Josh Hilberman, visiting star to the London Tap Dance Festival, said: “Tap dance in performance, and good tap dance in performance, is rare.”
But whilst the London streets buzzed with Saturday night revellers, inside Brixton House Theatre the audience of the festival Gala sat transfixed – barely blinking, eyes wide as they were treated to not just good tap dance, but something exceptional.
And joyful. So joyful.
Curated by OKR Dance – the capital’s very own professional tap company established by Avalon Rathgeb in 2014 – the evening comprised of classics, passed down from Vaudeville greats, alongside new innovative pieces in a celebration of the rich history of tap dance – a fusion of British, Irish and Scottish percussive dance forms with African American rhythm and sensibilities 200 years ago.
Performed by the company dancers and their training programme students, alongside guest international teachers of the weekend celebration of tap, it was a treat for the audience and festival participants to see a style not often on display on London’s stages, all strung together with insightful and witty anecdotes from the characterful Hilberman and Sarah Reich, who were visiting legends.
To begin, an enchanting solo performed by Rathgeb teased what was to come, enticing the audience into the world of rhythm tap with delicate style and effortlessness.
When asked about why she taps, Rathgeb said: “Man, I love it – there is nothing else I’d rather do.
“It makes me feel alive. It feels like me. It’s like my identity.”
It was obvious this is true for the whole cast by their genuine glee at sharing the stage and creating rhythms and music together and with the talented live musicians who stayed in the space throughout.
They entered confidently with the circular and jaunty choreography of the Walk Around, honouring Charles ‘Honi’ Coles’ who was inspired by the 1840’s minstrel shows, and his supposed theory ‘If you can walk you can dance’, which is ironic, as the pedestrianised beginning very quickly becomes much more rhythmically complex and quick.
It can certainly only be achieved by an accomplished dancer such as Reich, stealing the show with her ease and utter comfort.
The students in the room were entranced by the second piece, D&E, which was created for just five dancers by Rubén Sánchez García’ – a visiting performer and teacher from Spain.
Although suave and precise it did remind pupils that was that even the world’s greatest tappers go wrong, but it is how they brush it off that matters – in moments of synchronicity tiny mistakes were laughed off with confidence.
Of all the pieces, Reich’s It’s Tappening felt the most electric.
It was high energy, in contrast to the coolness of Eddie Brown’s BS Chorus before, and it explored variations around a rhythm in a score which Reich actually created alongside the composer.
It is a testament to the point that tap dancers are also musicians. Sometimes they dance to compliment the melody, sometimes engaging in conversation, a forwards and backwards explorative play with rhythm, dynamics and speed.
This was developed through the next pieces.
The audience were eventually introduced to a new idea with an acapella section – that tappers can be a one man band. The shoes and the wearer can create it all on their own.
It was playful and yet rehearsed, unpredictable but never uncertain.
The first act closed with a rendition of Dr Harold ‘Stumpy’ Cromer’s Opus One, which was workshopped with Gene Kelly and taught to Reich in New York in 2004, which she continues to coach around the world in his legacy in the continuation of the oral tradition of tap: passing on steps, style and choreography through in-person tutelage, not books.
With a touch of jazz hands the exhausting routine had it all, perhaps not lending itself to a heatwave performance, but the dancers never tired and at the end had energy left to point up at the sky and cheer in recognition of the choreographer- a truly beautiful moment for the festival community to remember and commend the genius.
The second half of the show starred the OKR Youth and Development programmes which were established by Rathgeb recently to create in a safe and encouraging learning environment, focusing on the artistic, rather than competitive side, to tap.
Whilst it was less cohesive than the first half, the students made up for what they lack in maturity and experience with a technical prowess well beyond their years.
By the end of the evening the audience were in standing ovation, grinning from ear to ear, because the passion of the performers for creating music with their feet had transferred to them through wings, shim shams and cramps rolls.
Hilberman said: “Why people should tap dance, especially adults, is that it is like meditation, and nobody understands that.
“In the end, when you leave, all the noise and the mistakes and the messing and the suffering, you feel super peaceful.”
Leaving the theatre, and as a tap dancer myself, I understood his sentiment, but my overriding feeling was joy.
Joy, and the yearning to shuffle, riff and Maxie Ford my way back to Brixton tube station, and hopefully back next year to the London Tap Dance Festival.
Featured Image Credit: Angela Wilson
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