Shaking It Off at the Fete

The Tap-Kids were rockstars again at the local fete this year.  We've performed there so often now that we have it down to a fine art - both in terms of the performances and in terms of the technical stuff like setting up and striking the tap boards.  One of the guys running the stage this year remarked on our speed - he'd been all prepared to help, then he'd left the area to check on something and came back to find it all set up.  Another fete-volunteer-guy was helping Fixit lug boards into the grounds, and as they shook each others' hands said Oh so you're Mister Caroline? The kids found that terribly funny.



As usual, for the performance run order, we worked from youngest to oldest.  Here's a picture of the Tiny Tappers, who are aged 3-4, being delightful tapping bumblebees. One of my newer students, who'd been with me less than a term and had never seen us perform, was suddenly stricken by massive stage-fright and sat on her mum's lap looking at me with big tears rolling down her little face.  But I offered to hold her hand for the performance, and also said she could dance holding her special lion soft toy, and she bravely agreed to come on.

 

Of course once we started she was fine and had a splendid time.  The kids indulged me by dressing up for the show, and I think they look so adorable with their wings and face-paint and antennas. Such cuteness.


Trombone playing bumblebees. Edible.

The next to perform were the Flappers Class, who are beginner-level tappers of school age. They did a terrific job walking 500 miles.



 (It's a song, they didn't really walk that far.  But there was walking of sorts. And jumping.)



I especially like the bit where they fell down at your door.



We had the Gliders1 Class (more than beginners) up next, so many of them that it was hard to get them in one photo. 



They had a pretty tricky routine this year.  With shoulder choreography and everything.



This is them just before they bite the dust. Look at their faces, they can't wait to pretend to die.



Then came the Gliders2 class. They were performing Lollipop and at the final class before the fete  I suddenly decided to make them do the routine with lollipop props.

 

One of the young tappers was a bit concerned that this was too much to expect of them at the last moment, and to be fair, he had a point. It was a big ask.

 

But of course, these kids are so good that they absolutely coped and remembered the new lollipop holding (and licking) choreography. Such troopers. (Should that be troupers?)



After that it was time for the Grand Finale, the ambitious routine where I put all my senior classes together in one dance, doing different things to each other.  We had one fun rehearsal on the Friday night before the fete so they could get used to tapping with all the three classes together. It went incredibly smoothly! They all loved doing this song, and were just fantastic about knowing where they had to be and what they had to do.  I was so impressed with them.



I think they were all bursting with excitement to get up there and perform. First to take the spotlight were the youngest of the three senior classes, The Shufflers.



Falling Off The Log step. We worked VERY hard on this. (I was a little bit sick of this step by the end of term, I taught it to some grown-ups as well so I had to fall off the log a LOT.)



 What a team.

 

Next up were The Tapsters.  This used to be Climber's class but he no longer wants to tap. So sad. Lucky I still have all these gorgeous girls to work with, because this class is the most advanced and are up for all the challenges I can throw at them. So clever.  I still put Climber to work; you can see him in the background being the stop/go person on the ipod, so that I could have Nell on photographic duty (didn't she do an excellent job?) and Fixit on videoing-using-the-ipad duty.  He also did a good job, except there was an ipad malfunction right when this routine (the one I really wanted recorded) started, and he didn't get any of it.  However I was able to get footage from Julie, and Jen (who had a child in each of the three classes), thank you laydeez, and put together a video, see below.



I wasn't planning to dance in this routine at all, but one of the Tapsters was away this weekend, so I took her place.  It was fun!

 

Wings!



Then the groovy Groovers came forward and performed their stuff with their usual aplomb.



They love this move.  We call it The Geronimo. All the other classes are jealous and want it in their dances as well.



The crowd was very impressed with it too.



For the final chorus, we had pat-a-cake, balancing and bridges.  When we finished we received an enormous round of applause, and lots of cheering. 



Great work, kidtappers! Once more you did a fantastic job entertaining the crowd.  So proud of you all.  Big thanks also to Fixit, Nell and Climber, and of course, to all the wonderful tap families.

Twist of Fete

We were, once again, an absolute smash hit at the Merri Creek Fete last weekend.  So many great comments about how good the kids were, and a smiling and appreciative (and huge) crowd to cheer them on.  We had a great time, and I was super proud of them all.  My sister came along and took some gorgeous shots for me.

We tend to perform from youngest to oldest so you can see the development.  This is the Flappers class, for beginners and preppies.  They are a very capable crew this lot.

 

I thought they did a great job. They had to master some tricky stuff but they made it look easy.

 

The next two classes are younger More Than Beginners, and I now have so many of them we've had to split across 2 classes.  These are the Gliders1 Crew.
 


They always bring me sunshine.



And here are the Gliders2



They make me happy.



The Shufflers are intermediates.  I love the application and dedication in this group. They really want to learn tap, and quite often I see kids from this class watching other classes to learn extra routines.



They had a fun and fast routine and they just seized it with gusto.  A couple of these girls will be my junior teachers in a few years time, for sure!



The irrepressible Groovers.  Junior advanced. Always fun, with that touch of Broadway in their souls. I could teach these guys all day. They're delightful.



Their performance was rather ritzy, and had quite a few performance elements that they worked very hard to achieve, like formation changes and different parts for different groups.



Tapsters.  The Big End of school, the advanced class, the seniors.  They got a huge cheer at the end of their routine, because the tapping was so full on in it.

And they had a surprise prop! Here they are throwing money around, although apparently Climber just couldn't get his out of his pockets in time. His face isn't giving it away though.

Take a bow, you gorgeous kids!

Feted, again!

What a wonderful job my kid tappers did this year at the fete, in our seventh year! Bless their tappy little toes.

We started with the big kids first, doing their chair dance.  Ace, as usual.




The littlies were fantastic this year, and tapped FOR THE WHOLE SONG!! Some years they just stand there looking confused, but these guys knew what to do, and they did it. Bravo, tap-babies!



These 2 beginners looked like professionals, and barely needed my help.



The Gliders had a pretty hard routine this year! They've done really well to learn it, and did a great job.



The cheeky and delightful Shufflers. They sure know their stuff.



The irrepressible Groovers. They are star performers, this crew. 



Thanks to Nell and Fixit for help, and to the wonderful tap families. They are the best.

Feted

We had a tap performance last Saturday at a local primary school fete, and (once again) it felt like our Best Show Ever.  This outdoor performing thing, we know how to do it now. All the dancers and dances were very well received, we were applauded and cheered heartily and you couldn't help seeing that we'd drawn an excellent sized crowd and they all had great big smiles on their faces as they watched us.



I think there are a few reasons why this particular performance went so well, namely:

• The primary school we were performing at is just lovely, their fete is lovely and they therefore draw a lovely crowd.  The sort of people who probably appreciate a dance school where the kids have genuine rather than showbiz smiles on their faces, where the moves are age appropriate and the stylings are gender-neutral, and nobody gets upset if the littlies stare vaguely into space while their teacher does all the actual tapping.

• This is our 6th performance at this particular fete, so we really knew what to expect. There were NO technical problems. The boards went down easily and quickly, the ipod/sound system worked, no tap shoes were forgotten: in other words, we were very well prepared.

• The choreography was pitched at the right level in terms of audience entertainment and what the dancers were capable of performing and remembering - the remembering part is not to be underestimated when you're tap-dancing!

• I didn't talk at this one. Sometimes I think I should, you know, talk my school up, but I never feel I do a very good job of it and this show I decided to let the kids' dancing speak for itself.  That's what people want to see, right?  Not the crazy purple lady burbling on, just the cute kiddies and their tap skillz.

• My injured foot didn't play up.  All week I'd been nursing a sore left foot, and ended up having an x-ray for a suspected stress fracture in the 5th metatarsal.  Happily, it turned out to be just tendonitis in that area, and coddling it all week was probably a very good thing (my feet don't get much rest otherwise) because, as I expected, when it came to performance time, a rush of adrenaline took over and I completely forgot about my sore foot.  I was hugely relieved to find that my foot felt absolutely fine afterwards, and in fact didn't start hurting again until the next tap lesson on the Monday.  But it is mending, and school holidays will do it a world of good.

• Finally, and I think most importantly, the tap kids are so ace.  From the adorable Littlies who hold my hand and get slightly stage-struck but who melt the audience's heart with their cuteness, the Beginners who sort of know what to do (but haven't quite mastered doing it all at the same time) who smile and jump around with adorable enthusiasm, the More Than Beginners who are bursting with pride at how they are doing fancier footwork now and can't wait to show everybody, the Intermediates who I think of as my Broadway class because they possess skills and aplomb, and finally the Advanced Group who are starting to really wow the crowds with how good they are and are giving the other groups (and parents of the younger tappers) something to aspire to.  I always say it, but it's true: I have the nicest families tapping with me.  I love those tap kids.

Thanks as always to my Number One Crew: production manager Nell and head roadie Fixit, and to all the wonderful tap families who came and danced. More photos here.

The Show Must Go On

I had this very bad lead-up to the Merri Creek Fete performance yesterday, because I was so strung out about the sick kitty and therefore not fully able to keep all my balls in the air, so to speak. A morning's phone call from the vet saying Basil would need a blood transfusion and that that would cost an extra $700 sent the stress levels sky-rocketing.  Then I realised I had arrived at the Tap Hall without any ipod to teach class with, that it had probably fallen out in the car -which was at soccer with Fixit and the boys - and that Fixit was phone-less.  A few deep breaths were required before I worked out how to contact Fixit;  the ipod was delivered and the morning's classes went off smoothly.  Then it was time for lunch and Nell and I set off to the fete to prepare the tap boards while Fixit and the boys ducked home to get the forgotten good camera and normal shoes for Cherub (ie ones that were not studded soccer boots or tap shoes for him to run around afterwards at the fete in). And then as we stood near the stage in what we thought was an organised state, another glitch: several students had not got their tap-shoes for the show.  A quick discussion took place - the stage was running 15 minutes late and Pea's Dad was willing to drive Nell to the Tap Hall to collect spare shoes!  Only that meant a sort of bated breath wait because Nell is the ipod keeper at shows and the stage crew of course asked me for the ipod pretty much the minute Nell left.  They made it back with minutes to spare, and the shoeless children and I had a quick rummage to match feet with taps, while Nell sorted the ipod.



I walked on stage with the Tiny Tappers, preparing to dance the Yellow Submarine, but the music was playing up and there were no vocals at all, which bewildered the Tinies and made it difficult to get our cues.  So there was a bit of battling through with the dance and grimacing wildly over my shoulder at the crew to please fix the problem; and then Nell, in desperation, did something  (she still doesn't know what) to the ipod, and balance (and vocals) were restored.  From that point on, the show went really well.  The Tiny Tappers were divine as always:



The combined middle groups (beginner and intermediate level) were an absolute smash with their routine, Concrete & Clay (the Martin Plaza version).  The audience were spontaneously cheering and whooping during the routine - I think because a section of choreography echoed exactly what everyone really wants to do when they hear that bit of the music and the kids looked so deliciously happy as they did it - and that was an absolute tonic for me and a big happy high for the kids.  It's good to be cheered, it really is.  Look at our faces, we're loving it.



The Gliding Groovers class were next with their Goodies routine, complete with comedy falls at the end. The rule of comedy falls is to go up before you go down. Look how high up my Cherub went. (And well done to Fixit for catching that precise moment, what a corker of a shot!)  I love how good this class is and how well they do this routine.  They requested that I did it with them yesterday, they don't really need me but it was fun to be part of it with them.



The Tapsters started with their acapella number.  I could feel a very impressed vibe coming off the crowd when they did it too, and received quite a few comments afterwards about how much people loved that  bit.  They finished with a Shim-sham, and received a great big hand.  They really are super, those Tapsters.



Fixit captured the audience after we'd taken our bow. It really was one of our best shows ever.



I am lucky to be surrounded by people who help make it work - the kids, their families, Nell Fixit and Jenny. Thank you xx