Heather Cornell - Passing on the Torch of Tap Improvisation

Stacie Strong | May 16, 2008 | 0

Heather Cornell

Ask any of today's tap headliners whether improvisation is important, and they will respond with a resounding YES.  It's something that both students and teachers need to know how to do. As Jason Samuels Smith said in a recent interview for Dancer magazine (http://www.danceruniverse.com/stories/issues/200805/MA23-Jason-Samuels/), if you develop a student's "vocabulary along with their freedom - then you basically create a monster!"

So we all agree that improv is important.   The thing is, many of us don't quite know where to start (or stop or even what to do in the middle).  What do you do?  Go to Heather Cornell.  Not only is she one of tap's best-known improvisational dancers, she's one of the few who actually teaches how to think about improvisation, rather than just sending people out with the (good but somewhat incomplete) advice, "Just listen the music."  Read on to learn more about what she does and why it's so effective (and fun!), then think about attending her summer intensive.  It will blow your mind.

Heather Cornell lives the dream, traveling around the world, performing with live musicians as an improvisational tap dancer.  She stands out in the tap world as a particularly musical dancer, creating solos with intricate rhythms and satisfying overall shapes.  Heather developed her style as an apprentice to six of the first generation of American tap masters, and had the honor of performing with Honi Coles, Buster Brown, Eddie Brown, the Copasetics and Silver Belles, Cookie Cook, Steve Condos and Chuck Green. Not only is she a great performer, she's one of the leading tap teachers on the scene today, having established the Manhattan Tap Apprentice Program, which trained many of today's leading tap artists including cast members of Stomp, Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk, Tap Dogs, Cool Heat Urban Beat, Riverdance and Manhattan Tap.  Her influence resonates throughout the tap world (no pun intended, but hey, it's tap!  Puns happen!).

As busy as she is, Heather kindly answered our questions, somewhere during her travels between New York, Berlin and Calgary (that passport of her is well worn!).  

SS:  Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us!  Let's talk about first things first.  Why do tap dancers need to know how to improvise?
HC:  It's important for tappers to train as an improviser so that they are training themselves to be creators
and not imitators. Tap is an art form, and so we are looking to train innovators, not clones of other
dancers. I think that the key to each individual's personal style is found in improvisation. In order to
really learn to play your instrument and to really play jazz music, you have to improvise.  It's part of the
tradition, part of the experience. Without improv there is no real communication - the language is
gone, and we're just left with recitation. Can you imagine if we all walked around in real life reciting text to each
other instead of communicating? Anyway, the short answer is - this new generation of dancers who are
fearless with improv just simply are more interesting as dancers, even when they are doing
choreography. They are not afraid to take chances.

SS: Jimmy Slyde famously said once that in order to be a good improvisational dancer, you just needed to add
an "e" to "improv" - do you agree?
HC:  Absolutely. But I would add that the improvement needs to come equally in the dance and music
technique. And I would caution that technique alone does not make a great dancer. You need to
improve enough technically AND understand music so deeply that when you hit the stage, the
experience is not about head but about heart. And you are free to go there because you've done your
homework.

SS:  What types of things does someone need to learn to be a good improvisational dancer?
HC:  You can't teach someone to improvise. You can't teach someone to swing. You can just help them
with their homework; help them to find a road to travel on. For me, as a teacher, I hope that my
students will go off on their own and transcend me in many ways. . . be truly magnificent in ways that I
never experienced or understood. If I try and make it more concrete than that, then I'm telling them
what and how to do it and most probably blocking them from finding their own brilliance. Teaching
improv is about inspiring the dancers to ask constant questions, it's that simple. They should never
ever be dependant on a teacher for their answers.  The teacher is there to inspire, not control.

SS:  Who are the types of people who would benefit from your summer intensive or a workshop/master class with
you?
HC:  Often I get dancers who are the top professionals in their community and are searching for a mentor.
I love teaching beginners, intermediate, pre-professional and professional dancers. It's all the same
info, just a different way of moving through it. I love watching how beginners inspire the professionals
in a truly artistic way, how they make the professionals in the class better than they were, and vice
versa. Any dancer that is really searching to find their voice and is not looking for a "formula" to use
will do well in my teaching style.

SS: Why are your classes/intensives different than other people's classes?
HC:  Because I am interested in mentorship. I was blessed to have some of the best mentors in the
business - Cookie Cook, Eddie Brown, Steve Condos, Chuck Green, Harriet Brown, Buster - and in the
music world, Ray Brown. All these artists took their own approach to teaching, but none of them
reduced it to a series of steps taught in class or raw technique. They were all mentors, not teachers. I
am hoping that I can offer my students much more than basic training. This is why I only teach in New York
once a year, and when I do, it's 58 hours of classes with live musicians in the room with us. It's not a "class"
or a "workshop," hopefully it's an experience that will enrich us all - the students, the musicians and
me.

That's just a brief intro into what Heather is and does.  Having taken from her in the past, I can say that she is warm, embracing and supportive, no matter what your level, and that you will learn something simply by being in the room with her.  She is, quite simply, that good and that inspirational.  You can get more info on her and her summer intensive here: http://www.manhattantap.org/frame_mtap.html.  I strongly encourage you to sign up.  Who knows - there's a very good chance that you will see your friendly neighborhood blogger there as well!

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