Tap Dancing Lessons: Shuffle Ball Change

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 a beginning tap dancer. An experienced tap dance instructor will walk you through these exciting steps that you need to know. These lessons include steps like the digful, the toe stand, the toe roll, the crap roll and running flaps.

Video Transcript

"Now we're going to talk about the shuffle ball change. Shuffle ball change is a component of two different steps: the shuffle and the ball change. First you're going to start by lifting up one foot, shuffle on the right, land on the ball of your foot, and then switch to the other ball of your foot. Now I'm going to show you how to execute a shuffle ball change. Lift your foot, shuffle, step back, and front. Lift your foot, shuffle, step back, and front. Shuffle, back, front. Shuffle, ball change. Now I'll show you how to do it on the left foot. Shuffle, back, front. Shuffle, back, front. The shuffle ball change is typically done a little bit faster when you get more advanced. Make sure to relax your ankles when you're doing the shuffle ball change faster. Shuffle, ball change. Now I'll show you the side view."