Tap Vocabulary
This step is a brush followed by a step with weight
What is a flap
Why/how was tap dance created?
Enslaved Africans were stripped of their drums, they were banned because slaveholders felt they were a means to organize escape or an uprising. Rhythms could send messages across plantations. Rhythm was then created through the body as a way to communicate, a form of expression and a means for resistance
*Bonus Prize Bin for anyone that knows the name of the major uprising that prompted laws to be passed to ban drums and other instruments.
Count a bar of quarter notes, bar of eighth notes, & bar of sixteenth notes
1-2-3-4, 1-&-2-&-3-&-4, 1-e-&-uh-2-e-&-uh-3-e-&-uh-4
This modern tap choreographer founded an all female tap group called The Syncopated Ladies
Who is Chloe' Arnold
Name a tap step that starts with the letter B
ball change, buffalo, break, back flap
Name & demonstrate the 2 different kinds of time steps we discussed in class
what is traditional and conceptual
What is the difference between broadway style tap and hoofer style tap?
Broadway: emphasizes performance & theatrics, story telling, big exaggerated movements, high-energy footwork, etc.
Hoofer: strong emphasis on rhythms, improv, heightened sense of musicality, natural arms
Demonstrate a step performed in a triplet rhythm,
1-&-uh, 2-&-uh, 3-&-uh, 4
This tap dancer was known for his smooth slides and close relationship with jazz music, often performing improvisational tap.
Who is: Jimmy Slyde
Name a tap step that starts with a letter C
Cramp roll, chug, crawl, cincinatti
Name & demonstrate three different types of Paradiddles
paradiddle, double paradiddle, triple paradiddle, reverse paradiddle, 5 count, 6 count,8 count
When is National Tap Dance Day?
May 25th
What is a counterpoint?
What is 2 or more independent rhythms that interact with each other. Layered rhythms that are aware of each other.
*Bonus prize bin if you can name the term when two or more different rhythms are going at the same time, think.... they run together but they don't line up... like triplets over eighth notes
National Tap Dance Day falls on which famous tap dancer's birthday?
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
Name a tap vocab that starts with the letter E
essence, even rhythm, eighth note...
What is a tap jam
What is the name of the tap dancer who has inspired our warm- up and who has created the famous tap rudiments?
Steve Condos
What is syncopation?
the practice of displacing the beats or accents in a rhythm so that strong beats become weak and vice versa. Starting on the upbeat.
Name two legendary female tap dancers.
Eleanor Powell, Ginger Rogers, Ann Miller, Michelle Dorrance, Dormeshia Edwards, Ayodele Casel, Lisa La Touche, Brenda Buffalino, Dianne Walker, Star Dixon, Sara Reich, Chloe' Arnold.
Grab-off, Glide, Groove, Gallop
This term refers to dividing the beat into smaller rhythmic units, such as, quarter notes, eighth notes, triplets and sixteenth notes
What is subdivision
This tap dancer in the mid 1800s, known as the "grandfather of tap", blended African rhythms (body percussion, improvisation, polyrhythm) with European dance styles ( jig and clog). This fusion became the foundation of tap dance.
He performed in minstrel shows
Master Juba ( William Henry Lane)
Sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" crescendoing the intensity in the beginning of the song and then decrescendoing toward the end.
Increase then decrease volume.
Name three tap educators that are currently touring or teaching in the tap dance circuit today.
Michelle Dorrance, Sara Reich, Chloe Arnold, Acia Gray, Ayodele Casel, Anthony Morigerato, Jay Fagan, Jeremy Arnold, Nicholas Van Young, Heather Cornell, Lisa La Touche, Karissa Royster, Hilary-Marie, Kaelyn Grey
This rhythm tap artist's first name contains the letter "x" and he is known for blending tap with Afro-Cuban music. ( Must know first and last name for points)
Who is Max Pollak