"The Wing" Step in Tap Dancing

Video Transcript

" Hi! My name is Connie Hale. Thanks for joining me here at expertvillage.com. Today, we’re going over some intermediate tap steps. What we’re going to go over now is what’s called a wing. Wings can be a little harder to grasp. Initially, children just want to slide their feet out, but what you’re going to realize is that it’s two steps at once. A wing looks simply like this. This is a wing, alright. What I’m doing is I’m doing shuffle step with both feet at the same time. Alright, you say that’s impossible, forget it. No it’s not. It’s all a matter of gravity. This is why my arms are looking like a wing. So if I break it down one side at a time, I’m shuffle step…out to the side…shuffle step, shuffle step. A good thing to do to start learning your wing, especially for the little ones, is to lean against a table, the backing of a chair—if you’re in dance class you can lean, you can utilize the bar on the wall to hold for support, so you can lean onto it to get your feet to slide out. Just simply do that; slide your feet out in the side. Outside, just slide them out so you feel how it feels for your feet to slide in and out. It’s also very important to stay low in your stance, so you get your center of gravity here. Now again, let’s say we don’t have a bar, we’re doing it solo, the arms come up to help get your body lifted up off the ground, so you can get two sounds on each side of your body. So, lets’ take it, here’s the wing. Stance is low, my arms going to come up jumping up off my feet, shuffling on either side. Out and in. It almost looks like my legs looks rubbery. Out and in. 1, 2, 3. That’s your wing, good luck! "