Making a Tap Dance Story

Behind the Curtain

Tap dance stories are an interesting thing to bring to life. What comes first? The dancing? The words? The thrust of an idea? Each story is different, but there seems to be a general theme that has arisen as I’ve continued to work with words and dancing simultaneously.

Dancers aren’t supposed to talk. We speak through our dancing. After years of learning the language of dance, it was a thing when I first talking. But, I had amazing models of dancers who could hold their own on a stage with a microphone. Gregory Hines, of course, was a master at this – singing, dancing, bantering, telling jokes. I also witnessed Buster Brown tell jokes, from a chair, for a full 40 minutes, while waiting for enough people to show up to a tap jam on a slow Sunday afternoon. He was filling time and killing the audience. I had no idea Buster could hold a room like that!