Lesson Overview:

After viewing videos and films of such famous tap dancers as Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, students will examine and discuss the historical aspects as well as learn basic tap dance steps. Later, students research a tap dancer and write a dual bio-poem. These poems are published in a class book or displayed on a classroom poster.

Length of Lesson:

Six 45-minute class periods

Notes:

This lesson was created with ESOL students in mind but is adaptable for any classroom.

Instructional Objectives:

Students will:

• view tap dancing in film and on video.
• recognize tap dancing from film or video.
• research a famous tap dancer.
• write a dual bio poem.
• learn basic tap dance steps.

Supplies:

• Pair of Tap Shoes
• Easter Parade. Produced by Arthur Freed. Directed by Charles Walters.
• On The Town. Produced by Arthur Freed. Directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen.
• Tap Dancin’, Produced and directed by Christian Blackwood.
• That’s Entertainment, Produced by MGM.

Instructional Plan:

Note: Before starting this lesson, reserve ample time in the media center for research.

Introduce students to tap dance by showing dance segments from films. Suitable films include On the Town, Easter Parade, That’s Entertainment, White Knights, Tap Dancing and a variety of Shirley Temple films. Discuss the viewing with the class. Talk about tap shoes (have an example available, if possible) and the basic tap movements. Ask students which movements they identified, and name some of them: tap, brush, heel drop, and stomp. If you have a student who takes tap, or a teacher or a parent who has experience in the dance form, utilize their expertise.

Use the following information as a guide to explaining the historical and cultural beginnings of tap dancing:

Tap dancing is believed to have been created by the blending of the Irish jig and the English clog with the Negro shuffle. In Ireland, the shuffle or gliding steps are associated with reels, and the jigs and hornpipes with clog or tap steps. In the jigs and hornpipes, the steps are executed with the dancers body erect, hands at the side. Exact and intricate footwork is characteristic in this type of dancing.

In the Irish jigs, the ball of the foot makes rapid pattering sounds on the floor. There are about seventy-five taps per quarter minute. These are the most difficult dances. Controlling the variety of sounds produced by the taps of heels and soles on the floor. The clog is a kind of solo step performed with clogs or wooden-soled shoes to emphasize the rhythm. The dance form comes from the industrial areas of northern England and southern Scotland in the 19th century. The Lancashire hornpipe is a well-known example of a clog dance. Many of the Irish and Scottish Immigrants to America settled in Appalachia and clogging is still a part of their culture. It has become extremely popular in recent years with a big resurgence among young peoples' dance groups.

The Shuffle originates from the mid 19th century and was called the Negro Minstrel Dance in America. It was very similar to the Irish Clog except that the American Tap included hand movements. Originally the hand movements and the body movements were very animated and exaggerated. Loud talking and singing and laughing were part of the presentation. It has since evolved into a smoother and simpler form, with balance and syncopated sound. Tap dancing dominated the vaudeville shows of the late 1800’s and remained popular well into the twentieth century. It is a style of dance in which rhythmic sounds are produced by moving the feet. Shoes are worn with metal taps on the bottom which produce the distinctive tap sound against the floor.

Teach students the following tap dance steps.

• tap: hitting the floor without putting any weight on it. Do this with the right and left foot.
• brush: hitting the weight on one leg , move the leg forward, making a sound and then back –again, making a sound.
• step-taking: a step in any direction, transferring weight to that foot.
• heel drop: when the ball of the foot is already on the floor, the heel drops to the floor, making a sound.
• stomp: the entire foot is placed on the floor with extra emphasis and a stronger sound.

Do each of the five steps with music.

Combine some of the steps. Model the tap dance step combinations before having the students practice the steps. Here are some examples of combinations:

Right foot-tap (1), tap (2), step( 3-4 counts)
Left foot-tap (1),tap (2),step (3-4 counts)
Right foot-brush forward (1), backward (2), step (3-4 counts)
Left foot-brush forward (1), backward (2), step (3-4 counts)
Stomp-right (1-2), left (3-4) right (5-6), left (7-8)

Step with right, right heel drop (1-2)
Step with left, left heel drop (3-4)
Brush right forward (5-6) step on right (7-8 counts)
Step with left, left heel drop (1-2)
Step with right, right heel drop (3-4)
Brush left forward, backward (5-6), step on left (7-8 counts)

Have students practice the combinations with music.

Read aloud Song and Dance Man! by Karen Ackerman. In this story, Grandpa once danced on the vaudeville stage. Tell students that vaudeville is a kind of theatrical entertainment that has many different kinds of acts, using the following citation:

"The word ‘vaudeville,’ some say was derived from the French ‘viox de ville,’ which means voices of the town. The expression referred to the dances and dance songs of the market place." Knowles, p. 135.

For a long time in the United States, from about the 1880’s to the 1930’s, it was the most popular form of entertainment, even requiring the use of special vaudeville theatres. About eight to 10 acts were presented together on the same bill. Acts included jugglers, animal acts, skits or small plays, recitations, important people of the day, comics, and magicians. The dancing acts were a popular part of vaudeville. Tell the students that during the next class period they will conduct online research on famous tap dancers, some of whom they saw in videos or films. They also will write a poem about a famous dancer.

Before taking the class to the library, distribute the Famous American Tap Dancer Research worksheet. Famous tap dancers students may research include: Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Ginger Rogers, Ann Miller, Gregory Hines, Maurice Hines, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Jeni LeGon, Shirley Temple, the Nichols Brothers, Cyd Cherisse, Sammy Davis, Jr. Go over the worksheet with the class, making sure the students understand the assignment. In the library, assist students with their online research. Selected sites are on the research worksheet. Collect the student’s Famous American Tap Dancer Research worksheets at the end of the class period.

Return the students' research worksheets. Tell students they will write two poems: one about themselves, and one about the tap dancer they researched. Explain that a bio poem is a poem about one’s self. The poem gives information introducing ourselves to another and basically tells someone else who we are and what we are about. Tell them that they are about to write a bio poem about themselves and one about the famous tap dancer they researched. Although they are not the tap dancer, ask them to place themselves in the body of the dancer they research and from what they found out write the poem as if they are the dancer. Talk a little about the format of a simple rhyming poem. Distribute the Tap Dual Bio Poem worksheet. Make sure the students understand the assignment. Assist students as they write their poems, including the editing and rewriting stages. Collect the students' works at the end of class. After students have completed a final draft of their poems, the poems and the picture of the famous tap dancer may be published in a class book on tap dancers or made into a poster for classroom display.

Day Six: Return the students' bio poems. Ask students to share their poems. Using any of the tap steps they learned in class, or using one of the combinations, students are to introduce their poem with a short eight count combination of tap sounds. The students may also make up the tap sounds to their tap dancer’s name.

Assessment:

Use the Dance Assessment Rubric to assess your students' works.

Extensions:

Students may research vaudeville. Their findings can be collected in a class bulletin board or poster that emphasizes the great variety of acts that made of this most popular American entertainment.

Students can further explore Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance at the ARTSEDGE Web site, Drop Me Off in Harlem.

Sources:

Print:

• Ackerman, Karen. Illustrated by Stephen Gammell. Song and Dance Man. New York: Dragonfly Books, Alfred Knopf, 1988.
• Ambrosia, Nora. Learning about Dance. Dubuque, Iowa; Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 1999.
• Audy, Robert. Tap Dancing. New York: Vantage Books, 1976.
• Daly, Niki. Papa Lucky’s Shadow, New York: Margaret K. McEldery Books, 1992.
• Dillon, Leo and Diana. Rap a Tap Tap: Here’s Bojangles-Think of That! New York: The Blue Sky Press. Imprint of Scholastic, Inc. 2002.
• Driver, Ian. A Century of Dance. A Hundred Years of Musical Movement, From Waltz to Hip Hop. London: Hamlyn, an imprint of Octopus Publishing Group Limited, 2000.
• Hoctor, Danny. Tap Dancing. Waldwick, New Jersey: Dance Records, Inc. 1971.
• Knowles, Mark. Tap Roots-The Early History of Tap Dancing. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., Inc, Publishers, 1998.
• Nash, Barbara. Tap Dance. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm.C. Brown Publishers, 1969.
• Roan, Carol. Illustrated by Ann Gross. Clues to American Dance. Washington and Philadelphia: Starhill Press, 1993.
• Sachs, Curt. World History of the Dance. New York: Norton & Co. Publishers, 1963.

Media:

• Easter Parade. Produced by Arthur Freed. Directed by Charles Walters. 104 min. MGM, 1948. Videocassette.
• On The Town. Produced by Arthur Freed . Directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen. 98 min. MGM,1949. Videocassette.
• Tap Dancin’, Produced and directed by Christian Blackwood, 58 min. Michael Blackwood Productions, Inc.: New York. Videocassette.
• That’s Entertainment, Produced by MGM, 1974.Videocassette.

Authors:

• Phyllis Gron, ESL Teacher
  Fairfax County Public Schools
  Alexandria, VA
  
• Lillian Hasko, Dance Teacher
  Montgomery County Public Schools
  Silver Spring, MD United States