Hello to All and welcome back!
And now we find ourselves suddenly in November – can you believe it!?
Anyways – over the course of this year I have found myself teaching masterclasses , examining my Tapatak Oz programme and also running tap auditions for various events etc. And the one thing that has really struck me is how serious the children can be in these situations!
Now of course – you can expect people to be a little nervous when in a class with a guest teacher, in an exam room or in an audition situation, but nonetheless I think it is of paramount importance to remind our students that TAP IS FUN! And at the end of the day – if they are not showing us the JOY OF TAP – then everything else is a little lost!
You can have all the tricks and technique in the world – but without a true connection to ” why you are tapping in the first place” – it is all a real waste of time. If the student can not show their love and passion for tap, then the audience will not feel and experience that love and passion either!
To combat this – I now say to all my students:
Feel The Joy!
Be The Joy!
Show The Joy!
It is just so important in all genres of dance.
But I feel it is especially relevant in tap, as the connection between the rhythm coming out of the dancer’s feet and their personality, is just so important in transferring the dance to the audience effectively!
So today, I simply invite you to really inspire your students to work on their showmanship and personality, alongside their technique – and the more you allow them to bring elements of themselves into their tapping, the happier they will be.
True – some children can be really shy at first. But once you convince and encourage them to let go and really ” show their JOY ” for TAP then I have found they really go from strength to strength embracing this JOY!
Every single step needs to show ” why they are there tapping”!
So perhaps you can even ask them some of these rather revealing questions at the end of tap class one day:
- Why do you come to tap class?
- What do you love about tap?
- Who inspires you in tap?
- What is your favourite thing we have done in tap this year?
- What is your favourite tap step and why?
Perhaps they can even think about it for a while – or you can give them the questions written on a sheet of paper to bring back the following week? Like a class tap project ha ha aha!
I ask these questions at the end of all our Tapatak Oz exam sessions and the answers are really quite surprising and insightful.
And they may be for you too! So I invite you to take the time out of class to ask these questions one day! The answers are really varied and truly demonstrate the myriad of reasons a child may have for being in tap and what they are taking from it!
Answers I have had include:
- Because I love all my friends here at tap OR it helps me destress from school
- I love making loud noises OR I love tap because it’s the only place I feel that I can be me
- You inspire me in tap Ms Christine OR well – I watched this really old film and there were these two men tap dancing and doing the splits and stuff – it was so cool [ it was The Nicholas Brothers ha ha ah ]
- My favourite thing in tap this year was my tap solo my teacher did for me OR I saw this really cool tap show and loved it
- I love roll throughs cause they are nice and smooth OR I don’t have a favourite step…..I love them all!
So I am sure you can see that these answers give a real insight into ” why ” your students love to tap dance and once you discover this, it brings the class closer together and that sense of shared JOY can really come to the fore.
I really love tap dance and the opportunity for JOY that it brings everyone!
So today I simply invite you and your students to:
Feel The Joy!
Be The Joy!
Show The Joy!
And if you’d like to join our Happy Tapatak Oz Family, just jump online, download the levels you want and get started!
All classes are explained in great detail as if I was right there with you and the VIP area on the website has heaps of teaching tips and updates for FREE to keep you inspired throughout your tapping year!
It is too easy: www.tapatak-oz.com
Christine