Tap

Tap tap click clack bang.
This is the sound of Breadsall Village Hall at 10:00am each Saturday.
Tap classes, built into my Saturday morning along with ballet and disco, are spectacular fun.
There is something very special about slipping on your own stunning shiny tap shoes, complete with horse-shoe heel-taps and polished silver ball taps (mine from the noisy joke shop hidden away in a side street in town).

I love the noise that is made whilst tapping. In French this type of dance is called "des claquettes": a pretty good description of the noise made - clacket, clacket. Let the big band or plinky plonky piano begin and I'll start making beautiful percussion with my feet!

I also love the language of tap. Like most technical dances, if you remember the words to go with the moves it'll help you remember.
In ballet it goes something like:
"Point lift. Point close", or "First, second and back to brabaa"
Boring!
In disco it's a combination of singing the lyrics and muttering the moves, often causing much hilarity. For example, when dancing to Mamma Mia by Abba:
"I've been cheated by you since I don't know when, shoulder shoulder double shoulder shoulder shoulder shoulder, So I made up my mind it must come to an end, shoulder shoulder double shoulder shoulder shoulder shoulder. Mashed potatooooo, will I ever learn? 1, 2, 3, 4, but I suddenly lose control, there's a fire within my soul!"
I swear that dance doesn't look as funny as it sounds.
In tap, it's much more meaningless. Frequently I find myself going "shuffle hop spring brush toe toe, shuffle hop spring brush toe toe, shuffle hop spring shuffle down shuffle down shuffle ball-change. Stamp."
Or:
"Heel dig together. Heel dig together. Heel heel step back step back, heel heel step back step back."

There is a wonderful cleaness and style about tap. It must be the combination of the crisp noises, the neat inticate movements, the unexpected variety of music and the flexibilty of the dance style itself. Tap can be danced to just about any music. I've done dances to Chicago and Little Brown Jug (Astaire-style!) as well as Sophie Ellis Bextor and S Club 7.

The versatilty is also reflected in show pieces - costumes can include raincoats and umbrellas, or fishnets and metallic waistcoats. However, all shows always have cheesy smiles and lot's of variety!

I hope you are all inspired by this post to do some investigating into tap classes in your area. Try them out, and it will be worthwhile. You'll learn a new skill, get some exercise and meet new friends! Remember in Friends when Monica, Phoebe and Rachel took up tap dancing to try and meet the person who stole Monica's identity? They had fun!