JUBA: Teacher-Student Relationship

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[The teachers] treat us like we're becoming a part of history, and someday maybe we'll be taking their places and helping to pass on a history to someone else.-Meighan, student

Unlike other forms of dance, tap is generally not taught in a conservatory or formal institution. In the world of black tap in particular, traditions and techniques have been passed down through an informal process of observation and imitation followed by an apprenticeship.

In years past, performance skills were sharpened in tap competitions or "tap-offs." The winner was the dancer with the most inventive improvisations and step combinations. In the 1920s and '30s, a basement room in a gambling club in Harlem was a popular meeting place where the best tappers gathered to compete against each other. Open 24 hours a day, the Hoofers' Club was where aspiring dancers learned from the best tappers through observing and imitating their steps. The Hoofers' Club soon earned a reputation as the best unofficial tap school in the country before it closed down in the late 1930s.

With the resurgence of tap in the 1970s, younger dancers actively sought out older African American masters to teach them the jazz-tap or rhythm-tap style strongly identified with acclaimed rhythm tapper John Bubbles. The emphasis in tap today remains focused on creating an individual style. Instead of learning a precise tap routine, dancers are taught to think of themselves as percussive instrumentalists. Although set routines are frequently used in jazz tap, the tapper is also encouraged to improvise. Along with valuable skills that can only be handed down from master to student, tap instructors are passing along something equally vital - a connection to the rich living history and evolution of tap.