As a dance minor and a dancer in my life, I have dabbled in many different forms of dance. Some I have more experience in than others, like my 13 years of Jazz experience, 19 years of tap, only 3-4 years of ballet, and a couple dances with only one year of experience, like Irish Step and Hip-hop, but tap has clearly caught my heart. Tap has been there during all of my life and has made any bad year I've had have amazing memories.The sad thing is that it is not as popular anymore. Tap classes within the school and all over are scarce. Sometimes it's only practiced in theater shows for plays, and I think it's wrong and sad that it isn't as relevant now as it has been in the past. Why is tap losing its popularity? Why aren't there more tappers out there?
Tap dancing is different from every other style because you can either dance to music or make your own rhythm. You can't say that for many other dances. Tap is one of a kind and it's unique because we don't know where it directly came from. Some say it was influenced by step dancing, clogs, and Juba dance, but we don't have direct proof how American tap came to be from the sources I've found. Tap is a beautiful dance that focuses on the feet and even though it started with shuffling movements, brushing, and chugging types of movements, it has evolved so much through the years. This dance is amazing because not only have the moves evolved, but the way we wear shoes have too.
Tap dancers used to dance with bottle caps in between their feet before tap shoes existed. I can imagine that these dancers probably were in serious pain. Eventually, tap dancers shoes and moves evolved to the point that we had amazingly skilled dancers like The Nicholas Brothers who would do splits and tap dance on stairs by the time of The Harlem Renaissance. You can see their dance here, but they weren't the only ones that influenced tap, like Bo Jangles and Fred Astaire amongst some of the top five influences in the tap community.
The point is that throughout history, some of the most memorable dances have been tap and they weren't just in plays or movies. There is nothing wrong with it because dancing in musicals is art and it's beautiful, but tap needs to be accepted more in the dance community as it is. Tap shoes are like dancing with an instrument on your feet. Tap stole my heart and has always been in the center of my heart. The origins are somewhat unclear from sources, but the influences and talents from back then still influence us today. I think that even though we appreciate other forms of dance that tap should be appreciated and taught more in the dance community because it's so valuable and beautiful to watch and in rhythmic sound.
