Tap Dance Research Paper

Learning is a progression that takes place continuously throughout all of life. Typically, people connect the learning process solely with educational settings. However, learning can occur in a wide variety of ways. While my parents valued education, they provided a variety of opportunities for learning experiences that were outside of this setting. Dancing is one of my earliest childhood memories that provided a valuable learning experience. My mother always said that I was born to dance. As a young child, I recall listening to Bob Marley’s “Jamming” on vinyl, dancing with my mom. Whenever music played, you can be sure that I was dancing! My mother said, as a toddler, I often danced for family members. She saw the love I had for dancing …show more content…
I looked forward to putting on those black patent leather shoes, with the shiny metal plates on the toe and heel of the shoes. Similar to my ballet class, I first learned the basic moves in tap. My instructor for ballet was also my instructor for tap. She taught me to walk in my shoes by putting the ball of your foot down first, then the heel. My dance instructor would continue to repeat loudly, "toe-heel! toe-heel!" Then she would reverse the moves and say, “heel-toe! heel-toe!” Next, my instructor taught me how to shuffle my feet. This move required me to bring my foot forward quickly, tapping my toe on the floor, bring it back to the starting position, and tapping the toe in the same place as my foot moves backwards. Like my ballet class, the instructor would model all these moves by standing in front of the class. She would also demonstrate the moves by standing next to me. The modeling of the moves was paired with verbal commands, “heel, toe!” and “shuffle, step!” Eventually, I caught on quickly to the rudimentary tap dance moves. Subsequently, the pace of the tap moves increased in speed and difficulty. My next instructional move that I mastered was the popular “Time Step”. At first, my instructor would break down the moves in parts and model them slowly. I would visually concentrate on her feet and as I continued to watch her movement, I would begin to move my feet in the same motion. She would also start to give, what is known as an eight-count. The eight-count is one of the basic elements of learning to dance. When learning or practicing to dance, most songs are broken up into segments called eight-counts. A mature dancer will learn how to complete the eight-count during an entire dance performance. As I moved through my routines, I would always count in segments of eight in my head. Even though the music is playing, my instructor always said to anticipate the worst. There are