Tap Dancing Basics: The Irish

Video Transcript

"Hi. I'm Emily Larew, and we're going to take a look at the Irish. Not actually the little green guys, but an Irish tap step. Here we go. So we're going to turn around, face the front. We're going to start. An Irish is just three steps. It's shuffle, hop, step. So, we're all going to do it, starting with the right foot. I'm going to have your hands go on your hips so we can have a little bit of control here. We're going to do our right foot. We have a shuffle. I want you to hop on the ball of your foot. Make sure we're not trying to be flat-footed, because it's going to start causing you back pain and knee pain and strain. So, make sure you're on the ball of your foot, keeping your knee slightly bent. So you have shuffle, hop, step. And you put your right foot down right next to it. Left foot goes shuffle, hop, step. Awesome. Try it one more time. Let's put them together without stopping. We have shuffle, hop, step, shuffle, hop, step. And also, what I'd like you to do is, you start feeling more comfortable with the Irish, just keeping your feet parallel. Let's try turning them out as we do our shuffles, because those are what's going to get you ready to travel back and forwards with your Irish. So, we have shuffle, hop, step, shuffle, hop, step, shuffle, hop, step, shuffle, hop, step. Way to go! That was your Irish tap step."