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this was because the style of smooth jazz became more apparent. The Civil rights movement happened and it was a desire to change how minority performers were portrayed. There was a change in music, there was a rise in electronic instruments and people start to move away from large orchestras and jazz ensembles. A musical called  “On the town” helped to decline tap and lean towards more jazz.
1980 - Tap became more popular because of 42nd street and other Performances tried to bring it back. The 1970’s and 1980’s came with tap jam and tap improvisation. It happened anywhere,on the streets and in cafes. People had tap challenges and battles, it became cool to do tap and it was competitive and exciting to be in a tap battle.

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Before starting Addict Dance Academy in September i have never properly done tap before. I have previously done about 4-5 classes during college so i know the basics; for example how to shuffle, hop step and wing. i would definitely say that i am a beginner in tap but can perform the basic tap steps with confidence. While being a tap class, although i don't have much tap experience i would say that i do have some strength that help with tap performance and picking things up. Once visually shown a tap move i feel i can pick it up pretty quickly, as i'm a fast learner. i have pretty loose ankles which is a big necessity to have whilst tapping as loose ankles will enable you to achieve the correct noises. having loose ankles also widens the range of sounds your foot can do, this is because you have beat different areas of you tap shoe correctly. Something that also benefits my lack in tap training is my musicality, i may not be able to preform the tap steps technically perfect but i can do them at the correct timing as I'm matching it with my music and counts well.
on the other hand i do have many weakness as tap is my least strongest style regarding dance, by watching back my tap assessment video i wrote down some downfalls. Starting with sloppy heels, i have noticed that my heels drop when they shouldn't be on the floor. This then creates unwanted sounds and incorrect weight transitions, if my heels is down when its not mean to be this can mean my next step is effected because of the wrong transition. To solve this i will bend my tap shoes and try and make them more flexible, as y tap shoes are near enough new and are quite hard, by making them flexible i will be able to rise onto the ball of my feet much better. Another problem i come across is y shifting in weight, i sometimes have difficulty learning new tap steps due to wrong placement of weight. For example in the video my weight is my left foot and the next step required me to lift my left leg this then delayed the movement. To solve this problem i will try not to lean back or forward as much and center my weight in the middle and have spongy weighty knees, this will then ensure i am grounded and balanced.
To conclude this i feel i have weaknesses that i can easily improve on if i stay dedicated to it. by doing weekly tap classes will help me to gain a good tap technique, i will also consider doing extra tap classes outside of college to expand on both knowledge and technique.

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Savion Glover is an African American actor, tap dancer, and choreographer, and was born in 1973, in Newark. from just the age of four he displayed huge enthusiasm for rhythms and music as he was doing drumming lessons. then at the age of 7 he began tap lessons, tap dance had just come around to Newark and it was a completely different thing, it was Savions mother that took him to a lesson. he then quickly developed a passion of rhythm tap. he loved tap dancing that much that he enrolled to the Newark Community School of preforming Arts, this is where he gained a full scholarship, and he was the youngest person in history to do that. From receiving the scholarship Savion was excelling in tap quickly and his talent was getting noticed, his teacher arranged an audition for him with a  top Broadway choreographer. This led to his Broadway debut at age 10 in "The Tap Dance Kid." From this he made his film debut in 1989's "Tap" along with Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis in 1990, he joined the cast of the children's television series, "Sesame Street."
He then became famous and public in 1996, this is where the public are exposed to a different style and understanding of tap. He was at a very young age when he decided to teach his on take of tap, he was just 14 when he wanted to bring back the old tap style that he thought was lost.
He produced a  musical "Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in 'da Funk" for which he won the 1996 Tony award. This was a unique musical as it had more of a hip hop influence in regarding there basic moves and urban clothes and the set was based on the back streets of New York.
Savion specializes in a tap style called 'Hoofing', this is a tap style that is very grounded and includes very little arm or upper body movements. he helped bring tap tot the media when he starred in 'Happy Feet' and well as the film 'tap' which also had many other hoofers. This style is associated with alot of jazz and soul music.

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Roots of a Tap Dance Legend - Savion Glover

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now tap dance is just as popular as jazz, ballet and commercial and the main product that was helped this is the power of social media. social media account allows people to asses videos, information and facts, it allows people to pick up simple steps via codification. practitioners also gain fame by using social media and gain recognition for their talents, and example of this is the Syncopated ladies, they currently have 31k subscribers on YouTube.

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During this time period tap was rapidly increasing. this was all down to the different styles that was fused into tap which made tap itself more interesting. these different styles were more commercialized styles, for example jazz and even hip hop.
1990s - New musical influences that have helped to differ the different ways of performing the typical tap styles.

Hip hop

Electronic

R&M

Funk

Soul

Rock

Choreographers and companies were trying to be more present and relevant, for example Gregory Hines changed his tap interpretation in the film 'Tap' in 1989. He had attempted to modernize movements in rhythmic tap.
Savion Glover then developed a completely different style which was still tap. By doing this he became extremely well known and took over Broadway in 1984. he created his own style that Incorporated hip hop and funk styles; he calls it free from hard core.

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Nicole Martorana. (2015). Rhythm Tap. Available: http://www.dancetutors.co.uk/rhythmtap.html . Last accessed 27th April 2019.

Chloe Arnold . (2019). How Chloe Arnold Found Empowerment Through Art. Available:https://www.dancemagazine.com/chloe-arnold-2627411752.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2 . Last accessed 27th April 2019.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2018). Minstrel show American theatre. Available: https://www.britannica.com/art/minstrel-show . Last accessed 29th April 2019.

THNKR. (Dec 2013). Roots of a Tap Dance Legend - Savion Glover. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEUO59hBt4Q Last accessed 24th April 2019.

unknown. (Dec 2013). Savion Glover . Available: https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/savion-glover . Last accessed 26th April 2019.

https://www.syncopatedladies.com/ last accessed on the 28th April 2019.

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The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio programme in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies Of The Air. As we can see in the picture all of the ladies are very identical, same hair, same outfits and same skin colour. Although slavery and harsh discrimination was hidden, it would be very odd to see a black or mixed race lady in a large stage production as times were still early ad racism was still strong.

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1900's-1940's

As the more Vaudeville shows were performed the more diverse and different the shows became. More large stage productions came more popular, instead of the soloists and iconic duo's , they shifted away from single acts as it became more interesting to watch a large group of performers. for example The Ziegfield Follies and the Shuffle Along's were extremely famous for performing in synchronized large groups.

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1880’s-1900’s
Vaudeville is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 18th century. A man called Tony Pastor started the format of variety show in New York, in the 1881's. Tony Pastor staged the first ever Vaudeville show and it was a huge success, tickets were sold at 50 cents and gifts of coal and harms were given out. This was the end of the civil was the the extermination of slavery.

At this point performers started to move away from the black face and African American stereotypes.it officially started in 1860, however Vaudeville was very popular it was never as popular as Minstrel shows were.  We also began to see both men and women on stage too. in a Vaudeville show there's roughly 8-12 acts, which consist of singing, acting, acrobatics and topical humor. There was a popularity in tap steps and codification; from my point of view i would say that Vaudeville shows really helped tap to develop its popularity. Going back to the codification within tap, tap dancers would preform easy and teachable steps, this way the younger generations could easily pick the steps up. This is when we give tap steps names, and able to teach others tap steps

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Tap dance originally started off in the 1700's. This is where we find some early examples of step and rhythmic dances from British and African slaves. roughly this time, the African American and Irish American laborers interacted, the slaves danced on the boats to keep themselves occupied and busy. during the 1700's and 1800's Irish and African storytelling traditions and rhythmic exchanges became more popular by wearing clog shoes. the Irish jig came along, Gioube dance and fiddle music. It started off with rhythms that African slaves make and improvised by drumming their feet and hands to make sounds, as the Americans sacrificed the salves instruments as punishment. when improvising/dancing they would articulate rhythmic patterns by shuffling and scooping with their feet.

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1600’s - west African slaves and Irish indentured servants interacting.

people were treated poorly, connected communities, Irish weren't owned like African slaves.

1700’s - African American and Irish American laborious starting to interact.

All born in America

1800’s - African American freeman and Irish Americans interacting

No slavery.

Everyone was a free man. this enabled tap to evolve more and become more popular as people was trying to compete with getting better beats, better tap shoes etc.

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The Syncopated ladies are a all girl tap dancing group from Los Angeles.they are currently the most prominent and commercialized dance group. They originated in America, Chloe Arnold is the creator of the group.  The group focus on rhythm tap, this style focuses more on the acoustic rather than the aesthetic of how it looks.

Chloe Arnold worked hard in school and excelled in sports and social leadership, she was very good at taking the lead.  Chloe claims “I struggled to find my own voice, until I met my first dance teacher, Ms. Toni Lombre. She believed in me and unlocked my soul, passion and rhythm, with the faith that movement would set this scholarship student free.” She makes chloe believe that she could do anything she tried. This bring me on to how inspirational the syncopated ladies are. They are a strong feminist group and help insecure young girl to gain confidence and find something they love. While training with her first dance teacher Ms.Toni not only did she do tap but her teacher make her train in other styles, to make her more versatile.

Ms. Toni's guidance led her to the greatest mentor She could have ever imagined, Debbie Allen. Debbie Allen helped her create the Syncopated Ladies

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CHLOE ARNOLD'S SYNCOPATED LADIES | LIKE A BOY | #TIMESUP

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Early minstrel shows ranged between the 1800's to 1900's.

It featured blackface performers, the aim of these shows was to mimic black people as entertainment for the whites.

Racism was a big thing is definitely wasn't frowned upon but was actually encouraged; as it focused on African Americans and joking about because of their skin colour.  The pioneer company, the Virginia Minstrels, a quartet headed by Daniel  Decatur Emmett, which first performed in 1843. Other known companies were Bryant’s, Campbell’s, and Haverly’s. during there shows blackface performers the Irish would combine tap and the Irish jig whilst dancing. this then formed 'buck and wing' which was a new style invented by Irish clogging and tap being mixed together. there was also black minstrel dancers who were directed by white dancers, the shows were that popular that the main black face dancers toured and performed in different cities.

An early tap practitioner that i have lightly researched about is John Durang.

John Durang (1780’s)

He was one of the first white British American professional dancers to be famous for tap. In his performances he preformed mixed clog steps, elements of ballet, shuffle, back and wing steps. John Durang wore burnt cork makeup, taking to mick out of black Communities. he was extremely popular as white audiences would find him entertaining as he would preform the 'cake dance', Irish jig and mimic traditional African American cultural dances.