I am slowly attempting to learn how to tap dance. I know a few steps, and I'm cautious about moving on to new steps too quickly. A lot of Lindy Hoppers seem to dabble in tap, but it seems like those who do sometimes spend a lot of their time learning new move after new move without focusing a lot on getting the timing or rhythms into their bodies.
My goal is to take my time and focus on mastering what I've learned before throwing more at myself. I know I could probably practice various steps simultaneously and grow multiple skills at once, but I will approach this as I did Lindy Hop, as an experiment in learning. I can always change this approach later on, but I'm going to see how this slow and steady approach works for me. In my mind I feel that I will retain more if I drill what I know rather than flooding my mind with new material to digest.
Right now I know a number of pretty basic steps. They are basic only to my mind. To my body they are challenging. My sense of balance is lacking for a number of the moves, at least when it comes to getting the right timing down. One of the building blocks of tap is the time step. I currently know two versions, though more if I count the simpler versions of the ones I already know.
The time step I am most comfortable at the moment (which isn't all that comfortable) is apparently called the "Triple Time Step", or "Manhattan Time Step". Alex recently showed me another variation which is a bit trickier (it is the time step that Dr. Jeni LeGon speaks of as "The Time step"). I'm getting it, and I think that with time I will grow to like this step more than the first one I learned.
I'm very excited about tap, though it's tough to be excited about it when I'm frustrated by it. I'm going to try to not be so hard on myself when I can't get the motions. I know that it's just a matter of practice. Practice, practice, practice.
*Post made on 6/8/2010, backdated to 3/1/10 (date is an approximation)
