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.
Hoofers are tap dancers who dance primarily with their legs, making a
louder, more grounded sound. This kind of tap dancing, also called "rhythm
tap", came primarily from cities or poor areas. Today this is not the case,
especially with such a wide variety of styles spreading throughout the
world. Steve Condos rose out of his humble beginnings in Pittsburgh, PA to
become a master in rhythmic tap. His innovative style influenced the work of
Gregory Hines, Savion Glover and Marshall Davis, Jr. The majority of
hoofers, such as Sammy Davis Jr., Savion Glover, Gregory Hines, and LaVaughn
Robinson are African American men, although today the art form transcends
racial and gender stereotypes. Savion Glover is the best-known living
hoofer, who helped bring tap dance into mainstream media by choreographing
and dancing for the major motion picture Happy Feet, a film about a tap
dancing penguin. Another well-known tap film is 1989's Tap, starring the
late Gregory Hines and many of the old-time hoofers.
Early dancers like Fred Astaire provided a more ballroom look to tap
dancing, while Gene Kelly used his extensive ballet training to make tap
dancing incorporate all the parts of the ballet. This style of tap led to
what is today known as "Broadway style," which is more mainstream in
American culture. It often involves high heeled tap shoes and show music,
and is usually the type of tap first taught to beginners. The best examples
of this style are found in Broadway musicals such as 42nd Street.
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.
