Intermediate Tap Dancing: Turn Across the Floor

Series Summary

The rhythmic foot stomping we call tap dancing emerged in the 1830s 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.

After a tap dancer feels comfortable with the basic steps and turns, it's only logical to move on to more intermediate moves. In this free video series, a dance teacher will show you how to do a number of intermediate tap dancing moves, including turns, wings, time steps, and drawbacks. You'll learn how to turn across the floor, how to do double and triple drawbacks, how to do wing time steps, echo wings, and jump wings. With these dancing tips and techniques, you'll be well on your way to trying more advanced tap dancing steps in no time!

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Emily Larew, and we are going to learn some more intermediate tap steps. So we're going to start with actually an intermediate tap turn across the floor. So let's take a look at our feet, we're going to go, flap, heel, toe, heel. Okay, try it again, five, six, seven, and, flap, heel, toe, heel, step, then you're going to take your right foot and brush it in front, brush, heel, okay. Try it again, flap, heel, toe, heel, step, brush heel. So make sure you really sit in that heel, to get that last sound in just as strong as the others. So six, seven, and flap, heel, toe, heel, step, brush, heel, flap, heel, toe, heel, step, brush, heel. So again, look at where I'm landing and ending my right foots crossed in front, so I can keep going to the right. So let's take a look at this turning. We have flap, heel, toe, heel, I'm swiveling, step, you're going to finish it up with a brush, brush, heel, okay, to get it to the front. Try it again. Flap, heel, toe, heel, up to the back, and that's half my steps, step, brush, heel. Alright, let's keep going, let's try to do two in a row. Six, seven, and, flap, heel, toe, heel, step brush, heel, flap, heel, toe, heel, step, brush, heel, there you go. And that is your intermediate tap turn across the floor."