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Tap dance (or tap) is a form of dance that uses the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion; it is often accompanied by music. [1] Tap dancing can also be a cappella, with no musical accompaniment; the sound of the taps is its own music. It is an African-American artform that evolved alongside the advent of jazz music.
The Old Plantation, a watercolour painting from the 1780s, showing a slave performing a stick dance on a South Carolina plantation.. Stick dance was a dance style that African–Americans developed on American plantations during the slavery era, where dancing was used to practice "military drills" among the slaves, where the stick used in the dance was in fact a disguised weapon.
Though stepping may be performed by an individual, it is generally performed by groups of three or more, often in arrangements that resemble military formations. Stepping may also draw from elements of gymnastics, break dance, tap dance, march, or African and Caribbean dance, or include stunts as a part of individual routines. The speed of the ...
Portrait of Boz's Juba from an 1848 London playbill. Master Juba (ca. 1825 – ca. 1852 or 1853) was an African-American dancer active in the 1840s. He was one of the first black performers in the United States to play onstage for white audiences and the only one of the era to tour with a white minstrel group.
The Shim Sham goes best with swing songs whose melody lines start on beat eight, as does the choreography. An obvious choice is The Shim Sham Song (Bill Elliot Swing Orchestra), which was written specifically for this dance and has musical effects (e.g., breaks) in all the right places.
The United States of America is the home of the hip hop dance, swing, tap dance and its derivative Rock and Roll, and modern square dance (associated with the United States of America due to its historic development in that country—twenty three U.S. states have designated it as their official state dance or official folk dance) and one of the major centers for modern dance.
National Tap Dance Day falls on May 25 every year, and is a celebration of tap dance as an American art form. The idea of National Tap Dance Day was first presented to U.S. Congress on February 7, 1989, and was signed into US American Law by President George H. W. Bush, on November 8, 1989. [1] The one-time official observance was on May 25, 1989.
A Juba dance performance could include steps such as the "Jubal Jew", "Yaller Cat", "Pigeon Wing" and "Blow That Candle Out". The dance traditionally ends with a step called the " Long Dog Scratch ". Modern variations on the dance include Bo Diddley 's " Bo Diddley Beat " and the step-shows of African American Greek organizations .