Tapography- A Tap Dancer’s Journey, One Step at a Time

If you’re in the North Branford area on Saturday May 28th, check out Tapography- A Tap Dancer’s Journey, One Step at a Time.

Master Classes begin at 1pm and 2:30pm. The show starts at 7. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. It’s going to be a great night of history and performances with many special guests. By the way, you are not only supporting National Tap Dance Day, but helping people in need because all of the proceeds go to Open Your Heart, Help the Community INC. Click the link for more info, call 203-619-1407 or email openyourheart09@aol.com.

Back to Basics

As I have been searching for basic Tap how-to’s, I’ve come across a lot of different videos that I disagree with. There’s a multitude of information on youtube but sometimes the way the material is presented is counter-productive to what I teach my students. Not that the information is wrong, it’s just that I spend a lot of time on specific mechanics and execution that not everyone focuses on. By all means, search tap steps and use these videos to help you learn, that’s why they are there!

While searching I found this video on shuffles with Eli Newsom. He teaches that the movement is down and up (which is what I teach). This is a good technique to practice no matter what your level. Being able to pick your feet up is a key component when changing rhythms and executing tricks and flash steps. I tell my students to work the whole leg and pick their feet up, especially for shuffles and flaps. It’s quite a different feeling if you are not used to it! My first experience with this concept was a long time ago at one of the first years of Tap City. Sam Webber introduced the sliding of the foot and working from the hip to me and it took a long time to fully understand how this worked. But by keeping an open mind and working through it, this concept has helped tremendously when taking class with Brenda Bufalino, Germaine Salsberg, and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards and has cleaned up my sounds.

I have not seen this video series in it’s entirety so I have no idea what else is on it. I like what is presented here in this clip so I would assume it would be worth purchasing. Check out the website at http://www.tapdancemadeeasy.com/

 

Click here to see the video clip!

 

Here is one on single time steps:

 

 

 

This snippet is a good exercise on shuffles. Listen to the rhythm, and remember the difference between a hop and a leap!

 

 

Broadway aka “Shirley Temple” with a twist.

 

 

 

This video is with Heather Cornell. She gives some great advice on understanding music.

 

 

 

Tap City

Now that I have time, I wanted to reflect on my week long experience in New York at Tap City. All I can say is “WOW”!

First off I need to give a shout out to Tony Waag who put together this wonderful event and is celebrating 10 years of producing such an amazing experience for the tap community. Thanks Tony!! Check out ATDF.org for all the happenings!

Secondly, let me tell you about the week. I had the privilege of taking two 4-day residencies. The first was with the amazing Brenda Buffalino and the second was with the incredibly talented Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards. Each class met for 2 hours and 45 minutes and was filled with hard work, blood, sweat, and tears!

Brenda’s class consisted of technique and warm ups that taught us about musicality, rhythm, tone, and how to pick up choreography. If you have never taken class with her I highly recommend it. This woman has an incredible ear and ability to play her taps. Her warm ups are available on DVD and she also has a wonderful book that breaks everything down musically as well as stories about her past. Intriguing. Brenda taught us a piece from the American Tap Dance Orchestra called “The All Blues Tacit Latin”. We were not able to learn the piece in its entirety due to time constraints, but how wonderful is it to know choreography that greats like Barbara Duffy and Tony Waag have performed?! It was a true delight to study with Brenda, and I took away many valuable lessons from those 4 days of study.

Now, Dormeshia’s class was completely different. And equally amazing. For those 2 hours and 45 minutes we learned straight choreography. And it wasn’t easy! The way she teaches is very fast and you are expected as an advanced dancer to be able to quickly pick up choreography. Talk about a crash course for me! It was very difficult at first, but I got used to it. We learned part of “Favorite Things” which was a waltz in 3. Lovely piece. We then started “Smooth Criminal” which was incredibly intricate and fast as all hell! But AMAZING. It is incredible what that woman hears! Lastly we learned “Take Five” which as the name implies, is in 5. I have to say, that is a time signature I have played in but not danced in! It was challenging and interesting, and of course the choreography was difficult.

So we learned all this choreography and performed it at Symphony Space on 95th and Broadway in “Tap Future” the all student showcase on THURSDAY! 4 days to learn all of this! Crazy. But it was an amazing show and I felt very good about my performance. It was such an intense week but totally worth it.

Friday started the master classes. 10 classes in 2 days. The first day was rough on me since it was jam-packed with advanced classes that made you work extremely hard. I started the day out with Katherine Kramer and a nice paced class based on the style of Ralph Brown. I really liked that class and the warm ups, music, and style. Not many people know who Ralph Brown is or his style of dancing and it was exciting to be learning a piece of history.

I then took class with Juan de Juan and learned an intro to Flamenco (and then got to see him perform that evening. WOW!!!!) That class took a lot out of me and i must say to all of you out there reading this TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF! EAT, DRINK, AND SLEEP!!!! I didn’t quite make it through all of the class as I got light-headed and needed to eat. It was very intense and incredible to learn. It is very fast and intricate as far as the weight changes go which makes it so difficult. It is truly amazing to watch and to know first hand how long this style takes to learn!

Next up was Germaine Salsberg. I love her. I love her warm ups (very Sam Webber) and her choreography. She worked on the swing versus straight shuffles and flaps (which a lot of dancers have trouble with). We also did a fabulous 4, 5, and 6 count paddle and roll exercise and improved over it. Very cool and I can’t wait to tweak that one around and use it in my own teaching.

Chloe Arnold. What can I say. Her warm ups were a KILLER!!! But everything made perfect sense. The one thing that really hit home in her class was building up stamina. Work until the point of exhaustion then push yourself harder to finish. So true. I got some great things to work on from her as far as technique goes, good stuff as far as working on tricks, and concepts that I am still trying to wrap my head around. Her choreography isn’t my style and I found it difficult, but was fading fast by the end of class and had to sit out the last few minutes to gather myself together so I wouldn’t have to be scraped up off the floor! That woman is amazing.

The last class of the day was supposed to be with Michelle Dorrance. Sadly she had an injury that prevented her from teaching or performing that night. Total bummer!!! BUT we had Nicholas Young instead. I didn’t have the energy or the brainpower to physically take his class but I got great variations to work on based on the Steve Condos warm up that we all know and love. Nicholas has feet of fury- they move soooo fast and so clean. His choreography looked very interesting and sounded fun as well. I think I enjoyed his class more because I was sitting and listening rather than attempting with a mushy brain!

Then the show “The Main Event”- well, that was one of the most incredible shows I’ve ever seen. Since ATDF now has their own space, they have a bunch of dancers and choreographers that showcased their work. Amazing!!!! Congrats to all who performed. There was also a section for International Tap Dance which was very inspiring. It’s great to see that tap has inspired other countries to embrace the art form and add their own unique flair and style. Then it was faculty time. Can’t say much more than WOW. And I said that a lot!

Then there was Saturday (yes, there was MORE dancing!). The day started off with a fun class from Susan Hebach. Her class was a nice pace to start with and the combo was fun to dance and to listen to. I love when pieces swing with syncopation.

Next up was Tap Improv with Acia Gray. I think this was probably my favorite class of all. WONDERFUL exercises that explored music, tempo, tone, accents, rhythm, and overall expression. I have never taken class with her and I must say that she is an AMAZING person as well as such an incredibly talented teacher. She really knows how to connect with not only the music but also to the people in her class. It was like we were all one. She’s got great positive energy and her class brought me such joy. The biggest concept I took from her was how to establish a groove. This is where I struggle when it comes to improv. I am still a baby when it comes to improv, but to know and understand that simple is not boring is the key to success! Finding a groove is not difficult as one may think, you just have to know how to use simplicity, say what you mean, and use your TONES!!!!

I then had the pleasure of taking class with Gregorie Vandersmissen. What a treat!!! The class was very small and that’s what I loved about it the most. Every other class I had taken so far had between 20-30 people in it, so we had the opportunity to work one on one, which is a rarity at Tap City! In class we worked with a slow tempo and it was surprisingly difficult. Not that the steps themselves were anything new, but the execution made you have to think. We worked in 3/4 and 6/8 which are times that most of us are not used to working in. He also created a beautiful piece to James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s World”. I am so glad I took that class as I learned so much about working with slower music.

Back to Acia. I took her second class and got some more incredible warm ups that focused on time (single, double, triplets). Something I have never thought to do! thoroughly enjoyed that one. Her choreography is extremely percussive (she is also a drummer- and it shows. This woman in incredible). I got a few new tricks to work on as well, and took that last part of class to sit back and listen to what the choreography sounded like. Sometimes for me, I like to sit back because I find that I am too focused on the choreography and can’t fall into it and listen. That’s another challenge for me to work on. But she said something in class that made perfect sense- “IT’S ALWAYS MUSIC, IT’S NEVER STEPS”. I couldn’t agree more. Thanks Acia!!!

Last class of Tap City was with Derick Grant. Love his class. I was expecting it to be harder than it was, but relieved that it wasn’t! We worked the typical D. Grant stuff- I’m still working on those shuffle things where you jump in the air, shuffle, then land- it’s not a wing as you have to take the shuffle at the top of your jump. Learned those in December of last year, still working on ’em…

All in all, Tap City was an incredible experience and I am so glad that I went for the entire week. Invaluable lessons learned and I feel that I am that much better as a dancer. I have new challenges for myself and look forward to tackling them in my downtime, as well as sharing this amazing adventure with my students.

Thank you to everyone who is a part of making Tap City possible, and congrats to Dormeshia, Constance, Acia, and Maurice on your awards and contributions to this incredible art form!!!!

Germaine Salsberg

Saw this link on twitter ( Dance_Teacher ) and had to share it! I took class with Germaine last year at tap city and instantly fell in love with her teaching style. Yes, her class moves quickly like any other NYC tap class, but the way she explains what your feet and legs should be doing really makes you focus on your body rather than slamming out a rhythm. I also had the joy of seeing her company Les Femmes perform at Tap City as well and thought that they were up there having so much fun! The piece they performed had a lot of comic moments and everyone had a genuine smile on their face- you could tell right away that they all absolutely love what they do. If you haven’t taken class with Germaine, definitely make it a point. She teaches at Steps, ATDF, and BDC. Enjoy the article. http://dance-teacher.com/content/technique-germaine-salsberg