Tap dance has spent a century evolving from Vaudeville stages to subway platforms, from Broadway houses to experimental black boxes. Yet every innovation—whether Michelle Dorrance's weight-shift techniques or Jason Samuels Smith's blistering speed—rests on a shared vocabulary of sounds. Master these five foundational steps, and you unlock the building blocks that contemporary choreographers are still reimagining today.
1. The Brush
What it is: A single, swift stroke of the ball of the foot across the floor, traveling forward or backward.
Why it matters: The brush teaches control through relaxation. Beginners often force the sound; professionals let gravity and ankle rotation do the work. Practice at 60 BPM until the stroke sounds crisp without tension in the knee or hip.
Modern evolution: Dorrance Dance uses brushes as melodic lines—stringing dozens together in continuous streams that blur the line between dance and drumming.
2. The Flap
What it is: A brush immediately followed by a step onto the ball of the same foot, creating two distinct sounds: swish-STEP.
Common error: Many dancers describe this as "slapping the top of the foot," but the contact point remains the ball—never the instep. The second sound lands with weight, transforming the brush's whisper into a percussive statement.
Tempo drill: Work flaps in triplets (brush-step-pause) at 80 BPM before integrating into faster phrases.
3. The Clog
What it is: A weighted heel drop followed by a toe strike, rooted in the step dance traditions of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
The distinction: Unlike jazz tap's swung eighth-notes, clogging emphasizes straight downbeats and grounded, vertical movement. The torso stays relatively still; the rhythm lives in the lower leg's piston-like action.
Contemporary fusion: Companies like Rhythmic Circus blend clogging's drive with hip-hop's athleticism, proving this "old" step still fuels modern spectacle.
4. The Shim Sham
What it is: A routine, not a single step—choreographed by Leonard Reed in the late 1920s and codified through decades of jam sessions.
The structure: The Shim Sham combines shuffles, flaps, riffs, and breaks into a 32-bar sequence that functions as tap's universal language. Dancers at any skill level can join the circle; professionals add complexity through dynamics and improvisation.
Why every student learns it: When Gregory Hines challenged Mikhail Baryshnikov to a dance-off in White Nights (1985), they didn't freestyle—they traded Shim Sham variations. The routine remains tap's handshake across generations.
5. The Maxie Ford
What it is: A four-count turning phrase: jump, shuffle, leap, toe-tap—named for the early 20th-century hoofer who popularized it.
The technical demand: Unlike stationary steps, the Maxie Ford requires spatial awareness and airtime. The shuffle happens mid-turn; the landing sets up the next rotation. At performance tempo (120+ BPM), the sequence becomes a test of ankle strength and breath control.
Pro tip: Practice the turn without the shuffle first. Master the 180-degree rotation's alignment, then add the rhythmic complexity.
How These Classics Evolve Today
| Foundation Step | Contemporary Application |
|---|---|
| Brush | Loop-pedal layering (Sarah Reich's electronic tap) |
| Flap | Syncopated off-beats in musical theater (Savion Glover's Bring in 'da Noise) |
| Clog | Fusion with Irish step dance (Riverdance alumni projects) |
| Shim Sham | Improvisational frameworks in tap jams worldwide |
| Maxie Ford | Extended for multiple rotations in competition solos |
Your Next Move
These five elements—brush, flap, clog, the Shim Sham routine, and Maxie Ford—appear in every tap syllabus from community centers to conservatory programs. But mastery isn't memorization. Record yourself. Compare your flaps at 100 BPM to professionals'. Notice how Dorrance suspends her weight differently than Hines did, how Samuels Smith's brushes blur into continuous tone.
The steps haven't changed. What you do with them—that's the modern era.
