On Thursday 1st July I fly to the Big Apple for a month of all things tap related. Although I’m not signed up for any TAP CITY classes I’ve been browsing the website and thinking about doing one of the 4-day intensives. But I’ll have to wait and see how it goes. I’ve noted down the events that are happening and plan to attend talks, films and perhaps a performance. There are so many things to do in NYC so I know I’ll have to pace myself in order to make the most of it.

The real focus of my trip to New York is to attend Heather Cornell’s 20th Anniversary NYC Rhythm Tap Intensive Workshop with live music and do research at the Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts. With two solid weeks of “Back to our roots – Jazz” the intensive is just what I’ve been looking for. And being in New York it is also the perfect opportunity catch up with friends and relatives, and put some faces to those Facebook tap acquaintances!

Research and professional development supported by LUTSF and ADAD

Michèle and I continuously exchange ideas on tunes to listen to, and occassionally get together to try out new ideas. We have also been able to run through ideas at general tap sessions such as jams. I am currently building a working relationship with all three musicians through professional performances. One of these engagements was at Ronnie Scott’s in March 2010 as part of the Women in Jazz Week 8-13 March 2010. Michèle invited me as a special guest hoofer to work with her and her band alongside several other fabulous, special guest female musicians (Michèle’s line up). It was my first opportunity to work with a six-piece jazz band and it was particularly exciting to perform for the first time at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London.

Benefits
Mentor
It is proving to be beneficial to have a mentor as part of the Trailblazer Fellowship, particularly for identifying and gaining advice on specific goals. I have had two sessions with my mentor, Tim Richards that have included doing practical music tasks, as well as suggestions on jazz music to listen to for ideas and inspiration. As I hoped, the sessions also tie in nicely with the Blues Piano course I’m enrolled on (with Tim), which helps to develop my musicality and arranging skills for working with musicians.

Tap dance equipment
Another positive achievement has been my research into a suitable tap dance floor. I’m currently awaiting details of when I can try out a new tap board. When it is completed I’ll be able to make a bulk order on behalf of other interested tap dancers in the UK (and so reduce costs).

Research trip – July 2010
With the support of the ADAD Trailblazer Fellowship I’m fully signed up for a two week workshop in July 2010 – Heather Cornell’s 20th Anniversary NYC Rhythm Tap Intensive Workshop: Back to our roots – Jazz intensive. This 20th Anniversary Celebration will be the last one and is limited to only twenty participants. As the title suggests, it will be rooted in jazz and there will be musicians to work with. It will be a great opportunity to learn new material, brush up on technique and develop ways to work with musicians, all of which work towards my project goals. www.manhattantap.org

I am grateful to be a winner of the Lisa Ullman Travelling Scholarship Fund 2010-2011 for the research trip of my ADAD Trailblazer project.

Photo by Vicky Annand

On 17th February I posted the following on my Facebook status:

Why does it seem dance studios are becoming more selective than inclusive of dance styles? Why is it so difficult to find affordable studio space for tap dance in London? Sprung WOODEN floors please, not vinyl/marley etc. Grrrrr!

Over the next day I received a number of comments from tap dance friends and associates from different cities around the world who have the same issue. Whilst this post is focused on floors specific for tap dance it may also apply to other percussive dance styles.

The issue is that many new/rennovated dance studios lean towards vinyl-type covered dance floors which are not suitable for tap dance. And where they install sprung, wooden floors they are not durable for outdoor shoe wear let alone the battering of metal-plated shoes!

As part of my Trailblazer project I’m conducting research into acquiring a decent, portable, tap dance floor to practice on and for performances. This is partly because I’ve had to turn down gigs due to lack of suitable floor to tap on.

Requirements for tap dance floor

The National Tap Ensemble, an American tap dance company, provide a useful link on their website entitled Appropriate Flooring For Tap Dance.

As stated on their website, the minimum standards required for tap dance floors are:

1 – A TOP LAYER MADE OF HARD WOOD – e.g. oak or maple but not painted, varnished or waxed
2 – HIGH RESILIENCY – i.e. sprung floor (a.k.a. floating or suspended floor)
3 – RESONANCE – at least two inches or five centimeters underneath the top layer of the floor
4 – A CRACK-FREE SURFACE – i.e. no space between boards or any nails, tape or sticky tape residue etc
www.usatap.org/aft.htm

As well as an exhaustive list on surfaces that shouldn’t be tap danced on they also state:

TAP DANCE IN PARTICULAR, SHOULD NEVER BE STUDIED, PRACTICED OR PERFORMED/TAUGHT ON BALLET/MODERN/JAZZ FLOORS
www.usatap.org/aft.htm

This is because the needs and requirements of ballet/jazz/modern flooring are DRASTICALLY different from those of tap/clogging/flamenco and all other percussive dance traditions (Ibid.) So dance floors advertised as being suitable for all styles are dance are merely a marketing strategy that does not reflect the differing requirements for dance styles. Dance professionals need to be aware of their responsibilities to themselves and students to make informed decisions about different dance floors for different dance styles.

Injury

People who tap dance on unsuitable floors may not experience any immediate repercussions beyond the poor resonance of taps, but are at high risk from micro-injuries to their joints. These are small injuries that can build up to major issues over time. I recently caught up with a tap acquaintance who had to retire from tap dancing due to arthritis caused by many years of dancing on “bad” floors, mainly flooring that was too hard. Although the tap dancer used a wood surface it was not sprung and was often laid on very hard surfaces such as marble and concrete. He indicated that he felt pressured to dance on “bad” floors in order to further his career, but now regrets that he hadn’t been more aware of the consequences since he would have been more selective about what surfaces to dance on. He has lived many years in pain, at first dancing through it (not recommended), but it built up to a point where it became so severe it limited his ability to walk. After finally consulting a doctor, the condition of his joints were found to be very serious and surgery was needed to correct some of the damage.

The Dance Floor “Specialists”

So why are many dance studios installing floors that exclude persussive dance styles? I suspect it’s partly due to demand as well as cost. Classic dance halls often had sprung, hardwood floors (good for tap dance, ballroom styles and classic jazz dance style). When cheaper materials became more readily available floor specialists moved away from the old flooring systems which were more expensive to build and maintain.

These days many dance floor specialists provide sprung floor systems that require a vinyl-type layer on top, or soft wood surfaces, all of which are geared towards ballet and contemporary. They are also cheaper to maintain. Percussive dance – tap, flamenco, clogging etc – are not prominent styles in typical dance studios so are not catered for. Hence why there is a lack of dance studio spaces for tap dance.

Common pratice

Many tap dance professionals, companies and enthusiasts find that the only way to ensure they have suitable flooring is build it themselves. Obviously this can be considerably expensive since it often requires a bespoke design and specific materials (real wood is expensive in comparison to soft wood, plywood or masonite). Maple and oak (particularly white oak) seem to be top hardwood choices amongst tap professionals. Portable stages are required for touring companies since they cannot rely on venues having suitable floors to dance on. Tap dance companies can spend thousands of American dollars to ensure they have a well-built tap dance floor, a luxury many individuals, or small companies cannot afford.

Tap dance at large dance events, festivals etc

Dance events aimed at being inclusive of styles often have floors unsuitable to tap dance on. Besides the organisers typically being ignorant towards the requirements of percussive styles, the companies that supply “specialist dance floors” are also just as unknowledgable. Tap dance is often an after-thought in the programming, by which stage the technical requirements cannot be met. Plus even if tap dancers could supply their own floor at dance events it’s not practical if set up time is needed, since each act typically has only 5-15min on stage.

Towards a portable tap dance floor

Whether an occasional or regular tap dancer, any tap dance floor should be more than a piece of MDF board or plywood since these are not hard wood and do not provide a sprung floor system. Practicing on such surface will lead to injuries.

The tap floor should pass the resiliency test – You can easily test this by jumping on the floor or stage while wearing hard soled shoes (note that sneakers won’t work as they will absorb shock and give you the false impression that the floor is resilient) (www.usatap.org/aft.htm)

At dance fairs, I’ve approached dance floor specialist companies for information on their products suitable for tap floors. I’ve also searched online for floors and those that look as if they have potential are often based in the USA (shipping costs to UK could be quite high).

Undesirable options

1) “Tap tiles”, a vinyl surface even though it’s recommended for tap dance practice. The individual tiles don’t provide a sprung floor system

2) Roll out wooden mat
Although this provides a wood surface it does not specify what type of wood (only that it has a Maple like finish) and would require a sprung subfloor.

Currently, I’ve created a spec to have portable, tap dance floor built and am awaiting information of potential, existing floors in the USA before the next stage.

Annette Walker be covering for Junior Laniyan’s Rhythm Tap classes at Pineapple Dance Studios from Saturday 9th January until early February 2010.

Every Saturday, 2-3pm (Starts back 9 Jan 2010)

Level: Intermediate-Advanced

Cost: £6 + membership
(See www.pineapple.uk.com for details)

Address:
Pineapple Studios,
7 Langley Street, London,
WC2H 9JA

Tel: +44(0)20 7836 4004

Today I attended the Service and reception of A Celebration for the Life of James Maddison Clark (23rd July 1922 – 30 October 2009) in Dunstable. The service was held at the gorgeous Priory Church in Dunstable at 12.30pm. Jimmy’s close brother Steve, members of his family, friends and those whose lives he had touched filled the church to attend the service and show their love and support. It was a beautiful and moving service with hymns, prayers, a reading and tributes to Jimmy from his family and members of The Grand Order of Water Rats.

As well as refreshments the reception provided the space for old friends to catch up, new friends to meet. Old memories and stories were shared and new ones created, all under the shadow of Jimmy’s living memory. Steve was sure Jimmy would have been pleased at the proceedings and had a warm and giving smile, though touched by sadness.

Before leaving Dunstable for the 2 hour drive back to London I went, with several tap friends, to visit Jimmy’s grave. We soon realised that it might turn into an impossible task with the fading light and lack of directions. But whilst walking through the cemetary, amongst the many burial sites and plots and having no idea where we needed to go, we somehow found ourselves at Jimmy’s grave. After paying respects we headed back to our cars whilst reflecting on the seemingly miraculous occurence of actually finding Jimmy’s final resting place in the early dark and cold of a November evening.

I’m always open to new ideas so when London-based poet, writer, producer and DJ Charlie Dark contacted me in May 2009 to find out if I’d be interested in taking a part in a performance based on experimental collaborations at The Albany in October I accepted the offer. At first there was speculation that I would collaborate with a poet (my partner happens to be a poet) but when it turned out that my partner was not available I suggested to Charlie that I could work with a musician.

Within a few weeks Charlie called me back to let me know he had found a great drummer for with me – Soliheen. It was only after the conversation had ended that I realised I had no idea what kind of performance to do with just tap and a drummer. So this was a new challenge for me and I was a little nervous.

Now Charlie was happy for Soliheen and I to jam on the night of the event and see what happened but I wanted to have a session before the event. So the evening before the Word Sound Power event I met Soliheen for the first time. (The world is small and it turns out that not only had Soliheen worked with my partner several years ago but that he is going out with a friend of mine so he knew a little about me.)

The Albany technician was great in setting up a the tap performance area for me and Soliheen’s kit all set we were ready to jam. After a quick call to Charlie to check a few details I realised I had a 30 minute set (it seemed I had forgotten this small detail), so I worked with Soliheen for a couple of hours in the studio at The Albany to develop some ideas. By the end of the evening I had a rough idea of what we would do but since it was a jam there was nothing set in stone – I had rough idea on how to start the jam but decided to trust our instincts on how it would develop on the night!

Well the event was finally upon us and despite my calm exterior I was extremely nervous. It was the longest set I had ever done with the smallest number of performers – just 2. But the beauty about improvisation is that you never know what’s going to happen. It’s about the risk. At first I was certain that we couldn’t fill 30 minutes and keep it interesting – for ourselves or the audience – but on the contrary it was quite the opposite. In fact I had told Charlie we only had about 20min and so the plan was to include a Q&A after our peformance.

As it turned out the jam went really well for both myself and Soliheen and I was relieved to find the audience had also enjoyed it. In fact it went so well I had Albany staff telling me how they’d heard good things about it when I visited the venue for another event a week later – and that was by people who hadn’t seen it!

Obviously not all experiements have happy endings but when you have good people to work with the odds are higher. So thanks to Charlie for the great opportunity, and to Soliheen for his hardwork, patience and great drumming.