How to Get to Carnegie Hall (Or A Concert Stage Near You)

Stacie Strong | Mar 15, 2008 | 3

Photo by TraptLight Photography

So a tourist comes to New York and gets a little turned around on the big city streets.  She taps someone on the shoulder and says, "Excuse me, sir, can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?"  Without batting an eye, the New Yorker says, "Practice, practice, practice."  Whether you're aiming for Carnegie Hall in New York, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in L.A., the Kennedy Center in D.C., the Harris Theater in Chicago, or the bandstand in your local jazz club, you've got to practice to get there.  And not just once a week - you've got to practice regularly if you're going to get better.  The problem is, very few of us can afford to go to the studio every day.  What's a tapper to do?  How can you get better if you can't go to class as often as you like?

In an earlier blog ("A Rising Star"), Phil Brooks said that the best way to improve your improvisational skills is to keep dancing, everywhere you go.  The same is true if you want to do choreographed tap numbers - practice is the only way you're going to get the ease and fluidity that you want.  But studio time costs money.  What to do?

The answer is simple:  practice at home.  All you need are tap shoes, some music and a floor (and forgiving family members and/or neighbors).  The music and tap shoes you have, the forgiving family and neighbors you can work on (advance warning and a flexible attitude towards practice time helps) - it's just the floor that causes trouble for most people.  We all know we're not supposed to tap on tile, linoleum or marble, and carpet isn't much use to a tapper.  What's left?  The wall?

Not to worry.  There are a range of things to do, even if your budget is very limited.  Here are a few suggestions.

If you have a lot of space and money, think about building a studio in your home.  Becca Snow, one of the newest members of New York-based CPD Plus (see the post "Breaking Into the New York Dance Scene") was lucky enough to have parents who built a tap floor in the basement when she was growing up.  I'd love to see it.  Apparently it was good enough for Jason Samuels Smith to try out on one of his trips to the Chicago area.  If you're like me, you're envying Becca quite a bit right now, but remember, simply owning the floor wasn't enough - she had to use it regularly, which she did to great success.

If you have the space, but aren't quite able to convince yourself or your parents to put in a permanent floor, consider building a temporary one.  I know a man who started tapping quite late in life, but who was (and is) obsessed with getting better.  He got a couple of large parquet floor pieces from a place like Home Depot, some foam core padding, and some plywood for the base, and built a 10 x 10 foot floor to use.  His tapping has improved radically since he put it in, which makes sense, since he went from two hours of class a week to two hours of class plus who knows how much rehearsal at home.  Notice that the padding is critical to safe tapping - Tre Dumas said in a recent magazine article ("Healthy Hoofin',") that tappers must dance on surfaces with some "give" or risk injuring themselves.  Improving your tapping while simultaneously destroying your body is not a good idea.  Your body is your instrument - protect it.

If you don't have as much space, or if you are considering taking your dance on the road, consider purchasing a portable tap floor.  I've used two different types and can recommend them both.  First, I purchased a couple of 3 x 3 foot floors (they fold in half and have handles for carrying) from a company called "Tap and Go."  Though the individual segments are a bit small, they join together nicely and are sprung so that they have some give and protect your knees.  Sometimes you can catch your toe on the seams, but if you dance carefully, that's not a problem.  When I started performing publicly, I wanted something a bit bigger, so I got a 4 x 8 rolled mat from Performa Floors.  My tap mentor suggested getting it in maple, since the tone was better.  While I don't tap on this every day (it lays flat and is not padded), it is really good for performances.  I got a hardcover golf bag with wheels to cart it around in (the golf bag manufacturer's name is SKB out of Orange, California), and voila! I can dance anywhere I want.  The floor (and floor plus bag) is very heavy, so be prepared (as in:  if you're small, lift some weights to develop your upper body and/or be nice to people and develop your network of friends who will help you transport the darn thing!).

The least expensive but still tap-shoe friendly method is to get a piece of wood and padding and do the best you can in your garage, living room, etc.  You just need to be sure that the floor is stable (plywood warps over time, so you may need to replace it every so often) and sufficiently padded.  Remember, safety first!  If you're in your teens or younger, you may not think that you will ever hurt yourself, but take a piece of advice from an oldster - you can.  Injuries hinder your dancing even after they've officially healed, so be smart - don't injure yourself in the first place.

Even if you don't have a place that you can dance with your tap shoes on, you can still practice.  Phil suggested tapping in elevators (done it), in grocery stores (oddly perfect for tapping - try it, you may get applause!) and even in your socks (just be careful of overly energetic toe tips!).  One tap teacher I had actually suggested learning certain steps (such a "ripple," also known as a side third) in street shoes, since the motion was slower and you could figure out the step better.  I learned straight-leg (as opposed to bent-knee) pullbacks in the ladies' room at work (in spike heels, mind you).  I went to the bathroom so often I think my colleagues thought I had a bladder problem.  The thing is, if you want to tap, and tap well, you can do it anywhere you go.  

So take heart - even if you don't have a million bucks, you can still find a way to practice, practice, practice.  Who knows?  It might even take you to Carnegie Hall.  

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