A Brief History of Tap Dancing

  


Tap is one of the many styles of dance. From its amazing performers and intriguing steps to its rich history, tap dancing is one of the best styles of dance. 

Tapping originated in the early 19th century by slaves on the plantations. Since the slaves masters took away their musical instruments, they started to dance.

They combined their dances with Irish jigs and then tap was born. Early tap shoes were normal shoes with wooden soles and small pennies glued to the toe and the heel. Nowadays, tap shoes are normal shoes with metal plates instead of pennies. 

Tap is one of the most popular styles of dance now but, before, not many people knew about it. It grew in popularity in the 1850’s - 1870’s but it especially grew during the Civil War. 

Tappers started to pair up with jazz players and make elaborate rhythms and steps. Tap has become more popular as of today and it will probably grow more and more in the future. 

Sometimes, people mix up clogging with tap as they are very similar. Clogging is from the Appalachian Mountain Region and it has some of the same steps and the shoes and similar. 

In conclusion, tap has interesting history and some pretty awesome steps too. 

Kaiden Currie at the World Tap Championships in Riesa, Germany.



 Works Cited

Frank, Rusty. “Tap Dance.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 3 Aug. 2017, www.britannica.com/art/tap-dance. Accessed 12 Jan. 2021.

“From Margins to Mainstream: A Brief Tap Dance History.” University Musical Society, UMS, 21 June 2019, ums.org/2019/06/21/from-margins-to-mainstream-tap-dance-history/. Accessed 12 Jan. 2021.

Hill, Constance Valis. “Tap Dance in America: A Short History.” The Library of Congress, The Library of Congress, 2015, www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200217630/. Accessed 12 Jan. 2021.

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 21, 2021 at 9:38 AM

    I like how you talked about tap and then compared it to clogging. I would love to read more about tap. Can you talk about clogging on your next blog? I would love to hear about that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJanuary 26, 2021 at 10:38 AM

      Sure! I'll compare tap and clogging when we do compare and contrast.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 22, 2021 at 9:39 AM

    I never knew tap dancing was so cool! I might even try to tap dance myself. I wonder how those professional tap dancers dance that fast.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 22, 2021 at 10:26 AM

    I really like your topic! I learned a lot reading this. I loved learning about how the other styles of dance were created. Great job!

    ReplyDelete

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