How to Get Better At Tap Dancing?

Did you know, the Guinness World Record for the longest distanced tap danced by a male was 32 miles (51.49 kilometers) in 7 hours and 35 minutes?

To become a professional tap dancer, you must first slow down and get the basics right. It includes relaxing your ankles and getting the right muscle moving.

Tap Dancing

It might sound odd but we will explain why. You can learn and improve tap-dancing with continuous practice and the right training. 

Of course, you need lots of patience, determination, and practice is required. 

To get better at tap dancing? Below-given tips can help to improve your tap-dancing skills. 

Tips to Get Better At Tap Dancing

These tips can help you to get better at tap-dancing. 

  • Relax Your Ankles
  • Have you ever seen a professional tap dancer performing? They make each dance step look completely clean. The main secret behind cleans moves is they relax their ankles. Don’t overuse your ankles. Be Footloose.

    Tap Dancing

    In this way, you can perform steps quickly, but you may end up damaging your ankles. Make conscious and consistent efforts to relax your ankles. Make more use of the legs, start the movement from the hips, and limit the movement of ankles. Make sure that your legs are doing most of the work, and your feet are just following along. It can help you to get better at tap dancing. 

  • Start With the Basics (Hop, Shuffle)
  • If you are new to tap dancing, learn the basic moves first. When you become good at basic steps, and then try to practice these moves in combinations and move towards advanced levels. In the beginning, you must learn shuffle and ball heel to become a good tap dancer. 

  • Slow Down
  • In the beginning, most of the tap dancers try to perform steps quickly. They try to speed up through combinations. What will be the result of rushing? It will blend individual tap sounds into one sound, and it will allow your steps to run together. If you feel you are skipping combination steps, try to slow down. Clean tap sounds are much better than the sloppy speed tapping. You and your audience would love and enjoy the clean tap sounds. In this way, you can get better at tap dancing. 

  • Lean Forward
  • One of the key figures in tap dancing is maintaining balance. You must have the ability to maintain weight. Your feet must have the ability to be lifted at any time. You should have the ability to keep your center of gravity in the middle. When you are tap-dancing, try to hold most of your weight forward. You should be able to maintain balance on the balls of your feet. Doing this, you can get better at tap dancing. 

  • Keep The Rhythm
  • When you are tap-dancing, you are doing more with music than dance. In tap dance, you are making music. So, the best way to do is to keep in time with music instead of rushing and overdoing. Stay focused, and don’t be carried away with your tap sounds. Listen to tap music and move in time with the beat. The best way to entertain your audience is your tap sound should complement the rhythm of the music. 

  • Take Music Lessons
  • If you have a background in music, it can help you to improve the rhythm of the music. To improve your rhythm, you can take jazz music as an example, and it can help you to use your emotions. In this way, you can create good tap sounds. 

  • Flex Your Improved Muscles
  • If you want to improve your tap dancing, then practice different improvised and creative exercises to improve your muscles. Perform below-given exercises to master your tap-dancing art. 

    • Learn steps from other dancers.
    • When you want to show your personality to others, talk aloud while improving.
    • To develop confidence, never look at the dance floor. Try to look at your classmates or straight ahead. 
    • You can add an element of surprise by stopping in the middle of the improvisation.
    • You should be able to change your choreography with your rhythm. 

    In this way, you can get better at tap dancing. 

  • Find A Right Dance Class 
  • As the right path can take you to the destination, similarly, a right dance class can help you to master the art of tap dancing. So, it is better to spend some time to find out the best dance studio near you. If you want to learn at home, then find online classes. Try to find a class according to your skills and needs. Before joining any class, make sure that the instructor has the required qualification and dance skills. When you join a reputable dance school, you can trust that all the trainers are highly-qualified. 

  • Learn Timing
  • Tap-dancing is not just all about dance; it is also about music. So, you can only master tap-dancing when you have learned about creating sounds in time. So focus on the rhythm and sound whenever you dance. When you have learned to time, you can get better at tap dancing.  


  • Watch Famous Tap Dancers
  • You can improve your tap-dancing skills by learning different steps from instructors. But you can become expert in tap dancing when you watch your favorite tap dancers performing. When you watch pro dancers, you can improve your dancing techniques. You can learn new dance moves that you haven’t learned from your trainers. The best way to do this is to watch their videos on YouTube. 

  • Practice Often
  • You must have listened that “Practice makes a man perfect.” So the more you practice, the better will be your tap dancing skill. When you start practicing basic steps, you will be able to learn advanced steps quickly. To get the best results, at least practice tap dancing three times a week. 

    Conclusion

    As long as you are talking tap dancing as fun, it looks easy. When you want to become a professional tap dancer, you have to do lots of things. Start practicing basic dance moves and then learn advance moves. The best way to learn any dance style is to practice it often. The more you practice, the better you will be at tap dancing. 

    Tap dancing isn’t as simple as we think. Tap dance lessons can be great for young kids and beginners. In tap dance, age is just a number.

     

    Efforts have been made to get the information as accurate and updated as possible. If you found any incorrect information with credible source, please send it via the contact us form
    Author: Sky Hoon
    Into Watching Tik Tok Dancing. He loved to watch creative Tik Tok Dancing that show a person's personality. Created this blog to learnt more about dancing.
    Back to blog