...In Wondering Where All The Tap Dancers Have Gone?

[Mysterian]

When I was younger, so much younger than today, they were everywhere. You couldn't switch on the telly without seeing one. Roy Castle, Lionel Blair, Bonny Langford etc. Everywhere. No light entertainment show was complete without tappy-tappy-tappy-tappy at some point. And Brucie would do his bit. And The Roly-Polys.

It's all ballroom now. What happened to them all?

They’ve shuffled off their mortal coils.

I tap dance. Covid ruined the whole going to class thing, but I've done it for over 30 years. Not likely to get on the telly mind...

On furlough?

I wonder the same thing about hitch-hikers.

I think the big change was in the mid 80s. Maybe a lot went to the Falklands and came back with a less tappy-tappy-tappy view on life?

Good question. I'd love to see a good tap routine.

Also Goths. I miss seeing Goths.

Maybe they all switched to Modern.

I was going to tap classes before Covid. Thought I'd practice at home and within five minutes had caused loads of damage to our wooden floor.

The classes haven't restarted, I really miss them.

So underground amateur tapping goes on, just the the professional type.

It seemed to fade out when Michael Flatley came on the scene, dropped the arms and called it Riverdance!

Know what you mean, I used to love a good musical number when they would break into a tap dance. Always wondered how they strolled around the stage beforehand without making tappy noises!

Rosewood, I am clearly less analytical than you! I just accept tapping when it occurs!😂

You need to lobby for tap to be included in Strictly! You’re quite right - it seems to be a dying art but we have the movies of Gene Kelly to sustain us.

Don't go looking for anything worthwhile on television. A quick web search showed up plenty of contemporary tap dance shows. If you want to watch on screen, look out classic movies like Stormy Weather, with the most incredible routine by the Nicholas Brothers: .

I'm a tap teacher! It exists, just not mainstream.

Well, back in the day it was "modern"...

Singing in The Rain was the Hamilton of it's day.

The way Hollywood stars now have to do stunts, the stars of yesterday had to tap. If you couldn't tap, you couldn't be in the MGM musicals. Or the variety shows in the local theatres or performance circuits. The big stars all learned to do it.

Over time it's been replaced with other styles.

It's never "gone away", it's just not seem as cool or popular enough to be mainstream.

It still goes on at dance classes all over the world. There are still tiny tappers of 3 and adult tappers in their 80s. Musicals like 42nd Street and Anything Goes still do well and have showstopping tap centric routines.
It's still a skill that takes years to perfect.

It's still a "street dance" in parts of the US.

But in terms of the dance world and mainstream performing arts, it's just not as favoured as other styles anymore. There are trends...at the moment its all commercial heels/voguing/pose classes or acro dance or socially bachata...contemporary/lyrical is more popular than tap.

Trends change. Dance evolves.

I'm sure, like Burlesque, it will make a comeback eventually. But maybe not for a while yet.

It will take a big Greatest Showman type of film or a genuinely amazing troupe on a talent show to make a big impact.

I sometimes have a golden Hollywood musical on.

Whenever there's tap dancing the kids are... ???!!! Why?

I suppose these things go in cycles? They'll be back!

I think amateur and classes etc are still popular.

Thinking about it there is no kids tap dancing about. Don’t see much “modern” either as it was described when I did dance lessons. My kids dance place offers lyrical, street dance, ballet, ballroom and cheer dance. It’s the beginning of the end for tap I fear.

Maybe it should try for a more "street" feel. Like breakdancers from the early years would stick down a bit of lino and do their stuff, maybe tap dancers could lay down a bit of laminate flooring in the precinct and bust a move or 3?

I like Gene Kelly but ..Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are the ultimate dancers for me, including their tap routines. Astaire's inspiration were the Nicholas brothers.

FatOaf got there first!

I’ve been watching a lot of film history documentaries on Sky Arts. In one about Gene Kelly, someone made the point that Astaire had elegance but Kelly had sex appeal.

@Mysterian

Maybe it should try for a more "street" feel. Like breakdancers from the early years would stick down a bit of lino and do their stuff, maybe tap dancers could lay down a bit of laminate flooring in the precinct and bust a move or 3?

Tap Dancers have been doing exactly that for 100 plus years. It's really, at it's core linked with the Black community and in the Black community it's never died out as a form of street art. Especially in places like Harlem.

Many of the mainstream names Kelly, Astaire even Shirley Temple learned from African American tappers who didn't get to become as famous as the white movie stars of the day. We'd have none of those big Hollywood Golden Age routines without the Black street artists of the 20s and 30s.

And as a street art, it never died out.

OP