How to Do a Hop Rattle Seven in Tap Dancing

The hop rattle seven in tap dancing is a hop, shuffle step combination. The step can be done in place or the dancer could move forward simply by stepping to the front when she steps down after the shuffle. Conversely, the dancer could turn the hop rattle seven into a backward-moving combination by stepping down to the back after the shuffle.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Tap shoes

1. Hop on your left foot and then do a shuffle on your right. When you shuffle in tap dancing, you swipe the ball of the foot against the floor as you brush your foot forward and then swipe the ball of your foot once again when you brush the foot backward. The count is "1 and a."

2. Step on your right foot on the count of "2."

3. Shuffle on your left foot on the count of "and 3."

4. Ball-change (left, right) on the count of "a 4." Remember that a ball change is a step, step, with the dancer transferring her weight from the "ball" foot to the "change" foot. Generally, the "ball" foot is located to the back of the "change" foot, which is the case in this particular dance, although you may encounter steps where the "ball" is done to the front.

5. Put it all together and execute the hop rattle seven: Hop shuffle step shuffle ball change. (1 and a 2 and 3 and 4.)

Resources

• Expert Village Dani Rhodes