That probably didn't make sense...sorry.
Okay, lemme try to explain it this way. There are ways that dancers define themselves. (ie. I am a contemporary dancer; I am a modern dancer; I am a ballet dancer; I am a hip-hop dancer; I am a tap dancer.) And it always seems like you can -- if you're really looking for it -- tell what a dancer's core training is. Their modern movements always have a tiny hint of the angularity and pulse of a hip-hop dancer, or the tiny hint of épaulement and emphasized turn out of a ballerina. But other than an impeccable sense of timing and rhythm (which most every dancer has anyways), you probably couldn't pick out a tapper from a crowd of dancers.
And that, I think, is why tap is so vastly different conceptually. Because it is so vastly different in practice, from all other styles of western dance. It is also, I think, why tap is so often undervalued.
Without tap I would die. I would seriously just stop existing.
When I was little I took tap in combo classes. Our classes were 45 minutes (I think...it was many moons ago) and we would have half an hour of ballet or jazz, then 15 minutes of tap, all in the same class. Back then, I was not a huge fan of tap. It was okay, but I just didn't really care. So when I was 8, I decided to just stop taking it. I didn't feel I needed it.
But then, I saw how much my sister enjoyed tap. And I loved watching the placement tap dances in our studio's recitals. And I began regretting quitting tap. It looked like so much fun. So, when I was 12 I started again, taking a super, super beginner-level tap class. I still had a decent amount of the tap vocabulary, and I remembered a decent percentage of the basic moves. Within a few weeks my teacher at the time -- Miss Rian -- asked if I thought I could handle moving up into one of her higher level (but still not placement) classes. I gave it a shot. And I LOVED it.
The next year I got accepted into the placement 1 tap class. And from there I kept moving up, and I really started to get addicted to tap. After I had been in the top placement level for at least a year, my teacher at that point -- Miss Amber -- started a tap company at our studio. The studio already had a pre-professional Repertory (Rep.) company, a hip-hop company called Ensemble, and a performing gymnastics company called Exhibition, so Tap Co. joined the ranks. I had been a part of each of these different companies at some point, but Tap Co. really stuck with me.
As much as I love all dance, I cannot live without dance in general, there are some days when I just don't feel like going to classes. But I have never felt that way about my tap classes and our company time. When I would have a crappy day and have a ballet or modern class to go to after school, I would often feel like, "ugh, I don't want to have to go to dance today. It's just such a hassle. I don't feel like moving. etc." But on days when I would have tap class and Tap Co., it was always more of "Geeze, this has been such a crappy day. I can't wait to get to tap."
I don't know if they're going to read this or not, but in case they do, this next part goes out to my former tap teachers.
Miss Rian,
Thank you so much for everything you taught me. You really helped to reignite my love for tap, and that means so much! <3
Miss Amber,
You made Tap Co. into a family at a time when everything else felt so disconnected. With all of the injuries and disappointments I had to face in the last couple of years, I felt like a lot of people had just plain given up on me. But you never did, and that was so important to me. I don't think I can ever thank you enough for that. <3
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