The Styles of Two Tap Dancers: Fred Astaire and Bill Robinson - Research Paper Example

Tap Dance Tap dance is an old form of dance in the Western cultures that involves the use of the heels to produce secondary tap sound often contributing to the rhythm of the music. Tap is, therefore, not just a type of a dance but also a genre of music. There are two types of widely practiced tap dance: the rhythmic tapping, also referred to as jazz tap, which focuses more on the musicality of the tap, such dancers considered part of the jazz tradition. The other type is Broadway tap, which focuses more on the dance. It is performed as part of a musical theater. The sounds produced by the heels are called taps (Gates 43). Several iconic artists have perfected in the dance style always trying to perfect the dance and make it more converted. Dance just as any other form of art is subject to different interpretation as the discussion below portrays through the use of the two iconic tap dancers. Just as any other type of art, tap dance is relative but has a number of conventions to ensure perfect performance. Several artists have perfected in the dance, thereby contributing to its expansion by introducing new moves. Among some of the most iconic contributors to the development of the dance are Fred Astaire and Bill Robinson. Born in different times, the two worked hard perfecting their skills and talent, thus contributing to the development of the art (Sarah 12). The two perfected in different types of the dance each introducing newer concepts. Tap dance just as any other form of dance thrives on improvisation; the two dancers used innovation to improvise the existing tap styles to widen the scope of the dance, thereby making it more interesting. Born in 1899, Fred Astaire was a Broadway tap dancer. In his seventy-six-year career, he produced a number of dance films employing his multiple skills and interest in the production of numerous tap dance styles and incorporating the art into other arts, thereby making it a holistic piece of entertainment. Fred was a choreographer, a dancer, a singer and a musician, among other forms of visual arts. He managed to fuse the different talents into a holistic art that incorporated the different elements into one. His contribution to the development of tap dance as both a music and a dance is therefore substantial. He produced more than thirty dance films, in all of which he incorporates the Broadway type of the tap dance. Fred worked with other iconic choreographers with whom they developed new dance moves and raised younger talents. Through the works of dance academies, they organized dance competitions and rewarded creativity, thereby nurturing talents and improving interest in the performance of tap dance. Being a virtuoso dancer, he incorporated creativity in his career and coupled it with improvisation of the existing dance styles to create intriguing performances, which communicated deep emotions and lighthearted venture sameness. His ability to communicate through dance contributed to making tap dance a genre of music. As a Broadway tap dancer, he believed that the dance followed the rhythm of the music. However, he understood the important contribution of the tap sounds in enriching the rhythm of the music but failed to associate the sound with the sounds of other musical instruments used in enriching the song. This way, he simply adhered to the contours of musical rhythms. This led him to contribute to the invention of soft tap as a genre of the tap dance style. Soft tap is one in which the tap sound of the feet of the dancers is inaudible. Therefore, dancers simply dance to the rhythm of the song without contributing to the rhythm through the production of their own tap sounds. Broadway dancers concentrate on the dance; they let the music control their movements. As such a dancer, Fred believed that music often led the dancer into different dance moves once on the dance floor (Billman 23). He followed the contours of music dutifully without trying to influence the rhythm of sound through his dance moves. However, he was also a musician and a singer and, therefore, had great knowledge on the relationship between music and dance. As a dancer, he deliberately separated music from dance and danced without trying to influence the outcome of music. His musical knowledge and talent as a singer helped him balance each, producing independent pieces that never overlapped. His students believe in tap as a dance and not as a music. They concentrate on the dance through the guidance of music and not vice versa. Another iconic figure in the development of tap dance was Bill Robinson. Born in 1878, Bill became a sensational media personality mainly as a tap dancer. He thrilled his audience through his effortless ability to separate the different parts of his body. Bill rarely involved his upper body in the dance but often concentrated on his highly flexible and strong feet to maintain the movement of the dance (Haskins 55). This way, he produced progressively steady taps that fused with the unison of the music. As a musician and dancer, his approach to tap dance was the rhythm tap. His ability to use only his legs without incorporating the rest of his body was specifically sequential with the musicality of the dance. Bill was multitalented and purposely dropped out of school to make a living out of his talent. He worked hard and perfected his acting, dancing and singing abilities to become one of the renowned tap dancers of his generation. He acted in a number of dance films, thereby increasing publicity for the dance. This way, he increased interest and through dance academies, developed a great following into the rhythm genre of the dance. According to him, music and dance could always fuse. Music influenced the dance moves, a factor that to him could make the dance influence the nature of the music too. Through tap dance, he could easily fuse both his knowledge in dance and music to create a holistic piece in which the absence of one eliminated the intended meaning. He developed a common ground between music and dance using rhythmic tap dance. The two dancers, therefore, present a number of differences and similarities. Arts is relative and often subject to different interpretation by different people. The two possess a different understanding of the dance but each earns a relative success without hampering the development of the other. Both were dance artists with great affinity for the tap dance (Sarah 51). They contributed to the development of the dance relatively with the different subgenres in which they perfected not affecting the growth of the dance. Some of the students perfected in both, depicting the ability of the two dancers to recognize the distinction between the different music genres. Additionally, despite their different subgenres, they had an effective and adequate understanding of each genre, avoiding unnecessary confusion in their performances. Bill, for example, was a rhythmic tap dancer but could perform the soft shoe type of dance, a type in which the dancer produces minimal sound. This implied that his dances did not produce enough sound to influence the rhythm of music. This indicates that despite his conflicting understanding of tap dance with Fred, he had the knowledge on the performance of the other type of the dance. Additionally, Fred could also perform any form of dance; the multiskilled dancer had effective knowledge of other dances and aspects of choreography besides his ability to perform tap dance. The two had a number of similarities, key among which was their ability to multiperform. They had similar interest but differed on the finer details of their talents. This did not mean the conspicuous opposition of ideas; they shared some of the approaches to the dance by each having a school of choreography where they nurtured the younger talents. In retrospect, the two dancers portray the relativity of art by performing in the same art through possessing different opinions and ideas about the same art (Hyam 22). While Fred believed that dance should never influence music, Bill argued that dance should influence the music, too, since the two are relatively inseparable. The two artists peruse their different talents, but their success validates the claim that art is subject to different interpretation. Works Cited Billman, Larry. Fred Astaire: A Bio-bibliography. New York: Greenwood Press, 1997. Print. Gates, Henry. Harlem Renaissance Lives from the African American National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print. Haskins, James. Mr. Bojangles: The Biography of Bill Robinson. New York: William Morrow, 1988. Print. Hyam, Hannah. Fred and Ginger: The Astaire-Rogers Partnership 1934–1938. Brighton: Pen Press Publications, 2007. Print. Sarah, Kaufman. Tapping a Gold Mine of Motion. Washington: Washington Post, 2006. Print. Read More