fostered in urban settings like New York City's Five Points District, where a diverse range of ethnic groups coexisted in close quarters and were constantly exposed to the distinctively urban rhythms and syncopations of the machine age.

Ziva 9R Miss Arsenia class

The Syncopated Rhythm is thought to be inspired by the rhythm of African Tribal Music. When African Slaves were unable to access their traditional instruments such as tribal drums, they resorted to using other methods to produce similar sounds. They realised that by tapping their feet in a specific pattern and rhythm, they were able to create that similar musical beat.

It was in the 1920s that tap shoes were added as a part of the dance. Previously tap shoes were not required to perform this music. This would become the type of tap dance that we recognise today, and was mastered by Dancers such as Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.

https://www.adanceplace.com/history-of-tap-dance/#:~:text=Tap%20dancing%20originated%20in%20the,African%20tribal%20dances%20and%20songs.

In 1905, Robinson forged a partnership—lifelong, it turned out—with agent Marty Forkins, who gave the dancer a golden opportunity: the chance to develop a solo act. African American dancers of the time appeared exclusively in pairs. 

Robinson made the most of his solo act, touring the United States and Europe until he settled in Harlem in 1928. That was the year he landed a role in the all-Black musical revue Blackbirds of 1928, which was staged by a white producer for white audiences. Robinson’s popularity soared.

Tap-dancing high on his toes and moving his upper body with understated grace, Robinson displayed a lightness and finesse never seen before. He shunned the frantic style of his predecessors for a more elegant, precise form of tap.

Robinson’s talent gave him entrée to two worlds—white entertainment and Black entertainment—yet he was never completely accepted in either one. White audiences adored the films in which he co-starred with Shirley Temple or Will Rogers, but his commercially successful roles were modeled on racist stereotypes, such as that of the genial Black servant. Though artistically satisfying, his few forays into Black films—notably Harlem Is Heaven—didn’t make him much money.

Robinson began performing at Harlem’s Cotton Club in the mid-1930s. In 1939, he joined the Broadway cast of an African American musical called Hot Mikado. The white establishment, meanwhile, cemented his celebrity status by naming him honorary mayor of Harlem—and mascot of the New York Giants baseball team. Many prominent African American individuals, however, found these distinctions to be demeaning and paternalistic.

Despite the racial tension that dogged his career, Robinson revolutionized his art, conquered both stage and screen, and triumphed as a Harlem legend.

https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/media-and-interactives/artists/robinson-bill/

He started his career as a vaudeville performer, transitioning to Broadway and Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s. His delicate tap-dance style and cheerful demeanor made Robinson a favorite of both Black and white audiences. He died in New York City on November 25, 1949.