How does ballet training help the development of strong tap technique?
Ballet teaches body alignment, develops good weight distribution (keeping the weight distributed evenly on the foot, more toward the pads of the toes) for balance, jumps, and turns. Understanding how jumps work takes a lot of the mystery out of pullbacks and wings. And it doesn’t hurt to have a tap teacher who will incorporate full body movement, turns, and a general spatial awareness into a tap class. What advice do you give to young tap dancers regarding their dance education and career expectations? There is more work for rhythm dancers, “hoofers,” than there was 30 years ago. You should learn about every facet of the business so that you can take advantage of opportunities that may arise while you’re waiting for the dream job. Often, the serious rhythm tapper has a limited background in other dance forms. And dancers who are well versed in ballet, jazz, and other “full body” movement often have only the most basic knowledge of tap. Or they know a lot of steps but not much about how
