Warm-up Routine for Tap Dancing

Series Summary

The rhythmic foot stomping we call tap dancing emerged in the 1830’s from a blend of cultures in Manhattan’s original melting pot, the Five Points neighborhood (recently depicted in Scorsese’s film Gangs of New York.) Essentially a blend of African shuffle and Irish jig, tap dance became extremely popular in the first half of the 20th century. The metal plates attached to the bottom of the dancer’s shoes create a percussive rhythm which could either accompany music, or be used as an instrument itself. This popular form of entertainment soon found its way from amateur street performances, to Vaudeville, Broadway, and eventually film and television, where millions were inspired by the moves of Sammy Davis, Jr., Gregory Hines, Fred Astaire, and Gene Kelly. A recent resurgence of tap enthusiasm came in the 90’s with the infusion of new dancers, such as Savion Glover, who began to incorporate a more personal style into their performances, and essentially made tap dancing “cool” again. In this free video dance class, learn how to tap dance as an absolute beginner. An experienced tap dancer will walk you through the most basic steps you need to know to get started. Lessons include steps like the shuffle move and the ball change, as well as basic toe techniques, tap dancing postures, and a practice routine.

Video Transcript

" Hi! My name is Connie Hale. Thanks for joining me here expertvillage.com. Today, we’re going to start off with a few basic stretches before you begin tap dancing, to make sure your leg and your feet and muscle legs are warm. You can start with a simple lunge. Leaning your foot back and stretching it down, making sure that your heel is staying on the ground, slowly slide it back to stretch the calf muscle. Again, do the same thing on the other side. Slowly slide it back so that the calf is stretching. Bring it to the front, flexing your foot, bending on to your left knee, hands resting on that knee, stretching the heel up, flexing the foot, again stretching the calf. Switch feet. Again, you’re leaning on the bent knee, stretching the foot back to stretch your calf. You also want to work on your ankles. We’re going to just a simple circle, circling the foot around. Just pretend that you’re drawing a circle on the wall. Same thing with the other foot, circle around. Very good. We’re also going to work on the arch of the foot. We’re going to start with a toe drop. Just put your toe down with the heel and press the heel to the floor. Toe, drop. This is just going to stretch out the foot and get it ready to work all the fine muscles. Toe, drop, toe, drop. Also, you can up on your toes flex. Anything you’d like to do to get your feet nice and loose is good. Heel and up on your toe, heel, stretching it out, and just give it a good shake. Nice, and loosen your legs, and you’re ready to go. "