Whatever happened to tap?

[mathsmum]

mster m has been keeping himself busy with a week at italia and a week at urdang.

at italia, only the oldest group- 17?18?+ - did any tap - none at all at urdang - not even on his 'west end' course

is tap considered a poor relation these days

[riverdancefan]

Not sure aboutnUrdang, but from experience Conti are usually very hot on tap skills as its requested as part of their scholarship auditions...
My DS like yours loves tap , it seems to come easy to him and would be disappointed if their were no classes in a full week, but then Pineapple did no tap in their summer schools either.
I definately see smaller numbers in tap classes at DS's associate school as opposed to ballet and jazz, shame as its very useable as a professional performer...

[islandofsodor]

Dd has just spent a week at Hammond and they didn't do tap either

My theory is (and I may be wrong) that for non auditioned summer schools they can deal with students like my dd who has never done street dance before or similar but in one week it would be very hard for a dancer advanced in say ballet who had never done tap plus the expense of having to buy shoes just for one week

On the application form we had to say what styles they had studied and to approx what grade. Maybe too many on the course hadn't done tap before.

[mathsmum]

master m is considering urdang youth classes - one sunday a month, which would fit smoothly into his timetable

again, ballet, jazz and mt

won't matter to him that there's no tap- that's his strongest style, so he's less in need of extra lessons- but odd that it ain't included

[Pearl]

London Studio did tap on their summer course.

[Welsh Mum]

My DD is training in Mt and has found few have done tap before, but has been told it is a good thing to have as the number who can do it has gone down in recent years. Something extra to put on cv

[LivingTheDream]

Dd spent a week at MADD and did tap there, but spent a week at RAD and didn't. She said that the girls who hadn't studied tap at MADD found the class pretty impossible as it was ISTD Intermediate standard.

[Itz Me!]

I think its very sad that tap doesn't appear to be at the forefront of dancing here in the UK, as its my favourite to watch. I was slightly disappointed in the "standard" of tap at Singin' In the Rain (although the show is fantastic). My DD and I have just returned from the Edinburgh fringe festival and saw an amazing group called Rhythmic Circus (google them), superbly talented musicians and the tap dancing was the best I've seen. Sadly they're from the US and don't tour here yet...

[Welsh Mum]

I too love tap. I enjoyed Hot Shoe Shuffle many years ago and have seen Tap Dogs 3 times I agree that it is under taught and under appreciated in this country.

[Robin64]

Top Hat at the Aldwych had great tap and I thought it better for tap than Singing in the Rain though I enjoyed that show too. DD did the tap workshop with Top Hat for Kidsweek and enjoyed it. Hopefully it is becoming more popular again. The panto auditions for junior ensemble local to us have asked for tap this year which they haven't done previously.

[Katymac]

DD is about to do her grade 2 tap (& Bronze Jazz) and loves the Tap (my floors may not last)

[Moonshine]

We bought tap mats from Harlequin. tricky to store, but well worth the money if you've got a nice floor!!

[Katymac]

Nah I'm just sending her out to dance on the deck

[Flosmom]

Nah I'm just sending her out to dance on the deck

I like your style!

Deb x

[mathsmum]

we have a large kitchen