What Is a Tap Jam?

When we talk about tap dancers getting together to jam, this is what we're talking about.

What makes tap dance different from a lot of other dance forms? The fact that improv and musicality are such an important part of it. Tap is one of those rare art forms where there are opportunities for dancers to dance outside of the boundaries of choreography or standard combinations. And when tap dancers jam, they're not just dancing, but also acting as percussion. Tappers are essentially drummers when you think about it.

So, what is a tap jam? A tap jam is an informal, no-pressure gathering of tap dancers (and sometimes also tap enthusiasts) where dancers share our love of the form, pay homage to the tap dancers who made the art form what it is today, express ourselves through tap, and trade steps... and maybe even challenge each other to a sort of battle that can involve call and response or trading flash steps. A lot of tap jams have a live jazz trio playing the tunes, but there are plenty of jams where dancers shuffle, flap, and ball change to recorded music (usually jazz and swing).

Sometimes calm and sometimes crazy, tap jams are created fresh each time by the dancers who participate, and so they never look the same from one jam to another. What all tap jams have in common, though, is that the atmosphere is encouraging, supportive, and friendly. A tap jam - especially if it's an open jam - should be a safe space where tappers of all levels feel free to experiment and see where their feet take them.

One thing that you should know is that not all tap jams are open. Buster Brown ran tap jams in NYC until he died in 2002, and his weekly jams were notable for the fact that anyone with a pair of tap shoes on was welcome to take a turn. That's quite different from a lot of jams, where participants are chosen in advance and the lineup may include well-known tap dancers. These jams usually have an audience and are run more like a show.

P.S. Want to learn a few tap steps on your own time before going to your first tap jam? Check out my tap tutorials!

Want to learn to tap dance? Tap instructor Christa Terry teaches kid, teen, and adult tap classes at Dance Enthusiasm in Salem, MA! 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, Christa knows you can do it!

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