Listening down: The future of tap is looking up
—Marda Kirn

When Savion Glover's Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk opened in 1995, it
changed the way audiences think of tap. Now, almost a decade later, Glover,
30, is in the limelight again. In three weeks of sold-out shows at The Joyce
Theater in New York City over the holiday, Glover not only tapped, but sang,
talked to the audience, and wore an elegant suit—a major departure from
his baggy pants, straight-dancing stance, listening down instead of looking up.

Glover brings a genius to tap that has raised the art form to a new level in
the public eye and ear. Dance historian Sally Sommer, who attended a
recent performance by Glover at Florida State University, says, "The college
audience was totally in love with him, almost frantic in its adoration. I've
never seen that kind of superstar response given to a tap dancer."

In fact, his brilliance so dazzles, it is easy to lose sight of other tap energy.
But tap is proliferating, largely owing to the bootstrap efforts of tappers
across the country and now abroad as well. New trends are emerging--from
the way tap is taught, danced, and choreographed, to the places where it is
seen and heard. The art is evolving in many directions, like a great tree with
branches that now reach around the world.

For one thing, women are coming to the fore in what was once a male-
dominated field (Roxane Butterfly and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, the first
female to join the cast of Noise/Funk). Also a younger generation of tap
artists is coming of age and the newcomers have astounding technique.
They're learning faster as people know how to teach tap better. Brenda
Bufalino, one of the pioneers of jazz tap training, says, "There was a time
when we didn't think we could teach this stuff."

Tony Waag, founder/executive director of The New York City Tap Festival,
says that has changed. "The techniques of teaching have really advanced.
The vocabularies have been handed down, analyzed, and dissected."
4. Jazz/Rhythm Tap

In one sense, the medium is being seen as instrumentation. Jazz/rhythm tap,
the style exemplified by Glover, is based more on sound than sight, on
hearing and responding to rhythms than watching and imitating steps.
"Relationships with musicians have changed as dancers have become more
musically literate," says Bufalino.

Opportunities to learn have increased as festivals and intensives have grown
in quantity and quality. The International Tap Association now tracks
twenty-five such events worldwide, many with a depth and sophistication of
offerings nearly unimaginable in 1986, when the festival movement began.
They now play a major role in not only training, but also performance
presentation, and the cross-pollination of styles.

With the rise of this interchange, tap style wars once waged between
Broadway/studio tap and jazz/rhythm tap are subsiding. What originally
differentiated show tap was a more presentational quality where arms and
spatial design and the seeing of tap dancers were emphasized. More
important to jazz tap was the rhythmic depth, complexity, density and the
hearing of tap dancers. Now, as Jason Samuels Smith (see accompanying
profile) says, "We're transcending the labels--Broadway, rhythm, jazz, Latin,
funk, rock tap--it's all tap dancing. It's all about each person's self-discovery
about being a better tap dancer."

Jim Taylor, a tap teacher, columnist, and former partner to Ginger Rogers
and Debbie Reynolds, credits venues for shaping stylistic differences and
creating a distinction between concert and commercial tap. Now, he sees
dance conventions accepting concert tappers as teachers, and concert
tappers becoming more "entertaining." He says, "What tap sounds like is now
more integrated into what it looks like." A good example is the film Tap Heat,
choreographed by Danny Daniels. It consciously marries concert and
commercial tap, and co-stars Samuels Smith and Lawrence Welk Show tall
celeb Arthur Duncan, who dance together at the end.

Originally an American art form, tap is now catching on internationally as the
blend of artistic sensibilities, casts, and musical choices develop into "'world
tap." Chloe Arnold, co-director of the Los Angeles Tap Festival, sees the
Internet as a major influence, allowing tap dancers to get in touch.

Lane Alexander, founder/artistic director of the Chicago Human Rhythm
Project, describes a "Boomerang Renaissance." "Great international artists
have infused the aesthetics of their own cultures into what they've learned
from American tap," he says. "They're bringing together a new combination
of musical and theater traditions, which is then presented hack in the
States." An example is Brazilian-based Valeria Pinheiro of Vata Tap, who
blends tap with legends of Afro-Brazilian deities (orixas).

Meanwhile, U.S.-based artists incorporate international influences. In
California, Linda Sohl-Donnell choreographs tap works to intricate Balinese
compositions. In Minnesota, Joe Chvala's Flying Foot Forum integrates
powerful Norse legends. In New York, Tapage layers aesthetics from French
and Japanese heritages with the music and poetry, of South and Central
America.
Jazz/rhythm tap... is based more on sound than
sight, on hearing and responding to rhythms than
watching and imitating steps.
entrepreneurial artist-founders? The most widely held concern is the lack of
venues outside of festivals. Where are all the artists to perform?

Jimmy Slyde, at 76 now tap's elder statesman, remembers the 1930s and '40s
when tap was everywhere and artists had multiple opportunities to "apply
their trade." In the early '90s, the New York City club La Cave was dubbed
"the University." It was a place where Slyde and other master artists
performed alongside and mentored younger artists. It was where Glover
spoke into a mike for the first time, and where, every week, dancers could
learn to become "personas."

"We [older artists] were just there to make sure things were heading in the
right direction to give them their wings," says Slyde. "It was the schooling
going on that was important. You can improv if you have some tools, if you
have something to improv on. The important thing is to practice," he says,
adding a Slyde-ism, "Always put the 'e' on the end of improv."

Although Slyde, who, along with eight other tap legends, received an
honorary doctorate degree from Oklahoma City University in 2002, laments
the closing of "the University" and the relative lack of venues and proper
respect given to tap as an art form, he is encouraged. "Style has come back
into tap," he says. "Dancers are stepping out into other directions. It's so
healthy." He embraces it all--"so long as the dancers have something to say."

Marda Kirn was a founding director of the Colorado Dance Festival and is director of the
International Tap Association

Thanks to audiences galvanized by Glover and
others, and the release of new books, videos, and
films like Chicago, tap has become increasingly
prominent. But along with the growing visibility
come concerns from the field. Many fear that tap
is being taught without proper attention to
musicality, tonality, rhythm, shading, or stage
presence; that dancers do not know what to
express with their strong technique; and that not
enough emphasis is given to understanding the
root influences of tap and its history, particularly
its African heritage. How can tap institutionalize
into company, presenting, and producing
structures, so that organizations live beyond their
Honi
Coles
Happy 40th Birthday, Marian
Jason Samuels Smith
Arthur Duncan, Fayard
Nicholas, at 2004 screening
of Tap Heat
Savion Glover
Gregory Hines
Gregory Hines
Jimmy Slyde
The Danny Daniels
Dance America Company
(Daniels is second from left)