Tap Dancing

Tap or Tap dance is one of the most popular dance routines today. This type of dancing is defined by the percussive sound made by the metal plates -- called taps -- on the shoes; thus called tap dancing. Due to the musical quality of the sound made by the shoes, performers are described as both musicians and dancers that keep their audience glued to their performance.

Types Of Tap Dancers

There are two types of tap dancers -- the tappers and hoofers. Tappers are made distinct with their upper body and footwork. Dancers of this classical tap dance are often seen blending their footwork with upper body movements similar to that of jazz and ballet. Tappers are more popular in live performance and shows.

Hoofers, on the other hand, are more focused on their footwork than upper body movements. They use very little arm and body movements during performance. Also, the hoofer's footwork is said to create more accented tapping sounds than tappers. This type of tap requires complete control over your footwork.

History Of Tap

Tap dancing has a very involved history. According to historians, the origin of tap dancing is influenced by dancers from England, Ireland, Africa, and Spain.

England's version of the tap is called the Lancashire Clogging. Modern-day tap is also quite similar to Irish performance and social dances, like the Sean-nos and "stepdancing" -- as seen in the performance of "Riverdance" in 1994. The intricate footwork of the Juba dance of Africa also influenced modern-day tap dancing; as well as the Spanish Flamenco.

Despite its lack of accurate historical background, tap dancing has been in the limelight of many performance and events in the early 1900's. From 1930 to 1950, tap has made it into broadway shows, movie flicks, and even television series that is quite popular even today. In most cases, experts agree that tap is a blend of cultures as dancers spread the art to different countries around the globe.

Tap Shoes

The shoes for tap dancing are simple footwear commonly in colors black or brown with metal taps on both heels and front. White is also a favorite color for stage performances. Though shoes with heels are preferred due to the sounds they make that goes well with intricate footwork, many have found flat shoes to be comfortable as well and is a common choice for simpler tap routines. Also, tap shoes should have a snug or tight fit on the dancer's feet for better control over their footwork.

Taking Classes

If you want to learn tap dancing then it is best if you take classes where instructors can fully supervise your movements. This dance routine might look simple at first, but the intricate footwork takes a lot of practice to master. In most cases, instructors would often start with warm-up exercises and stretching before moving on to basic tap movements for dancers to produce tapping sounds and avoid excess taps. Classes would normally take an hour and a majority of the time is spent producing quality tap sounds and mastering your footwork before moving on to more complicated dance routines.

Swing

For people who don't know, 'Swing dance' is actually a form of dance style that is directly associated with Jazz's swing music in the 1920's to 1940's. Swing Jazz actually refers to the type of music that uses a blend crotchets and quavers, mostly from West African and African American music and dance. These syncopated timing, which are generally quarter and eighth notes, are regarded by most dancers as 'steps' and 'triple steps'.

There are actually a lot of different swing dance styles that have developed from the original 'Swing' dance. Each locality actually has a different definition for their 'swing dance' and uses their own version of what 'appropriate' music they should use to accompany it.

History

The origin of swing dance actually dates back to the 1920's when the black community discovered Lindy Hop and Charleston as they were dancing to the smooth music of Jazz. Jazz clubs gave an opportunity for dancers to explore swing dance, and pretty soon, different styles of swing dance were created. One of the more popular dance styles is the Lindy Hop, which was one of the very first swing dance styles discovered. Now, you have a myriad of different swing dance styles.

Styles Of Swing

The evolution of swing dance and swing dance music has opened new doors for new dance style to be developed. One of the earlier dance styles of swing is the Savoy Swing, which is a casual-looking style of swing dance that employs a fast and jumpy action. The Lindy Hop, which is another, more popular form of swing dance style, is a much smoother dance style as compared to Savoy Swing.

East Coast Swing is a 6 count version of the Lindy Hop, and is popular among dance schools. Whip is a form of swing dance that involves the leader spinning the follower to move him or her to another dance position. A swing dance style that is used for competitions in the United States is referred to as the Jive. These are just some of the different styles of swing dance. There are actually a whole lot more.

Swing Music

Most of the development in different swing dance styles can be attributed to the different trends and influences in popular music. There are actually a lot of different music that influenced the different styles, such as traditional jazz music for Charleston, swing music for the Lindy Hop, and Pop, R&B, Funk or Blues are used for West Coast Swing.

Swing Competition

There are basically four formats for swing competitions. With the classic format of competition, a couple would dance for a previously choreographed song, but with restrictions and limitations to their drops, lifts and moves. A showcase is the same with the classical format, but they are not subject to much restriction. A strictly format employs a no pre-choreographed steps rule, wherein the competing couple dance to randomly selected music at various heats. Jack and jill is the last format, and it randomly matches partners with each other.

Criteria For Judging

There are basically three criteria for judging, and those are the timing of the dancers in terms of rhythm and tempo of the music, teamwork in terms of how the lead and the follower dance together, and technique in terms of the precision of the dance moves.

Salsa

There are actually a lot of different ballroom dance styles that are gaining more and more popularity in recent years, one of which is Salsa. Although this particular dance style is more popular in Latin America, it is also gaining more and more popularity here in the United States, especially with the ballroom dancing community. If you don't know much about this particular form or style of dance, then just continue on reading this article.

What Is Salsa?

For those people who are not aware of what Salsa is, it is actually a style of dance that originated from Cuba, and is well-associated with music that has a lot of Salsa flavor to it. Although normally, Salsa is performed with a partner, a person can actually dance Salsa as a solo. Others even perform line dancing to Salsa music and Salsa dance style, while others dance Rueda de Casino, wherein a big group of people would dance in a circle and exchange partners during the dance, so you don't necessarily keep a single or particular partner all throughout the dance. Sometimes, Salsa can even be performed with a set routine, all depending on how they use the music and the dance style.

History

Salsa actually originated from Cuba, but was introduced to New York by Johnny Pacheco during the 1970's. Johnny Pacheco was actually the Fania All-Stars creator, and they help bring Salsa to the United States. The music of Salsa can be dated way back in the 1950's, but was popularized in the United States in the 1970's.

Salsa Movements

Salsa dancing employs a left-right-left-pause and right-left-right-pause movement style, wherein the left-right-left and the right-left-right steps are done for three beats each, and the pauses are all done in one beat, totaling to eight beats. This is why Salsa is considered to be an eight-beat music dance style.

Sometimes, Salsa dancers employ certain forms of flourish during their pauses, whether it is a kick by the lower leg or a stomp. This is done to add more flavor and flare to the routine. Unknown to many, Salsa dancing is actually a stationary form of dancing, which means that there is very little movement being done by the dancers around the dance floor. The translation of movement in their dance is actually conveyed through their hands and subtle leg movements.

Salsa Music

In order for dancers to be able to dance Salsa, they need a certain type of music to go along their routine. Usually, Salsa dancing needs music that is within the range of 160 beats per minute to 220 beats per minute. Salsa music is actually based the Clave rhythm that is used by the African percussions that are used in most Salsa music. An example of African percussions is the conga drum, which is very common in most Salsa music.

Salsa Dance Styles

There are actually a lot of different Salsa dance styles, each one characterized by the locality where the dance style was developed. Since Salsa is a very fluid style of dancing, it is easy to see how these different Salsa dance styles would develop into what they are. Some of the different Salsa dance styles are New York style, Puerto Rico style, Panama style, Dominican Republic style, and Nicaragua style.

A Little History on Partner Dances

Dancing is an art form that has continually evolved over the years but it has been deeply attached with humans and society. Hence, partner dances have become an integral core of this art form and might even have deep spiritual, cultural, or social meaning, depending on which particular part of the world it originated.

In the case of partner dancing, two individuals perform coordinated dance choreography. However, there are some dance forms that require each partner to perform individually.

Concept of Leader and Follower

Just like in a social setting, partner dances also incorporate roles into each participant. The man is often assigned as the 'leader', while the woman is the 'follower'. These two individuals maintain a connection all throughout the dance, thus making it more of a social experience than just a simple act of dancing.

Types of Dance Partner Connections

There are different types of connection that is established between two dancing partners during a particular dance routine. Below are two of general forms of connection between two dancing partnerrs:

' Dance handhold. In this type of dance, the connection between both partners is rather loose.

' Dance frame. In other types of dance connection, there is body contact involving that connection. Hence, there are certain restrictions to your body position during dance sequence. A dance frame is relegated to each dancer, which makes it a crucial concept to each dancing partner.

Dances with Same Sex Partners

The typical idea with partner dances is that it often involves two individuals of the opposite sex, which is a type of dance involving man and woman. But there are various types of partner dancing that involve two individuals of the same sex, particularly in several western societies.

It is still treated unusual by outsiders though, while the idea of both women dancing together is more acceptable as compared to that of two men. But as more of these types of dancing are becoming more prevalent, this has been gradually accepted by the general society, especially in social situations wherein there are insufficient partners of the opposite sex. Such dances do not even take into account the sexual orientation of individuals involved during dance, while most have adapted a 'comedy value' to them.

Double Partner Dance

In this type of partner dances, there are three persons involved and dancing together. It could either be one man with two women, or one woman with two men. This type of partner dancing is only done for social dancing with significant demographic disproportion amongst the two sexes. Hence, this was quite common during the years of war wherein there is not enough women in the army, or the civilians only had women as dancers.

It was not until during the 1980s though that double partner dances was officially acknowledged as a type of partner dancing. It quickly became popular amongst Hustle, Swing, Ceroc, and Salsa dancing communities. In most cases, only one serves as a leader and the two other dancing partners are mere followers. Nowadays, you will also find several folk dances that are partnered after this setup, but it typically involves one man and two women.

Mambo

A lot of people, especially those that are very interested in taking up ballroom dance lessons, are always looking for places wherein they can learn how to dance mambo. Though most of these people know that mambo is a form of dance style, not all of them know anything else about the dance style.

If you ask them what else do they know about mambo, aside from the fact that it is a certain type of dance, they probably won't be able to tell you anything else, much less describe clearly how the mambo dance style is performed. Fortunately for you, this article will provide you with some information about this particular dance style. If you want to learn more about it, simply read this article.

Mambo Dance

For those of you who don't know, mambo dance is actually a popular style of dance that exudes sensuality. This might probably be one of the reasons why a lot of people want to learn how to dance this particular dance style. This particular dance style is actually rooted to Cuban and African rhythms. The name itself actually refers to a certain type of drum called the Bantu drum. These drums were normally used during sacred rituals, hence the name mambo, which literally means 'conversation with the Gods.'

History

The mambo dance style is a Cuban or Latin dance style that is directly associated with mambo music, which was created by Cachao and was popularized in the United States by the different Jazz musicians that were playing in different casinos back in the 1930's. This was the music that was used to entertain the customers that visited these casinos. Perez Prado then came up with the mambo dance style as he was figuring out what type of dance to use for mambo music. The mambo music and the dance appealed very well with the mainstream American crowd, hence, its popularity. The mambo dance and music was especially popular in New York city, as well as in Miami and San Francisco.

Mambo Style

The mambo style of dance is actually characterized by the dancer's different hip movements being done while he or she is moving back and forth along with the beat. This particular movement would create a smooth motion that follows the rhythmic pattern of the music. The basic mambo dance is translated in music using the time of 4/4. However, there are times that the dancer is required to pause or hold a position. The 4/4 beat is then followed by a quick-quick-slow movement, all in sync with the music.

Modern Mambo

The modern mambo is considered by some as the creation of the New York music and dance scene, especially since some New York dancers added their own flair to the clave of the mambo dance pattern by incorporating steps form jazz, swing and tap into the routine.

Essence Of Mambo

Since mambo is basically a sensual dance, a lot of modern mambo dancers try to incorporate slow but sensual moves instead of fast, dramatic and flowing dance patterns in their routines. In order to truly dance mambo the right way, a dancer must fully understand the sensuality of the dance, and he or she must be able to exhibit it even without the use of flashy moves, but more of graceful and slower dance moves.

Jig

When people hear the word 'jig', they don't necessarily associate it with dancing. For those people that don't know, a 'jig' is actually a form of folk dance that is lively in nature. The name itself, 'jig', is actually derived from 'giguer', which is a French term that means 'to jump', hence, the lively nature of the dance.

This form of dance is commonly associated with Scottish and Irish dance music, but it actually originated from England during the sixteenth century. The dance was actually performed in 2/4 times. Since then, it has taken different forms and adaptation in a variety of time signatures. The 'jig' is actually divided into different forms, all of which would be discussed in this article.

Light Jig

Among all the different types of jigs, the light jig is considered to be the fastest as it is performed in 6/8 times. In this particular form of jig, your feet are rarely off the ground for a long period of time. This is so because the steps in this dance are relatively fast, at over 116 speeds at feiseanna.

Each light jig step can actually vary with each dance school and with each teacher, but there are certain standard steps or movements that can be used in almost all forms of light jigs, and that step is referred to as the rise and grind, or rising step. What you do to perform this step is basically place your weight on your first foot, then raise your second foot off the floor, once you have done this, you simply perform two hops on your first foot, or on the foot that is still on the ground.

As soon as you take your second hop, you then drop your second foot and bring it at the back of your first foot, or the foot that did the two hops. Once you have done this, you simply need to shift your weight from your first foot to your second foot while letting your first foot remain in the air after the second hop. There is usually a small delay during the hop and the hop back.

Single Jigs

From the fastest form of jig, we now proceed to the least common one. The single jigs considered to be the least common among the jig dances because it uses a not so common time signature, which is 12/8 at times, while normally it uses 6/8. This is so because this type of jig follows a musical pattern of a eighth note following a quarter note.

Slip Jig

The slip jigs is considered to be a bit longer than the light jig because it uses a longer time signature than the light jig. The time signature that the slip jig uses is actually 9/8 time, although the dance is performed with a music that has basically similar number of bars to a light jig. This form of jig is considered by some as 'the ballet of jigs' as the dancers often perform this dance while they are high up on their toes.

Treble Jigs

Treble jigs are the only form of jigs that are performed wherein the performer is wearing hard shoes, allowing the performer to do certain moves and steps, such as clicks, stomps, and trebles. Beginners usually do this dance in a traditional speed, while more advanced performers perform the slow, non-traditional treble jig.

Hop Jigs

Hop jigs is probably one of the more problematic forms of jigs to describe, as a lot of people often confuse it with other forms of jigs, such as slip jig, or single jig. Some basically identify this form of jig through its time signature, which is 9/8 time.