OK…maybe not sliced bread, but you get my point. This will be the first of a two-part post where I share my experience of tap festivals. This article will focus on the good things about tap dance festivals, while the next will focus on areas that I think could use some improvement (A.K.A. the bad). Recently, I shared an article with you in which Savion Glover discounts the value of tap festivals. His comments motivated me to think long and hard about my experience at these events. So without further ado, here are 4 reasons that I think tap festivals might be the best thing since sliced bread!
1. The Instruction
If you are a student who lives outside of a major “Tap Hub” then the instruction at tap festivals is difficult to beat. They present an opportunity to get introduced to a variety of tap dance instructors at once. Often, a range of styles is represented which showcase taps’s diversity. In addition, instructors often share their stories and life experiences in tap dance. This is usually stuff you won’t find in any tap history book. Every time I attend a Tap Festival, at least one of the instructors says or does something that makes a major difference in my understanding of tap.
2. Other Dancers
Tap dancers in most cities operate in relative isolation. Festivals often present the best opportunity to meet and network with other dancers. Connections made at festivals often lead to performance/teaching opportunities. Also, seeing what other dancers in your area are doing (or not doing) could provide additional motivation. In addition, a sense of community can begin at tap festivals that might not develop otherwise.
3. Cost
In what other field can you spend $30 or less and spend an hour with one of the top performers in that arena? In tap this happens all the time during tap festivals. When you add in discussion panels and shared tap dance footage, not to mention opportunities to interact with the instructors individually you can really get your money’s worth at a festival.
I would love to hear from you. Add your comments about tap festivals.
July 10th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Have a great time!!!!!!