You've mastered the basics—the shuffles, the flaps, the cramp rolls. You can hold your own in a beginner class. But now you're ready for more. You want to move beyond the steps and truly dance. Welcome to the intermediate level, where we build the three pillars that transform a technician into a tap artist: strength, speed, and musicality.
The Strength Foundation: Beyond Basic Technique
Intermediate tap isn't about bigger steps; it's about stronger execution. The difference between a shaky shuffle and a crisp, powerful one comes down to strength in often-overlooked areas.
Ankle Isolation Drills
Your ankles are the engine of your tap movement. To build strength:
- Resistance Band Exercises: Sit with legs extended, wrap a resistance band around the ball of your foot. Slowly point and flex against resistance, focusing on controlled movement. 3 sets of 15 on each foot.
- Releve Holds: Rise to the balls of your feet and hold for 30 seconds, maintaining perfect alignment. Repeat 5 times.
- Single-Foot Balance: Practice your shuffles and flaps while balancing on one foot to build stabilizing strength.
Core Engagement for Tap
Your sound doesn't come from your feet alone—it originates from your center.
- Practice steps while maintaining a slight engagement in your abdominal muscles
- Imagine your torso as the conductor, initiating movement that travels down to your feet
- Work on maintaining upper body stillness while your feet create complex rhythms
Practice Tip: The Wall Exercise
Stand with your back against a wall, heels about 6 inches away. Practice your time steps while maintaining contact between your head, shoulders, and hips with the wall. This builds core strength and prevents the upper body bouncing that dampens sound quality.
The Speed Foundation: Precision at Pace
Speed isn't just moving faster—it's maintaining clarity and precision as your tempo increases. Rushing leads to muddy sounds; true speed comes from efficiency of movement.
Metronome Progression Training
Your metronome is your best friend for building speed:
- Start a step (like shuffles) at a comfortable tempo where you can execute perfectly
- Increase the metronome by 5 BPM increments only when you can perform cleanly 10 times in a row
- When you reach a tempo where your form breaks down, drop back 10 BPM and practice there
- Record yourself weekly to monitor progress
Economy of Motion
Speed comes from eliminating unnecessary movement:
- Keep your shuffles low to the ground—the higher your foot travels, the longer it takes
- Relax your ankles and knees—tension is the enemy of speed
- Practice "micro-drills": extremely small, precise movements that focus on sound rather than visual spectacle
The Musicality Foundation: Dancing Beyond the Count
This is where technicians become artists. Musicality is what separates repetitive steps from compelling rhythm.
Phrasing Like a Musician
Think of your steps as musical phrases rather than individual sounds:
- Practice matching your sequences to musical phrases (typically 8-count phrases)
- Experiment with starting your phrase on different counts (not always on 1)
- Play with call-and-response patterns: create a rhythm with your right foot, answer it with your left
Dynamic Control
Musicality isn't just about rhythm—it's about expression:
- Practice the same step at different volumes: fortissimo (very loud), mezzo-piano (medium soft), pianissimo (very soft)
- Experiment with accents: place emphasis on unexpected parts of the measure
- Work on gradual crescendos and decrescendos within a step sequence
Musicality Exercise: The Rhythm Transplant
Take a familiar step (like a buffalo) and perform it to different styles of music: jazz, Latin, funk, classical. Notice how the feeling of the step changes based on the music. Then try to make the same step fit each style by altering your timing, dynamics, and attack.
Putting It All Together: The Intermediate Practice Routine
A structured practice session might look like:
- Warm-up (10 minutes): Ankle rolls, releves, simple flaps and shuffles
- Strength Focus (15 minutes): Resistance band work, slow-motion technique drills
- Speed Drills (15 minutes): Metronome work on specific steps needing tempo development
- Musicality Exploration (15 minutes): Improvisation to different music styles, phrase work
- Cool Down (5 minutes): Stretching, especially calves, hamstrings, and hip flexors
Beyond the Foundations: What's Next?
As you develop these three pillars, you'll find yourself ready for more complex challenges: improvisation, performance quality, and developing your personal style. Remember that progress isn't linear—some days will feel like breakthroughs, others like steps backward. The key is consistent, mindful practice.
Intermediate tap dancing is where the real magic begins. It's where you transition from executing steps to creating music, from following rhythms to conversing with them. Strength gives you power, speed gives you versatility, and musicality gives you voice. Build these foundations well, and there's no limit to where your feet can take you.
Now go make some noise.
