Equal Time for Modern and Jazz Dance

Over the holiday weekend, I was talking to a friend (a non-dancer) about our software applications and why we don't have an application for all dance forms. I reflected on how much work it has taken to get Tappinese and Balletinese applications into production and how much more we still need to learn about marketing to get the word out on them.

Have you ever checked out the cost of professional advertising? Advertising reminds me of a little sign my daughter once gave me. I still have it on my refrigerator. It said " I signed up for an exercise class and they told me to be sure to wear loose clothing. If I had any loose clothing I wouldn't have signed up in the first place! You get the irony!!

Anyway, I told my friend that not all forms of dance have such clearly codified vocabularies. Modern and Jazz dancers use many different terms for describing their movements, sort of a mish mash of ballet terms and their own personal cues for remembering movements or particular segments of the work. Having studied and taught both Modern and Jazz dance, I can tell you that my notes for these types of choreography leave much to be desired after a few years.

Tap dance and Ballet are dance forms with reasonably uniform vocabularies and that is why we chose those forms as our first efforts in development. We all know that there are variations, but for the most part we can converse in the terminology and agree to disagree on certain terms. 

I really looked over as many volumes of tap dance terminology as I could find ( starting back in the '70's) to come up with those I included in the application.  My bookshelf , like yours most likely, is full of books,and videos by leaders in the field of Tap.I enjoy searching for the overall consistencies and finding the differences among them, as well. I got input from other tappers and used the info to strengthen the application.

I once had the privelege of taking a couple of tap classes from the Master, Honi Coles. I was thrilled to be in his presence. He described his steps like a drummer, making sounds verbally while he showed each combination. I found it easy to understand his method of demonstration and was thoroughly enjoying the session. However, there was a woman in the class who kept interupting with " Is that called a flap ball-change?" or something to that effect, over and over again. Finally Mr. Coles replied , very patiently, "I don't care what you call it honey, but this is how its done! " and the class continued. I need to go find my notes from those classes to record in my Tappinese(R) database.

This blog is taking me back to some very pleasant memories in my life as a tapper. Maybe next time I'll tell you how I got started teaching tap.