Roots of American Tap Dancing

African Drum Beats Reflected in the Percussion of Tapping Steps

Jan 29, 2009

Drum beats were a method of communication for the native African, and thus, were outlawed by colonial slave owners in America. Enter, human ingenuity.

Modern American tap dancing had its roots in the tribal drumbeats of Africa. Slave owners knew only too well that drumming was a form of communication. Fearing rebellion, they outlawed drumming. From the forbidden African drumming and from a plethora of dance styles, tap dancing, as it is known today, evolved.

Early Forms of Tap Dancing

Unknown to the slave owners, Africa's drumbeats were interpreted into a systematic series of taps and shuffles used for communication, which ultimately developed into a form of dance. The performers for these dance steps were known as Levee Dancers in the southern states of America. Their steps were mimicked by white dancers in the minstrel shows, approaching the mid 1800s. This style came to be known as the Shuffle Dance. [1].

"By the mid-nineteenth century, African-Americans had combined their footwork with Irish and British clogging steps to create a style called Buck and Wing." [2].

Buck and Wing

The origins of the Buck and Wing are not known; however, it may have begun as a rudimentary tapping style performed by dancers in the minstrel and vaudeville shows during the 19th century. James McIntyre of New York is credited with the creation of this particular style. The "Buck" aspect of the name is synonymous with a common epithet for black men at the time. The "Wing" is derived from ballet and can-can kicking dance styles.

Other early tap dances were, the Ring Shout (combination of dance and song a mixture of spirituals and field or physical labor calls), the Cake Walk (a parody directed at people who think they are better than others), and the Shim Sham Shammy (steps which include mostly shuffles and ball-changes) are the earmarks of this style. [3].

Master Juba

A creative black dancer, William Henry Lane (1825-1852), was nicknamed Master Juba. His style was a conglomerate of dances popular at the time to include the, "European Jig, Reel Steps, Clog and African Rhythms." [4]. Master Juba's style may have sparked the introduction of tap dancing as a form of American jazz and theater entertainment. [5].

Black Bottom Dance

Supposedly this style originated in New Orleans and was brought to the stage by Alberta Hunter, a famous black blues singer at the time. In the words of the Danville Bee newspaper in an article of December 14, 1926 entitled "Black Bottom Banned in Cleavland", the inspiration for this particular style was a "copy of a bossy cow's hind legs mirred in mud." Other writers espoused other opinions.

According to the entry on Sonny Watson's Streetswing.com, the Black Bottom was "predominately danced on the off beat," and became "the prototype for the modern Tap dance phrasing." It "featured the slapping of the backside [as well as] hopping forward and backward, stamping the feet and gyrations of the torso and pelvis/hips like the Grind, ... occasionally making arm movements to music [or using an] occasional 'Heel-Toe Scoop."

Modern Tap

After World War ll, American tap dancing seemed to lose some popularity, only to be revived during the 1960s. With revival came the recognition of tap dancing as an accepted art form versus just a style of entertainment. Its uniqueness is due to its association with American jazz.

Broadway theater has helped to bolster and support interest in this dance style with productions such as Black and Blue and The Cotton Club. Films featuring tap dance include An American in Paris, Brigadoon, All That Jazz and others. [7].

Tap dancing is uniquely American because of the inspiration of the American jazz component. In 1989 the American Congress voted to make May 25th National Tap Dance Day [8].

Sources

The copyright of the article Roots of American Tap Dancing in Tap Dance is owned by Jeannie Delahunt. Permission to republish Roots of American Tap Dancing in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.