I am not a passive observer of art. I cannot go to the Met and simply observe its paintings, sculptures, and antiquities without knowing the pieces’ historical significance or the artists’ thought processes. When we spent last week’s class watching YouTube clips of great American tap dancers, I could not resist a quick Google to answer my urgent question; who exactly invented tap dance and why did it catch on? I expected a quick search; instead I found myself clicking away through countless documents and websites, trying to discover tap dancing’s originators. Finally, I stumbled upon the book “Tap Dancing America: A Cultural History,” by Constance Valis Hill. His answer fascinated me.
Tap-dancing dates back to the 1650s when Oliver Cromwell “shipped an estimated 40,000 Celtic Irish soldiers to Spain, France, Poland, and Italy.” Soon after, thousands of Irish men, women, and children were kidnapped and deported to the expanding English colonies to work the tobacco plantations. The Irish brought with them their famous Irish jig and style of step dancing.
However, American tap dance is infused with African influences as well. When the Africans were transported as slaves to the newborn America around the same time as the Irish, the two cultures blended and exchanged customs and dance styles. Along with their fragmented families and affliction, the Africans brought their native culture to the plantations. Central to African religion was their circle-dance ritual, which were adapted and transformed in America. For example, its hand clapping, rhythmic shuffling of feet, and “patting” the body like a drum identified the African American “juba”. In fact, the Africans communicated on “talking drums.”
In the 1740s, fear of slaves uprising caused the Slave Laws to be passed, banning the use of drums by Africans. Creative substitutes were developed, including percussive footwork. This form of dance continued to progress into the dance form we know and enjoy today, incorporating many new steps, instruments other than the Irish fiddle, and extensive footwork. It is interesting to learn that our American tap dance is not entirely American at all!
Thanks for the research! The Scottish and Irish were among the poorest immigrants to this country and had a major influence on African American culture in a number of ways. Irish step dancing as a direct influence is not at all surprising. It is also not surprising that African Americans varied and extended that art form in the ways they did. (Irish step dancing focuses on the lower body, while the upper body remains quite stiff. Tap, uses the whole body.) Interesting!