“Imagine if a vocalist sang everything in monotone,” says Michelle Dorrance, whose company will perform its evening-length ETM: Double Down in England and Germany this summer. That’s the equivalent of a performance without a diverse array of flat slaps, deep-bass heel drops and high, tinkly taps—it’s one-note. Tappers “are dancers and musicians, and we have […]
Five women in leather-soled boots sweep their feet across a sand-covered stage, accenting the music in maraca-like rhythms. With its chugs, brushes, heel drops and slides, their movement looks a lot like tap dancing, but the sound is different—scratchier and rougher. This is sand dance. The scene described is from tap dancer/choreographer Melinda Sullivan’s 2012 […]
Oh my gosh, just watch it. A post shared by Napoleon Dumo (@nappytabs) on Mar 5, 2017 at 9:39am PST We have none other than Tabitha and Napoleon D’umo to thank for bringing our attention to this little piece of magic. They posted it yesterday, noting that it deserved to go viral, and they’re 100 […]
Talented tapper Karissa Royster made her Broadway debut this past spring in Shuffle Along, shining in Savion Glover’s stylized, 1920s-inspired choreography. Royster trained at Dance Plus in San Antonio, TX, studying ballet, jazz, modern and rhythm tap, before joining RPM Youth Tap Ensemble under the direction of Barbara Phillips. Since then, she’s performed at dance […]
Tappers! It’s #NationalTapDanceDay, and today the dance world salutes you, your magical musicality, your impressive respect for the history of your art and your infectious love of movement. Huzzah! We have a ton of tap stories in our archives (find them all here!) and we love to put beautiful tappers on our cover (Hi Michelle! […]
They say that “good things come in small packages.” 7-year-old identical twin tap dancers Freddie and Teddie pretty much confirm the old adage. The duo is slated to appear on the talent show “Little Big Shots” tonight at 8 PM, and will likely be tapping their way into everyone’s hearts. To hype up their appearance on the show, […]
Oh hey there, Ansel Elgort. Elgort photographed for Flaunt magazine by Davis Factor You probably know the adorable actor as Caleb Prior from the film version of Divergent—and his new movie, The Fault in Our Stars, comes out Friday. But he’s more than just a thespian. In fact, he started out as a dancer. A […]
Ten years ago, the city of Shreveport, Louisiana, declared April 23 “Jason Samuels Smith Day.” (It’s also the 10th anniversary of Dance Spirit‘s May/June 2004 cover with none other than the hoofer himself.) To get the celebrations started, here are a few videos of the tap master working his magic. We’ll begin with a clip […]