Modern tap is having a moment. On Broadway stages, in viral video clips, and at international festivals, a new generation of tap artists is redefining what this American art form can be. But here's what newcomers often miss: modern tap isn't just traditional tap done faster or louder. It's a fundamental shift in how the dancer relates to rhythm, space, and musicianship.
Whether you're lacing up your first pair of tap shoes or refining your improvisation skills, this guide will give you concrete techniques to build your foundation and develop your voice in this evolving style.
What Is Modern Tap, Really?
To understand modern tap, it helps to know what it's pushing against. Classic Broadway tap—think 42nd Street or the Nicholas Brothers—emphasizes clean, upright lines, flashy turns, and the visual spectacle of the body. Rhythm tap, which gained prominence through legends like Savion Glover, shifted focus toward musical complexity and hoofing (dancing primarily on the balls of the feet with minimal upper-body theatrics).
Modern tap synthesizes these lineages while borrowing from jazz, hip-hop, and contemporary dance. Choreographers like Michelle Dorrance, Jason Samuels Smith, and Derick K. Grant have expanded the vocabulary to include:
- Polyrhythms and odd time signatures: Your feet might play in 3/4 while the music stays in 4/4.
- Lower centers of gravity: Squats, slides, and floor work that would look at home in contemporary dance.
- Conversational upper bodies: Arms that oppose, delay, or completely ignore the footwork rather than simply framing it.
Watch Dorrance's Myelination or Samuels Smith's Charlie's Angels solo, and you'll see how pedestrian movement and virtuosic footwork can coexist in the same phrase.
Step 1: The Basics—With Precision
Every modern tap artist still needs clean fundamentals. But "knowing" a step and executing it with clarity are different achievements. Here are the three building blocks you should own before moving on:
Shuffle
A forward brush followed by a backward brush with the same foot, producing two crisp sounds. Keep your ankle loose and let the ball of the foot do the work. The knee should initiate the motion, not the hip.
Flap
A brush forward, then a step onto the ball of the foot. Think "brush-STEP" with the accent on the step. The common beginner error is brushing too large—keep it small and controlled.
Ball Change
A quick transfer of weight from the ball of one foot to the other foot. It fills one beat and prepares you for the next movement. Modern tap often deploys ball changes not just as transitions but as rhythmic punctuation.
Practice tip: Work each step at 60 BPM on a metronome until you can sing the rhythm accurately without looking at your feet. Speed is seductive; precision is non-negotiable.
Step 2: Rhythm and Timing—Becoming the Music
In tap, you are both dancer and musician. Your feet are the instrument, the floor is the drum, and silence is as compositional as sound.
Start with simple quarter-note and eighth-note patterns, stamping out steady time with your heels. Then introduce syncopation—placing sounds on the "and" counts rather than the downbeats. Modern tap thrives on the tension between what the listener expects and what your feet deliver.
Tools for training:
- Metronome apps: Try Pro Metronome or Soundbrenner. Practice with the click on beats 2 and 4 only, forcing you to supply the internal pulse.
- Polyrhythm drills: Play a triplet pattern (1-trip-let) with one foot while maintaining straight eighths (1-and-2-and) with the other. Start at glacial tempos.
- Transcription: Listen to a solo by Dormeshia or Jason Samuels Smith and write out the first eight counts in tap notation. This builds your rhythmic ear faster than passive watching.
Step 3: Combining Steps—Choreography as Conversation
Once individual steps feel automatic, begin linking them into phrases. A phrase in tap is like a sentence: it has a beginning, a development, and a resolution.
Start simple:
Shuffle right, shuffle left, flap right, flap left, ball change, step.
Then add dynamic variation:
- Execute the first shuffle pianissimo (softly), the second forte (loudly).
- Accelerate into the ball change, then suspend the final step by a fraction of a beat.
Modern tap choreography often treats combinations as call-and-response—one phrase asks a rhythmic question, the next answers it. When you practice, don't just string steps together. Listen
