ANN PENNINGTON
NED WAYBURN’S TAP AND STEP DANCING
SOMETIMES CALLED CLOGGING
YOU will remember that in a preceding chapter I said that Tap and Step dances were those composed chiefly of motions of the feet which resulted in combinations of various sounds made by different parts of the foot tapping or beating the floor, these sounds or beats being called "taps." This type of dancing expresses the American syncopated rhythms. It was the most popular type of stage dancing about forty years ago, when it was most beautifully performed by the greatest American dancing stars like the late George H. Primrose, the famous American minstrel.
Buck-dancing is done to syncopated rhythms, and you must get the right accent on those syncopated beats or taps or you cannot get the knack of doing a buck dance properly. So it is most important that you practice over and over again the four kinds of "taps" and "hops" which I shall describe now. First of all, stand in an imaginary circle the diameter of your feet, with your heels together, your right toe pointed right oblique and your left toe pointed left oblique, your weight equally distributed between the two feet, as described in a previous chapter.
