Whence
Tap dance
Music & dance

Where does Tap dance come from?

Tap dance comes from the eastern United States. It took shape in the 1800s, where African American dance met Irish jigs and the clog dances of Scotland and England, and it went on to fill minstrel shows, vaudeville theatres, Broadway musicals and Hollywood films.

Where many dances met

Tap has roots in West African step dances and in the clog dances, hornpipes and jigs that Scottish, Irish and English immigrants brought to North America. For a long time historians believed the mixing happened on Southern plantations, where enslaved Africans and Irish indentured servants watched each other dance. In the late 20th century, researchers suggested a different setting: crowded city districts such as Five Points in New York, where many ethnic groups lived side by side.

Master Juba of Five Points

A key figure was William Henry Lane, known as Master Juba, born around 1825. As a teenager he danced in the saloons and dance halls of Five Points, and a New York newspaper later identified him as the young dancer Charles Dickens watched there in 1842. In 1844 he met the Irish-American dancer John Diamond in one of the earliest recorded dance challenges. His fast, percussive style likely blended Irish jigs with African-derived steps.

Why people say Ireland

Irish jigs really are one of tap's ingredients, which is why Ireland is a natural guess. But the blend that became tap happened in America. Through the 1800s it grew in dance contests and minstrel shows, which peaked from about 1850 to 1870. Tap as it is known today appeared only around the 1920s, when metal taps fixed to the toes and heels of shoes became popular and chorus lines in shows such as Shuffle Along (1921) danced in 'tap shoes'.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org › Tap dance ↗ · en.wikipedia.org › Master Juba ↗ · britannica.com ↗

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