First Spring Lesson

There are eight of us in the class, and three have never done tap, though one of them has done a lot of other types of dance. It was fun!

We did a bunch of different things. Teach Tanis is concentrating more on choreography and less on exercizes since it is only a five week session.

Again, I get through it all, had tons of fun with it, and now I can't remember a thing. We did work on something that does a lot of traveling.

Let's see....
Step, step, shuffle-ball-change x 4
Shuffle, shuffle, step x 2
Slow five part riff, gallop x 4
Fast riff x 2

By then we've covered the whole of the room (if I haven't left anything out), so we do this backing up move: big step back to the right at a 45 degree angle, brush, ball-change, step, brush, heel, toe (*whew*). Turn 90 degrees to the left and do the same thing going the other way. Then right again, and left again.

Jeez, maybe I remember more than I thought!

We did do some exercizes: traveling ones, where we'd go in pairs and travel across the room. Shuffles, phalaps, paddle & rolls. I can't for the life of me remember the paddle & roll, except that it's really neat, and I like doing it.

We also jumped right into the Shim-Sham-Shimmy. We started with the break, naturally, but then Tanis lead us through the fourth part. Once everyone could more or less get through that, she lead us through the third part. Then the second part.

The second part isn't followed by the regular break, like all the other parts. It has its own break, which uses a variation of the toe-heel step of the second part. Tanis calls it the sticky candy step, which I guess is because it looks like you're walking on sticky candy?

It was a great time, and over way too soon. I would have thought an hour and a half would have felt longer, but time flies when you're having fun.

I still have a problem with a loose screw on the left toe tap. I tried a drop of Crazy Glue, which held for all of 20 seconds, and really did nothing but fill in the slots on the screw head so a screw driver can't grab it to turn it. I may have to consult a professional

Lesson 10

Only three of us today, but that was OK. We went through all our routines and worked on things. Tanis added a couple more bits to Superstition, a series of chuggs and some other steps to give it a finish.

She also showed us a neat series of varied riffs that we can do to Hickory Dickory Dock. It's something she uses in her kids classes, but it gives us older types something to hang on to, too. Very cool.

I'm still struggling with the shuffle-ball-change. As a runner, I have the usual tightness in the legs, and it's hard to loosen up the ankle so the shuffle can happen. I think it will come if I keep working at it.

I struggled with the extra taps in the Shimmy. I end up forcing them in, and then it screws up my timing and weight transfers, and I end up off balance or late.

For the first segment, we learned it as DUM-da DUM-da DUM-da-da DUM-da. And that's actually the soft shoe version which would be taught in jazz dance. But for tap, you follow the initial stomp (the DUM) with a brush. So it goes DUM-da-da DUM-da-da DUM-da-da-da DUM-da-da. It sounds really neat when Tanis does it. It sounds way out of whack when I do it, mostly because I'm pushing through the stiffness in my ankle for the brush instead of letting a loose foot do it naturally.

It'll come.

Next Monday night is an open house demo night, and I'm still not decided if I'll go. I've been struggling with exhaustion, and it's made the last couple of classes really difficult. It's like I've forgotten how to do the stuff I've been doing for weeks.

I think the brisk walk to the studio may not help either, because while it warms up the legs, it also tightens them up, when I most need to be loose and relaxed. I hope it will be better in the spring session when it's all night classes.

Lesson 9

It was tough today. I had a rough night before and was running on very little sleep, so I wasn't really up to some of this stuff. At times it was hard slogging, and really frustrating, because I'd managed to do it before. But I was just too exhausted.

Even so, I had fun. I'm glad I went because it woke me up some, and gave me enough energy to get through the afternoon.

We added another little bit to Stevie Wonder, which totally escapes me, of course. We also added some tap to the Shimmy. What we've learned of the Shimmy is actually soft shoe, and is what would be taught in jazz dance. With tap, there are places where we can add extra sounds, to fill in between the basic steps. Sounded great when teach did it, but I couldn't get it straight at all.

We also learned the scuff, and the riff. The scuff is kicking the heel against the floor with a forward motion. Kinda like a phalap, but with the phalap, we're brushing the toe against the floor ("pha"), and then slapping the foot down ("lap"). The riff is a variation of the phalap, I think. Again, I cannot remember what the heck we did half the time.

The loose tap is beginning to be troublesome. One screw comes loose fairly quickly, and I have to give it a twist with a screwdriver. Tanis suggested a solution that combines masking tape and Crazy Glue, so I'll have to go get some, and see if I can fix it.

There's also an open house on May 16, which I'm undecided about going to. If I do go, I'd join the evening class in demoing what we've learned. All the daytime and lunch classes get there and warm up for awhile, then we sit in on each others classes to see what they've been doing. Tanis assured us nooners that we were miles ahead of the evening class, and wouldn't have any problem keeping up. I think it would be fun, but it would also be intimidating. I sure wouldn't want to do it if I was like I was today. I'd want to be well rested. I'll certainly think about it, and see how I feel about it when the time comes. Fun, but scarey too.