A Joyful Heart and Happy Feet

This semester I have the opportunity to take a tap class. To some of you this may sound silly or even terrifying. However, to me it is an experience of greatest joy. I grew up enrolled in dance classes practically since I could walk. I started out taking two years of ballet but when I saw all the fun that the tap dance kids were having I wanted to try it too.

For eight years after that I took tap lessons at Jeanette Popp School of Dance (now the Dayton Dance Conservatory) from the one and only Miss Jeanette Popp herself. I did try a few other forms of dance such as jazz and hula, but tap has always been my thing. Some people love playing volleyball and some people love to run, but my happy place is in tap shoes. I tried everything from t-ball to basketball when I was younger and I never fell in love with anything the way I did with dance.

Trophy that I received for dancing at Miss Jeanette's for a total of ten years, two years ballet eight years of tap!

However, it wasn’t all fun and games.  Miss Jeanette was a strict teacher who demanded my utmost attention and dedication. She was a stickler for the dress code and the attendance policy. Heaven forbid if I tapped while she was trying to talk. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit scared of her. 

Despite her strictness, she was an amazing teacher. Because she expected the most, I learned the most. Being in a Tap I class this semester brings me right back to all those evenings in the dance studio having the basics drilled into my head by Miss Jeanette. Thanks to her, I can still make my feet move the same way they did for eight years and clearly recall the names of steps such as the cramp roll and the buffalo. 

A picture of my very on feet and tap shoes that I am still using this semester to dance in.

The thing I love about tap more than any other form of dance is the way you can have fun with it. You don’t have to keep your upper body stiff and tall like in ballet. There are more guidelines in tap as opposed to hard and fast rules of movement. The music is so upbeat and catchy it is impossible not to move your feet and dance with a smile on your face. It is the perfect form of dance to complement my bubbly and fun loving personality. 

There is also supreme satisfaction in nailing a fast tap combination. To the average person, tap looks like you are just haphazardly throwing your feet around, but it’s much more than that. It takes concentration, articulation of the ankles and feet and an ear for rhythm. There are few better feelings than stomping your feet to the last beat of a song and knowing that you hit every step, shuffle, stamp and heel correctly. 

I quit tapping once I got to high school so I could dedicate my time to a new form of dance as a member of my school’s color guard. Last week’s tap class here at Ohio Northern was the first time I have stepped on the dance floor with tap shoes in over seven years, and the feeling was like Christmas. Even though I have to restrain myself from breaking out some fancy steps since the class is for beginners, there is nothing else I would rather be doing from 12 p.m.-1 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.