Tap (1989): Challenge Scene
Video from SimmySlydeJr2
"Sit back, and enjoy the famous "Challenge" scene from the beloved 1989 film "Tap" from the video introduction
Cinema & The Arts as Sermons: The Art of Tap Dancing
Since it first appeared in the public, tap dancing immediately enchanted the public in North America, becoming a vital part of Jazz music culture and broader mainstream musical culture that even managed to popularize tap dancing as a hobby for many millions of people.
Tap dancing can be separated into two distinct styles – Jazz/Rhythm dance which is focused on the musicality and tradition of tap dance, and Broadway which is used by stage performers who weave the dance into the theater stories.
The origins of the tap dance can be tracked all the way back to the mid-1800s and the clash of musical influences across North America. There, a mix of African tribal, English, Scottish and Irish music and dances brought to life many new genres, including the dance style that was focused on the creation of tap sounds using shoe heel, toe and sliding of the shoes across the ground.
Tap dance was first featured to the wider public during minstrel shows (traveling musical groups) by one of the first black performers ever permitted to dance on stage to white audiences – William Henry Lane, also known as Master Juba. He became famous as the dancer who could outperform all his white competition in the United States, and was able to attract significant fame in England where he visited with the musical troupe “Ethiopian Serenaders”. His tap dance became instantly very popular in Victorian England, and his influence pushed many other black and white dancers on both sides of the Atlantic to start practicing tap dance. He sadly fell away from the limelight after his return to the United States and remained mostly forgotten until modern historians began promoting his contribution to the history of jazz and tap dance.
While Master Juba was responsible for the initial spreading of tap dance, the true mainstream acceptance came during the life of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (1878 – 1949). This African American entertainer managed to distinguish himself on the North American and English Vaudeville circuit firstly as a part of a dancing duo with George W. Cooper in 1902, and then as a solo performer (which was unheard of at that time) after 1908. Despite being a black man, he achieved tremendous success in both the dancing scene and in Hollywood, where he became internationally known for the string of performances he did in Shirley Temple films and his starring musical film Stormy Weather (1943). His signature dance move was tap dancing up and down a set of stairs in a very complex way. Popular dancers during the 1930s were the Nicholas Brothers (Fayard and Harold) who popularized highly acrobatic and demanding “flash dancing” which mixed tap dancing with choreographed jumps and even leapfrogs above each other.
While tap dancing entered into decline after the 1940s and 1950s when the entire music genre of Jazz went into decline with the arrival of modern rock and pop music, tap dance continues to evolve. The Recent resurgence of tap dance can be attributed to the documentary film “No Maps on My Taps” and the highly successful animated film “Happy Feet”." the article: History of Tap Dancing - Origins of Tap Dance
Top 10 Tap Dancers of All Time
Video from Terry Swoope Videos
"My top 10 video on the greatest tap dancers of all time." from the video introduction
Gene Kelly - Some of His Greatest Work
Video from Paulina The Salsa Dancer
"Born Eugene Curran Kelly in Pittsburgh, 1912, Kelly is known today as a legend of the Hollywood “Golden Era”. A talented dancer, actor, singer, director, producer, and choreographer, he is famous for his graceful dance style, charming personality, and good looks.
Growing up in Pittsburgh, Gene watched a performance by the man he considered “the epitome and the quintessence of tap dancing perfection” – Bill “Bojangles” Robinson – at a local theatre and was mesmerized: “Robinson was a great star,” recalled Gene, “Nobody could get the ease and the grace and the sound that Bill Robinson got. I’ve never heard it quite that clean and clear again…I was very fortunate to be a young man coming along learning dancing when he was around.”
Kelly opted to study journalism at Pennsylvania State College, but the 1929 Wall Street crash forced him to work to help his family. He created dance routines with his younger brother, Fred, to earn money in local talent contests and nightclubs.
In 1931 Kelly enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh to study economics, while his family opened a dance studio in Pittsburgh where he taught in his spare time, as well as being involved with a theatre group at the University. In 1932 his family renamed their studio The Gene Kelly Studio of Dance and opened a second location in Pennsylvania in 1933 – the same year Kelly graduated. He was accepted into the University of Pittsburgh Law School but quit to pursue a career as a dance teacher and full-time entertainer after two months. In 1937 he moved to New York in search of work as a choreographer, but after little success returned to Pittsburgh to choreograph the musical revue Hold Your Hats in April 1938. Robert Alton was staging this performance, and invited Kelly to return to New York in November 1938, was as a dancer in Cole Porter‘s Leave It to Me! In 1940 he got the lead role in Rodgers and Hart‘s Pal Joey, again choreographed by Robert Alton, which was a huge success, and the catalyst for his Hollywood career.." from the article: Gene Kelly
Most Famous Tap Dancers: List of Top 10 (Male & Female)
Tap dancing is always all the rage thanks to its unique energy, spunk, and originality. And, good tap dancers are always appreciated because they bring lighthearted performances on both the big screen and community productions.
Here we provide you with a list of the world’s famous tap dancers, who bring inspiration to people who love this classic genre.
1) Savion Glover
Savion Glover is the most famous tap dancer in the world, born in 1973 in America. He is also a choreographer and an actor. He graduated in 1991 from Newark Arts Secondary School.
At first, he chose the “young and funk” style. He defines funk as the bass line. He thinks it is what keeps people rolling with the beat. His teacher – Gregory Hines – who is also a tap dancer, once said that Glover is the best tap dancer of all time. He has the ability to take old-school moves and then upgrade and change them to fit his unique style.
Savion Glover is outstanding thanks to his ability to learn really quickly. Moreover, he is taught by a lot of legendary tappers such as Jimmy Slyde, the Hines brothers, Sammy Davis Jr., LeTang, Howard Sims, and more.." from the article: Most Famous Tap Dancers: List of Top 10 (Male & Female)