Dancing - Tap
At The Worcester Masonic Centre, Rainbow Hill, Worcester WR3 8LX on alternate Friday afternoons at:
- 2.00 – 3.00 pm - Beginners
- 3.15 – 4.15 pm - Improvers
Leader and Contact: Carol Raven
The 2022/2023 season proved another fun time for both those members totally new to tap dancing and those of us who have been tapping for longer. By Christmas, the Beginners group had mastered the basic steps and were putting them into different combinations and sequences. Then starting in the New Year we learnt a dance to the “Top Cat” theme music followed later in the year by other routines and dances.
The Improvers group started with a few refresher sessions going over some of the steps learnt previously and then put these through their paces with a new routine to the “Black Bottom” tune. We continued to try to master new steps and dance routines including Earth, Wind and Fire’s “September” and Frank Sinatra’s “You Make Me Feel So Young”.
We also went a bit more international during the season trying out some Irish dancing and Appalachian clog dancing, the latter session demonstrated by one of the members. They were both great fun if somewhat energetic!
If you’re wondering whether tap dancing might be for you, come along and give it a try – it’s a really good work out for body and brain as well as being a fun, enjoyable and sociable activity. As far as fitness levels go, you should be reasonably mobile and not have any physical condition which might be put at risk from an hour’s agility (or more if you take part in both sessions), although we do take several breathers throughout.
You don’t need any tap shoes to start with – just a comfortable pair of shoes that stay on, although not trainers as they probably would “grip” the floor too much. You may also be tempted if you have previously tap danced, possibly as a child, and are wondering which session might be for you – you’d be most welcome to join us for the Beginners and then stay on for the Improvers to see how you get along at any point during the season.
No previous experience is needed as in the Beginners session we start with the very basic tap dancing steps and gradually build on these to form different routines. Several members who have attended the previous year/s also come along to the Beginners as they prefer to start again or just refresh their memories - it’s quite a long break between April/May (date of last session) and September (date of first session in the new season).
Our aim is to enjoy ourselves and endeavour to get our feet to receive the same message that is being sent to them from our brains! Often the messages get lost along the way and laughter takes over but we all leave the sessions feeling happy and energised.
We meet on alternate Friday afternoons at the Worcester Masonic Centre and timings are:
Beginners: 2.00 – 3.00 pm Improvers: 3.15 – 4.15 pm
Please contact me if you would like further information.
Carol Raven
Here is a video of our Christmas 2018 performance: Group Video
And this YouTube link is just for fun - Old movie stars dance to Uptown Funk – we can but dream of reaching this standard!