Article by Grant Swift (published in DanceHub magazine)
Tap Dance is an art form like an any other. Therefore, as artists, we paint originals, we give credit when we copy, and we respect and pass on our cultural history. And it is with this shared creative heritage, that we can develop our skills and styles as individuals, put our brush to canvas and work with the fearless optimism that comes with being truly in the moment.
When we tap dance in the moment, we are essentially, jamming. So what exactly is a jam? Well, ask any wise Jazz musician this and you’ll usually hear the same answer. Put simply, Jamming is a conversation. And what makes a good conversation? A good subject matter for starters. Then throw in a few inspired and expressive participants with a sound knowledge of the subject matter, and we’re really talking! In Jazz music, the subject is usually the tune and the communication is based on your knowledge of that tune. And when musicians can converse within these parameters, and also bring something of themselves to the discussion, this is when the true magic unfolds. Tap Dance is no different. We are traditionally jazz musicians. Tap dance and Jazz music go hand in hand, and one would not exist without the other, just as the Break beat created the break dancer and together they gave birth to Hip Hop. Tap Dance, Lindy hop and Break Dance are all part of the same improvise based culture which has its earliest roots in African music culture.
Every routine (choreography) is in effect our subject, and at some stage, we have to openly converse, or jam. This is how we get it out, or off our chests so to speak. This is how we cleanse our souls and how we keep growing, evolving and measuring our selves as artists and as individuals. It is freedom of speech at its most beautiful.
So for this discussion of tap dance, I’d like to focus on the jam. Or as my youngest son Oscar Swift (now 16) used to say when I’d invite him to take a jam as a four year old, “it’s not jam Dad, it’s red butter!!!”
So let’s get started. There are many effective ways to practice the art of conversation and the same applies for practicing jamming in your tap shoes. To begin, let’s take the less is more approach, and talk about the Time Step.
What is a time step? There are as many different time steps as there are routines. The phrase ‘time step’ was originaly used to describe the way in which we as tap dancers set up our routine. A time step should serve to establish and communicate your tempo and groove to the band and audience, and it should suit and support the routine and jam that you are about to perform. In reality, there is no such thing as ‘the time step’ any more than there is ‘the conversation starter’. It all comes down to how you want to create the foundations for what you are about to say. For example in spoken word you might say, “Hey did you know?”, or “Guess what i heard the other day?”, and so too in tap dance, our conversation starters can be many and varied.
Traditionally, a time step was a four bar phrase. The first three bars are repeated and the fourth bar is called the break. This means that on the fourth bar you do something a little bit different to break the pattern and this will set you up to move into your routine like a door opener. Every tap dancer should have as many of their own time steps as they can create . Many tap dancers, myself included, use the process of creating their own time steps as a way to hone their jamming skills.
Let’s go into a little more detail, about how we can use this method. Firstly, you’ll need to create your own one bar (four counts) time step. It can be as simple or as complex as you like. Then repeat it over and over. It can be a step that alternates it’s starting foot, or it can continue to start over on the same side each time, it doesn’t matter. So now you should be counting in fours (bars) which is great! Counting in bars will enable you to communicate, and work well with musicians. A musician will easily be able to help you out with blowing the horn on that step you have in mind if you can specify the second beat of the fourth bar for example, rather than saying “I need you to blow when i lift my leg like this! “. This is why musicians will always love working with a good tap dancer, and vice versa. So now you have your own time step. Congratulations! This step is your own, and you are now starting to bring your own bag.
This is where the fun begins. Take your time step and begin to transition from using a four beat rhythm to a triplet. Don’t change the foot work, just the timing . Essentially, you are taking a consistent and repetitive footwork pattern, and creating variation in the timing and accents that you use. Ideally it’s best to begin doing this in one tempo, so putting on a music track will help . Go to your practice space, put a cd on (something with a few different tempos for later on) and hit that time step until it becomes second nature. Aim to be able to go from half time, to single time, to double time, while maintaining the structure of your time step. Let the cd play and stay on your time step for the whole session. Go back to it the next day, and continue to revisit until you feel you can say what you really want with it. Then, create another time step, and another, and another. The more time steps you can create and master, the more options you’re going to have at your disposal, and the richer your vocabulary will become. Some time steps will naturally transition well into another, and with practice, you’ll figure this out along the way.
This method is a great way to feel free and confident with your foot work. These steps are just words, to be used in conversation. Think about how many different ways you can say the word “please”. It’s just one word, but because you’ve always used the spoken word as the language in which you express yourself, it has the possibbility for many meanings and conotations.
When we tap, we can write speeches (choreograph) and we can converse (jam). And keeping this in mind you can always allow for open conversation within your routines. This will give more depth to each performance and your audience can come and see the same show and experience something fresh and different each time .
In choreographic terms, your time step is your conversation starter, and your go to place when it’s time to jam. This is one effective way of learning to become comfortable with improvisation and being in the moment, with out loosing sight of the subject matter. There are of course many other different ideas and approaches you can use. I have many, and am always discovering more. The best comparison I can give, is to think about tap dancing as just another way of talking; the more information you have, the better the conversation will be. And as the great tap dancer Dr Jimmy Slyde used to say “you don’t want to be it, you want be part of it”
Grant Swift
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