man who is believed to have first began this dance form by combining these styles was known as "Master Juba". In the later 1800's, tap dancing was further popularized through "blackface" performances in Vaudeville shows. The performers would imitate the black slaves known as 'Levee dancers' in their acts, while using tap dancing to entertain.
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
There were two styles of shoes at this point: hard wooden- soles and soft leather- soles. The hard- soled shoes were used for fast paced dances, also known as "buck-and-wing" dances. The soft- soled shoes were used for more humorous and delicate tap numbers with slow, smooth music, also known as "Sand Dances". Metal taps were added to the soft- sole leather shoes in the early 1900's. Thomas Rice was the first person to perform a tap dance with metal taps on his shoes in a large- scale show in 1928. It then became very popular among black dancers and throughout the 20's and 30's they created new styles and moves. These styles included the Shim Sham Shimmy, created by Leonard Reed, and the black bottom, introduced to the dance scene in 1919 by Perry Bradford. The most famous tap dancer of this era and of all time is Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. He is best known for his "stair dance". This dance came about when he danced up a long flight of stairs to be honoured by the King of England.
Tap dance grew in the early 50's because of famous dancers such as Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Their routines were becoming more modern, adding new moves to the dance form. It became more elegant, expressive, and creative. Tap then fell off the scene until the 80's due to the rapid growth of Hollywood's film industry. This is when popular dancers Gregory Hines and Savion Glover brought tap back to the stage. Savion had his first Broadway role in "The Tap Dance Kid" in 1985. He is known as a living legend of tap.
Gregory Hines & Savion Glover
