Get Ready to Tap It Out

June 27, 2014

Time Square, NYC, all ready for last year’s Tap It Out (photo by Debi Field/ATDF)

Like most New Yorkers, I have a love-hate relationship with Times Square. On one hand, it’s the iconic NYC scape—the place many young dancers picture when they dream of moving to the Big Apple. On the other hand, it’s noisy, crowded and, quite frankly, a little bit over the top.

But once a year, the northern triangle of Times Square—Duffy Square—clears out to make way for a much more enjoyably noisy crowd: the roughly 150 tappers of the annual Tap City festival. Tap It Out is the culmination of a week-long festival of performances, workshops and general celebrating of all-things-tap, hosted by the American Tap Dance Foundation.

Throughout the week, participants from across the country learn the choreography for a massive orchestration of a cappella tap dancers. The rhythm builds through repetition, beginning in unison and then breaking out into cannons and counter-rhythms. On the actual day of Tap It Out, each performer stands on their own platform as they contribute to a very unique city sound-scape.

This year’s Tap It Out will be held on Saturday, July 12, with performances at noon, 1 pm and 2 pm. Best part? It’s free to the public! That’s a whole lot less expensive than anything else in Times Square. So if you’re in or around NYC, don’t miss out!

And in the meantime, check out this clip from last year’s Tap It Out: