Tap Dance: Shuffle

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. In this free video series a professional tap dancing instructor, Rene Preciado, will teach you several dancing maneuvers used in tap dance. Rene will begin by showing several basic moves used in tap dancing. You'll learn the shuffle, toe tap, brush, flap, heel dig, toe pick, scuff, ball change, Irish and even the various forms of the riff walk. Rene will break down the technique and footwork in order for you to grasp how these maneuvers are performed. Rene will then begin showing you how to integrate various tap dancing techniques into your repertoire. You'll learn the buffalo, riff walk and Maxie Ford dancing maneuvers, which will help you surprise all your friends once you hit the dance floor. Watch these few short videos on tap dancing and begin training your dancing legs today.

Video Transcript

"Now we're going to talk about a shuffle. Shuffle is one of the most basic components of a tap step. It makes two sounds, first you start in the back, kick front, and then pull back using the flat part of your tap. You can also do a shuffle faster, you just need to loosen up your ankle, so pull front, back, front, back. You can also do a shuffle to the front, side, or to the back. Now I'm going to do the shuffle to the left side. Starting slow, brush front, back. To the side, you'd go front, back. To the back you're going to kick more to the side. And then faster."