Tap / Savion Glover

Savion Glover is currently the most famous and arguably the best active tap dancer in the world. He appeared in films in his teens and was considered to be a child prodigy. Many would have become conceited and would have disappeared overnight but Savion have managed to further improve his initial image and reputation through his hard work and devotion to tapping. His movements are far from graceful but his tapping is extremely fast, clear and precise. Sometimes critics claim that his tapping lacks the nice little flavours of the old school but at this speed these demands are hardly reasonable. In this video extract from Sesame Street, he dances with Snuffy, who complains that "my back half can tap dance but my front half can't". Fortunately, Savion shows him how to overcome these difficulties and the happy Snuffy can go home and show mummy his freshly learned skill.







In 2006, Savion was motion capture dancer for the penguin Mumble in the animated film 'Happy Feet'. Motion capture is a special technology that transforms the data of movement into digital format. More and more video games, films and animated films use this technology. Motion capture uses many cameras which take pictures from many different directions. These cameras capture motions instead of shapes. In the case of 'Happy feet', Savion's tapping was recorded in a studio with a special equipment and this data was turned into animated movements. As a result, Savion's very distinctive style of dancing comes out in the little penguin's dance movements very precisely. In the film the young penguin cannot sing and because of this inability becomes expelled from the penguin colony. However, the little fellow has a real talent in tapping and this starts a series of great adventures. In the following video, Savion and other creators of the film speak about the motion capture technology they used and there are some cool and funny extracts from 'Happy Feet'. Don't get discouraged by the Spanish text at the beginning, the video is in English.







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Tap / Sammy Davis, Jr.

In the previous entry I mentioned the term "hoofers" and briefly wrote about that style and its best known performers. One of them, Samuel George "Sammy" Davis, Jr. (1925-1990) , was an artist with multiple talents: he was an actor, dancer, singer, comedian and musician.












Sammy Davis, Jr.

Sammy Davis, Jr. started tapping as a small child. His father and Will Mastin, a friend of his father, taught him how to dance and he joined their stage act at a very young age. They were called the "Will Mastin Trio. At the age of six, Sammy Davis, Jr. sang and danced in the film "Rufus Jones for President". This short comedy is about a child who becomes the president of the US in his mother's dream. This was Sammy Davis, Jr.'s first ever film appearance. As you can see, as a boy of six he was already able to give a solid tap performance with some pretty advanced steps in it.






During his life, Davis appeared in several Broadway and TV shows and played in numerous films. In the sixties, he was a member of the Rat Pack, a group of famous stars led by Frank Sinatra. He was also one of the first African-American artists who spoke up against racial segregation. After he achieved stardom, Davis refused to work at venues which would segregate. His friends and fellow performers also avoided such places. Eventually, their demands for equal rights led to the integration of several nightclubs and casinos. Davis was very proud of this success.
Among tap dancers all over the world, he is best known for his extraordinary dancing ability and smooth, effortless style on stage. In the next short video you can catch a glimpse of that skill.





One of his last film appearances was in the film "Tap", where Davis plays an old tapper called Little Mo. He tries to convince Max, a talented younger tap dancer (played by another tap icon, Gregory Hines), that he should choose dancing as a future career instead of being a criminal. Although the story is a bit weakened by clichés, the fantastic dancing makes up for that loss. In a mesmerizing scene, Mo and some other veteran dancers have a tap challenge (a kind of competition among top tappers) when Max claims the veterans were good in their days but "they ain't got no legs any more". If you happen to be a tapper you are surely familiar with this brilliant show of great tap dancers. If not, just sit back and relax.






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Tap dance

After so much flying high up in the air, maybe it's time we got back to the ground. This time, I have decided to write a bit about one of my favourite hobbies. Tap dancing, or tapping, is a special form of dancing in which the dancers wear metal taps on their shoes. These taps are attached to the sole at the heel and at the ball of the foot so that the dancer can beat different rhythmic patterns as he or she dances. In order to achieve this feat, tappers need very good balance, a good feel for rhythm, trained but loose ankles and above all, lots and lots of practice.













The origins of tapping are not precisely known. The dance was developed in the United States during the nineteenth century and its roots go back to clogging and African dances. The first great tappers were African-American men but over the years tap transcended the gender and racial stereotypes. One of the first great tappers was Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. In fact, it was Robinson, who took the dance into the movies and who made this art form a part of mainstream culture. His tapping technique and his style were both extraordinary. Look at the following video but be aware of the fact that after seeing Bill "Bojangles" you might easily find yourself looking for a dance studio with your freshly bought tap shoes. I have warned you.






As tapping progressed and found its way to musicals and theatres many different styles evolved. Although these styles are different, there are two schools or main styles from which the other styles have derived. One is more theatrical and 'ballroom-like', in which the dancers use their whole bodies and their arms as well. This is the style that can be seen in Broadway shows and in classical musicals featuring such stars as Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers or Gene Kelly. The other style, called rhythm tap, remained closer to the roots. In this style, the rhythm is more important than the choreography and the body movements mainly serve the precise and intricate footwork. The dancers in this second group are often referred to as 'hoofers'. A hoof is the foot of a horse or deer or other such animal:-) Hoofers use their feet as percussions. Some of the most famous hoofers: Sammy Davis Jr., Sandman Sim, Steve Condos, Gregory Hines, Savion Glover...(among others). The division between the two major styles is not too rigid, some musical routines contain very intricate footwork, while some of the best hoofers perform or performed with an exquisitely elegant style. In this famous choreography from the musical "Singin' in the Rain", Donald O'Connor and Gene Kelly make fun of a language teacher, whose job is to teach them the mock tongue twister "Moses supposes".






Tongue twisters are good to practice the pronunciation of difficult words in connected speech. Some of them are way too difficult for learners of English, but some of them are easier and fun to learn. Here you can find some of those.

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