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Today tap thrives as vigorously as at any
time during its sometimes obscure history. Troupes like the Australian outfit Tap Dogs, choreographers like Dein Perry and Stephen Mear, and shows like Soft Shoe Shuffle and Singin’ in the Rain have refreshed and reignited the form for contemporary audiences. It thrives, too, as a dance form hugely enjoyed
by thousands of amateur ‘hoofers’ in search of exercise, fun and a little of the spirit of a lost age of glamour and elegance – which is, of course, what Stepping Out is all about.
Like many kinds of popular entertainment, the genesis of tap dancing is not well-documented. Its acceptance as a ‘legitimate’ dance form, worthy of serious artistic consideration, only began with a revival of interest from the 1960s onwards. Often described as America’s only indigenous dance form, tap’s roots probably lie in Africa and Europe. What America did – and perhaps what only America could do – was
to meld the various strands into a new and distinctive whole.
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