| Keeping time is an integral part of a tap dancers ability to stay with the rhythm or conceived mental rhythmic structure you are trying to create from the total absence of music. In order to teach new dancers how to achieve good time keeping the time step evolved, and was adopted as one of the first important disciplines a tap dancer learned after completing the basic step training. In the old days the time step formed the main foundation of tap routines and was performed with great style and elegance. Later on dancers broke out of the usual and started adding there own touches to the time step routines they performed until the time step could no longer be recognised as a time step and it was no longer noticeable in the performance. It was about this point in the evolution of tap that the jazz tap dancer emerged, although improvisational tap must have existed long before this time. |
| I have always admired the way the old Be bop tap dancers were able to roll along to the beat as if they were playing a drum roll in time with the music. This was what I strive to achieve and once you have it, it is very satisfying. The Be Bop tap style is seldom seen today, mainly because it is not that aesthetically pleasing, however to any one of the tap fraternity it is a wonder to behold. There were many tap masters who were able to express both improv rhythm and grace and style in the upper body, these are truly masters of tap. |
| This style of taping on every conceivable beat was once very popular and one of the great masters of this technique was Bunny Briggs, who was known to be the man with machine gun taps. I love this type of tap dancing, it is much more rewarding than just rolling out a four bar riff. |
| Development of a fluid style is the key to adapting your improvisation to any progressive jazz or today's popular music. A total unconscious state of mind while tapping is needed to enable the mind to concentrate on the rhythms ahead, as with out it the speed of reaction to action becomes slower. |
| Up tempo music needs fast reactions or you'll find your self left behind the beat creating an unwanted syncopation. You can some times use this to your advantage as shown here in this next clip, the secret is finding your own rhythms with in the rhythms. |