TAP DANCE

Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by a tapping sound that is created from metal plates that are attached to both the ball and heel of the dancer's shoe. These metal plates, when tapped against a hard surface, create a percussive sound and as such the dancers are considerd to be, somewhat, musicians.

The influences of tap dancing may include:
Clogging, where there may be no accompanying music, just the noise of the shoes
Step dancing in general.
Stomp dancing, where the sound of other objects are used to enhance the stomping sound of the foot
Masters would often challenge each other to be the best dancer and win students
Juba Dance a very quick and competitive dance involving intricate foot work, hand clapping and patting the bum
There seems to be no historical evidence of percussive (heel toe) dance footwear in this culture
predating tap.

Tap dancers make frequent use of syncopation. Choreography typically starts on the eighth or first beatcount. Another aspect of tap dancing is improvisation. This can either be done with music and follow the beats provided or without musical accompaniment, otherwise known as a cappella dancing.

Common tap steps include the shuffle, shuffle ball change, flap, flap heel, cramproll, buffalo, Maxi Ford, single and double pullbacks, wings, Cincinnati, the shim sham shimmy (also called the Lindy), Irish, Waltz Clog, the paddle and roll, stomp, brushes, scuffs, and single and double toe punches, hot steps, heel clicks, single, double and triple time steps, riffs, over-the-tops, military time step, new yorkers, and chugs. In advanced tap dancing, basic steps are often combined together to create new steps.