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.

HIP HOP

Hip-Hop dance refers to social or choreographed dance styles primarily danced to hip-hop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture.

Hip-Hop dance has over 30 years of history with the first professional breaking, locking, and popping crews forming in the 1970s.

Main hip-hop dance styles: breaking, locking, and popping. Theses styles are the oldest and most established of all the hip-hop dances.

Locking, originally called Campbellocking, was created in Los Angeles by Don Campbell and introduced to the country by his crew The Lockers. Modern locking looks similar to popping and thus gets confused with popping all the time. In locking a dancer holds their positions longer. The lock is the primary move used in locking. It is similar to a freeze or a sudden pause. A locker's dancing is characterized by consistently locking in place and after a quick pause moving again. It is incorrect to call locking pop-locking.

Popping was created by Sam Solomon in Fresno, California and performed by his crew the Electric Boogaloos. It is is based on the technique of quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk in the dancer's body, referred to as a pop or a hit. Each hit should be synchronized to the rhythm and beats of the music.

SALSA

Salsa is a dance for Salsa music created by Spanish-speaking people from the Caribbean. Salsa dancing mixes African and European dance influences through the music and dance fusions that are the roots of Salsa.

Salsa is normally a partner dance, although there are recognized solo forms, line dancing (suelta), andRueda de Casino where groups of couples exchange partners in a circle. Salsa can be improvised or performed with a set routine.