Dance Class, Kids Dance Class, Tap Class

ANNOUNCING NEW NOISEMAKERS CLASSES

In just three weeks time, Noisemakers will open it’s doors for brand new children’s dance classes!

58155_623388114356714_405548894_nTap dance classes will begin in the Navan Road Scout Den on 1st April (directions here). Classes on this day will be FREE! Yes you heard me… FREE DANCE CLASSES. No catch. No smelly rats. FREE DANCE CLASSES. Let your budding Fred Astaire or Ginger Rogers come along, try it out, tap out some rhythms and make LOTS OF NOISE with their friends. They can make as much noise as they want!

 

Each class is suitable for absolute beginners as well as kids who have danced since they could walk. Tap is a great addition to ballet, jazz, ballroom and hip hop as it teaches dancers about rhythm, phrasing, posture and weight placement and musicality as well as exploring their own voice as a dancer and a musician.

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Timetable for classes:

5pm – 4-7 years

6pm – 8-11 years

7pm – 12 – 18 years

 

Registration for the term will take place on the night, as well as on Friday 9th April. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Lauren 🙂

 

Tap Dance Tips

What to bring to my first Tap Class?

I get a lot of people asking about tap shoes, and if they need to go and buy them right away, or if they can come to class without them. Of course you can!

The most important thing is to wear shoes you’re comfortable in, and preferably shoes that have a hard sole and make a sound. Brogues, boots, character shoes etc are all perfect!

The only other things to bring are a bottle of water and your ears!

After your first class or two, (when you think to yourself, why haven’t I been tapping my whole life??) you might decide then is the right time to venture to buy some taps.

There are many to choose from. Capezio are my personal favourite at the moment, but unfortunately I’ve yet to find anywhere in Dublin that stock them.

Bloch are the next best choice for me, and Dance World on Parnell street have some lovely helpers that will look after you. Tap shoes are easy to fit, as they should feel pretty much exactly like your normal shoes do! Not too loose, not too tight and with a bit of support. Girls have the option of getting heels, or going with the more brogue style. I like the brogue full shoe style right now, because it’s giving me a fuller sound.

 

The best thing about tap shoes is that they last a really long time! I’ve had the same pair of Bloch lady’s taps for about 10 years. They’re a bit worn at this stage, but they’ve served me well! The cheaper models won’t last as long, as the shoe itself will wear down, but for a beginner’s shoe they’re perfect. The unfortunate thing is once you’ve bought them, your normal shoes will feel waaaay too quiet! You might want to warn housemates and family about the new music that will be filling the house, because you won’t want to take them off!

Happy Dancing! 🙂

(opinions are 100% my own)

Opinion

If you can walk, you can tap.

Since September, I’ve been teaching a new group of kids in Ozanam House, all under the age of 11. We’ve been working on some jazz, some musical theatre, and some ballet. As expected, there were some kids who were natural dancers, some kids who went home each week and practised really hard and came back fighting, and some kids who loved coming to dance class just to see their friends.

5 weeks ago, we started tap class. Most of the kids had never seen tap shoes before, and so when they put them on for the first time, I let them loose. They could do whatever they wanted. The smiles on their faces were totally worth the 5 minutes of mayhem that followed. Their smiles said “I can make as much noise as I want???” What followed was a beautiful disorganised crazy cacophony of sounds as they explored what taps felt like.

Now that we’re on week five, they all know what a flap is, and a shuffle and a cramp roll. They can clap to 8 and (mostly) stay in time. And the children that hadn’t much of an interest in actually dancing in dance class all of a sudden are some of the most natural tappers in the room.

Ozanam House is not a stage school – it is a place for children in the community to come and enjoy themselves with their friends on Saturday mornings and learn something new. So how is it that children with very minimal dance experience have taken to tap dance so well?

For me, it proves what viagrasansordonnancefr.com Buster Brown used to say “if you can walk, you can tap.” Tap is the every-man’s dance; you don’t even need special shoes if you’re really old-school! A dance that’s based on improvisation, individuality, style and stealing steps means that there is never a mistake in tap. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got as a tap-dancer was from Heather Cornell. She said if you make a mistake, do it again. And then do it again until it becomes part of the music. This is something I go back to time and time again – our mistakes are what make us human, they are what make us original as dancers. For a six year old child, tap-dancing is like noisy walking. For someone like me, who has tapped for over 20 years, tap is as natural as walking. The challenge arises in the middle, when we worry about what we sound like and who is watching, and instead of embracing our mistakes as lessons, just answer “oh, I can’t dance.” I say yes you can. I say episode choose your story hack own your mistakes. I say if you can walk, you can tap.

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