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Thinking On Your Feet: Why Improv Should Be a Part of Every Tap Class

Most of my tap students (whether they're young dancers or in my adult tap classes) are up for trying just about anything. New steps? No problem. Fast combo? They'll practice. But there's one exercise that tends to make almost all of my tap dance students feel just a little bit terrified. IMPROV!


Why is improv so scary? It's not actually all that surprising. Most dance classes for kids and adults are relatively structured. The teacher shows the students technique, tricks, and combos, making corrections along the way. But when that same teacher asks students to circle up and bust out 16 counts of unchoreographed tap dancing? Even some of the more confident students may be shaking in their tap shoes.

There are a lot of good reasons to jump joyfully into tap improv when your instructor tells you it's time to circle up. Here are just four of them:

1.  You'll Learn to Feel the Music

This is especially important for dancers who don't have a musical background. Musicians have an advantage in tap dance because let's face it, we're dancers but we're also percussionists. Improv can help you get a feel for how music is structured and how tap dance fits in.

2. You'll Discover Your Personal Style
A lot of tap dancers grew up doing very set styles of tap dance - all Broadway or all funky or whatever - because that's all their studios offered. When you improv in your tap classes, you'll start to discover what kind of tapper YOU are when you have the freedom to dance however you want to.

3. You'll Gain Confidence as a Tapper

Improv is such a confidence booster because the ability to improv in the dance studio (whether in a tap class or at a tap jam) is proof that you're a tapper. Now, I'd argue that anyone who puts on a pair of tap shoes and shows up for class is a tapper, but it's nice to know you can dance like no one is watching even if you don't have an instructor telling you what to do.

4. You'll Become a Better Performer

You may never do any tap improv live, but chances are that someday you'll make a mistake on stage. When you've spent long enough doing improv in tap class, you will have no trouble recovering from that mistake because you'll be used to thinking on your feet.


I'm going to leave you with a final thought that may surprise you. In her book 'Tap Into Improv,' tap dance teacher and performer Barbara Duffy wrote, "Improvisation must be PRACTICED."  It sounds kind of backward, but it's absolutely correct. Tap improv is a skill like any other, and it's one that can be learned.

Here's a confession: I used to hate improvising in tap classes because doing it scared the heck out of me. I'd obsess over questions like: What if I messed up? What if I couldn't think of anything to do? What if I looked stupid?

I got over that fear by improvising at home. I'd put on some music and just TAP. Sometimes I tapped slow and sometimes I tapped fast. Sometimes I messed up but no one was there to see so it didn't matter. I worked on feeling the music and expressing those feelings in my steps. I worked on speed. And eventually? I stopped feeling so self conscious and started really enjoying improv. I mean REALLY loving it!

So if the idea of circling up in your next tap class for an improv sess totally freaks you out, why not start by doing some improv at home? You never know where that practice might take you!

Happy tapping!




Want to tap dance? Christa Terry teaches kid, teen, and adult tap classes at Dance Enthusiasm in Salem, MA! More info on our upcoming summer schedule: http://www.danceenthusiasm.org/summer/
Whether you've never put on a pair of tap shoes or you want to get back into tap dancing, whether you're 8 or 80, tap instructor Christa knows you can do it!


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