A scene from the show RiverDance is one set on the streets of New York where the Sean nos' – a traditional Irish dance, challenges the African Shuffle. The energy and creative union could only fuse itself into something new and exciting. Thus, some dance historians believe, tap dancing was born around the 1830's when ethnic groups in the bulging immigrant neighborhoods of The Big Apple polished their native steps by showing them off to each other.
It is said that in order to keep the culture of Ireland intact through the years under British rule, step dancers curbed all dance movement to below the waist - so that if anyone peered in through a cottage window, he would not see the dancing. It is an experience to watch an Irish step dancer - graceful in the soft shoes called ghillies and powerful in the hard shoes that create the marvelous battering rhythm. These dancers make what is extremely hard work look easy. Sean nos' dance, the precursor of Irish step-dancing, through the centuries evolved into the more modern toe tapping, battering, thoroughly infectious explosion that spawned Riverdancing. It allows for a bit freer style and is very much unique to the dancer. It is still performed today. However, back in the early to mid 1800's, there was little to no arm movement permitted by the traditional Irish dancer. The dance form was confined solely to the rhythmic movement of the feet. Today, Riverdance and Irish dance master, Michael Flatley have brought more creative expression into step-dancing as an art. Nevertheless, at traditional competitions, called feis', modern adaptations are frowned upon and can cost a dancer points. Traditional Irish-step is rigidly subject to following the detailed steps and sequences set forth by the masters who taught it. There is a strong historical and very powerful cultural element to Irish dance which has kept it in a relatively pure state, especially when being taught to children. The Irish consider it a national treasure. Step dancing requires agility as well as strength. It is not a dance for the faint of heart or weak of muscle.
Tap's Father - the African shuffle, has a surprisingly similar connection with Irish step-dancing. When Africans were taken from their lands, a rich heritage of ceremonial music, song and dance followed them. Their owners were not happy with their cultural expression and thus like the Irish, they were forced to adapt their creative expression behind closed doors. They developed a style of dance called the shuffle since any lifting of the feet would be considered dancing. Thus, they danced using foot shuffles with hip and torso movement. Tap really didn't become the art form that most tap enthusiasts know today until after 1900. Many often included tap into their repertoire; in fact it was a common staple of many shows. Theatergoers would naturally expect that they would see a tap routine or two as part of their night out. William Henry Lane who was also known as "Master Juba" danced the energetic "Juba Dance," which was a mixture of Jig, Clog, Reel, and African rhythms. He is considered the first African American minstrel tap dance; ushering in the change from rhythmic communication to theatrical entertainment.
From the 1880s to the 1940s, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was a major player in both the black and white theater circuits; and in motion pictures. He is credited with changing the earlier flat-footed tap steps to a lighter, more agile tap style, using the balls of his feet. Later, John William "Bubbles" Sublett would use the different sound of both heel and ball to allow more improvisation. The term "Tap Dancing" started to be used around 1928, when the term started to appear in print.
Metal taps began to replace clogs and soft shoes around 1910, giving dancers a cleaner, distinctive sound to their taps. They were later replaced by the lighter aluminum. Today's taps are attached to the shoe heel and toe to allow different sounds from the tapper. For step dancers, the middle of the shoe is untouched to help maintain high speed and good balance. The hard shoes worn in Irish step-dancing have a cleated tap on both the front and back of the shoe. It takes a bit of skill to create the batter effect, but even the youngest dancer learns quickly to master it. In its earliest forms, the cleats were wooden and attached with nails. The dancers created the unique battering rhythm by a rapid tapping of the foot and heel onto a wooden floor or even a cottage door. Tap shoes are very much like hard shoes in their function.
As Vaudeville and the American Minstrels became popular, tap dancing began to move from the streets onto the stage. It became closely associated with jazz music. Eventually movies came onto the entertainment scene and Hollywood greats, like Fred Astaire, Myrna Loy, and Gene Kelly, tapped across giant screens all over America and straight onto the rest of the world. Tap dancing lost a lot of its popularity in the mid 50's, with the advent of Rock 'n' Roll but by the 1980's tap dancing made a comeback. Such entertainers as young tapster Alphonso Ribiero and veteran performer the late Gregory Hines brought the art form back into vogue. Even the late legendary superstar Michael Jackson was into tap dancing himself; and he was a very good one at that.
It is not surprising that when both repressed forms of dance met each other, the catalytic effect would birth a dance that breathes unadulterated freedom. America has had a love affair with tap almost from its conception. Irish step dance is considered Ireland's pride and joy that proper learning of the dance is taken seriously to the point that teachers must be licensed to be able to properly teach the students the techniques. Tap Dance as we know it today is an amalgamation of many different styles of early dance; and even as some non-verbal form of communication. Performers copied various African, Irish dances that focused on intricate rhythms, as new styles and descriptive names were used. Although tap dancing is an innovation yet to be fully embraced today, tap dancing genius Savion Glover, has made tap dancing acceptable and cool for many of today's youth by incorporating today's rap culture into tap form; which has popularized the tap art form known as "Stomp." Tap has indeed come a long way from a form of communication invented by black slaves to becoming an art form loved and appreciated all over the world. Tap-love it or leave it; whatever some may think of it-good or bad- it seems that it's going to be around for a long, long time.
Nneka Ezekwueche