Glover called his style “free-form hard core,” using funk and hip-hop rhythms. Savion Glover won the Tony Award for best actor and for his original choreography in Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk, a musical that used tap dance to chronicle the story of African American history. It was different - but totally understandable and approachable,” she said. Hines was one of her mentors, and Duffy said he included tap and other tap dancers in his work whenever possible. She also started Barbara Duffy and Company, an all-women’s tap ensemble. These films helped the general public see tap in a new way, said tap dancer Barbara Duffy.ĭuffy is a world-renown tap dancer, who teaches at Steps on Broadway and the American Tap Dance Foundation in New York City. Hines, a tap dancer, actor and singer, was the first to tap dance to contemporary music, as seen in the 1985 film White Nights and 1989’s Tap. Gregory Hines and Savion Glover are famous for their rhythmic tap, sometimes known as hoofing. Gene Kelly especially focused on using his entire body, making tap into more of a sport. rhythm tap or jazz tap) focuses more on the musicality, with dancers keeping their feet closer to the floor.įred Astaire and Gene Kelly used other dance forms (ballroom and ballet, respectively) in their tap dance, making it uniquely their own style. Broadway tap is more about the dance movements and using the whole body, while rhythmic tap (a.k.a.

Today, tap is often associated with Broadway musicals. African dance, with fluid upper body movements and drum influences, intermingled as well. Spanish gypsies also influenced Irish jigging and English clogging when they moved into those countries. Zapateado, a rhythmic Spanish dance, was brought to the Americas where it intermingled with Native American culture, and later impacted African-American culture. Others would tap their feet to change the design, requiring a great amount of skill and precision. One dance involved spreading colored sand on the ground, and dancers tapping their feet to create designs, or to ensure they wouldn’t disturb designs already in the sand. Nautch, a popular dance form in North India, also affected tap. After World War II, choreographed routines became more prominent as opposed to solo shows. Tap dancing was a major feature of the vaudeville surge in the 1920s and played its way into Hollywood musicals. The dancers wore light wooden clogs with split soles, and Wayburn called this percussive movement “tap and step dancing.” It was the first time “tap dancing” had been used in the profession. Aside from inspiring Fred Astaire to switch from ballet to tap, he also coined the term ‘tap dance.’ Ned Wayburn’s Minstrel Misses added feminine gestures to African-American minstrel movements. Ned Wayburn was a hugely influential dance director. Aside from featuring big names like Fred Astaire, he also hired choreographers and dance directors to ensure the form was receiving particular attention. “Slow Kid” Thompson, Eddie Rector, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, John Bubbles (of the duo “Buck and Bubbles”), and Bill Bailey.įlorenz Ziegfeld featured tap in his revues, including 50 tap dancers in the first Ziegfeld Follies in 1907. He influenced popular ‘20s tappers like U.S. “Buck dancing” and “time step” were terms used to describe parts of his technique. King Rustus Brown thrived from around 1906-1910 and developed his rhythmic style from minstrel-style shuffle dancing. Irish jig and clog-dancing fused with African-American moves like the shuffle and slide, which eventually led to tap dance. He won many contests against talented white dancers, including some with Irish dancer Jack Diamond. Master Juba and other black dancers performed for blacks and Irishmen in 1840s New York City. Master Juba caught the attention of American and European writers, who dubbed him the greatest dancer of all time. The “patting juba” included hand clapping, foot stomping, body thumping and thigh slapping. Whites appearing in blackface remained popular in stage and film until the 1930s.Īs slaves, blacks often weren’t allowed to use instruments, so many used their bodies as such. When Master Juba began performing, he too was forced to wear blackface - in order to look like a white man dressed up as a black man. Up until 1838, only white performers in blackface took part in these shows. Master Juba) performed in minstrel shows, which were popular from 1840 until 1890. Master Juba is often credited as the inventor of tap dancing. Whether gliding effortlessly like Gene Kelly, or sticking to a spot creating complex rhythms like Savion Glover, tap invites dancers to find their own style. This uniquely American form of dance draws from a variety of influences.

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