Beginning Tap Dance With Web Resource

As part of the new Interactive Dance Series that includes resources for ballet, tap dance, modern dance, and jazz, we bring you Beginning Tap Dance. This book helps students learn tap dancing and appreciate it as a performing art. Lisa Lewis, an experienced tap dancer and dance instructor, focuses her book on novice dancers. Her step-by-step instruction will help beginning tap dancers match the beat of their enthusiasm to the rhythm of their feet!

Designed for students enrolled in introductory tap dance courses, Beginning Tap Dance contains concise descriptions of exercises, steps, and techniques. Featuring more than 70 video clips of tap steps with verbal cues, the web resource helps students review content learned in class or other beginning steps. The web resource also contains learning features to support and extend students’ knowledge of tap dance, including assignments, e-journaling prompts, tests of tap dance terminology, a glossary, and links to further study. (The web resource is included with all new print books and some ebooks. For ebook formats that don’t provide access, the web resource is available separately.)

The book introduces students to the dance form by detailing its physical and mental benefits. With Beginning Tap Dance, students also learn about etiquette, proper attire, class expectations, health, and injury prevention for dancers. After basic dance steps are introduced, tap steps are presented in groups with one, two, three, and four or more sounds. Chapters also introduce students to the history, major works, artists, styles, and aesthetics of tap dance as a performing art.

As teaching tools, Beginning Tap Dance and the accompanying web resource support both academic and kinesthetic learning. Instructions, photos, and video clips of techniques help students practice outside of class. The text and web resource complement studio teaching by providing historical, artistic, and practical knowledge of tap dance plus activities, assessments, and support in skill acquisition. With Beginning Tap Dance, students can learn and enjoy performing tap dance as they gain an appreciation of the dance form.

Beginning Tap Dance is a part of Human Kinetics’ Interactive Dance Series. The series includes resources for ballet, tap, modern dance, and jazz that support introductory technique courses taught through dance, physical education, and fine arts departments. Each student-friendly text includes a web resource offering video clips of dance instruction, learning aids, assignments, and activities. The Interactive Dance Series offers students a guide to learning, performing, and viewing dance.

Lisa Lewis, PhD, is an associate professor in the health and human performance department at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee. Originally from North Carolina, Dr. Lewis started her professional dance training under master teachers Mallory Graham and Danny Hoctor, and later she studied in New York City under the legendary jazz teacher Frank Hatchett and tap professional Maurice Hines at Hines-Hatchett studio (currently Broadway Dance Center). Dr. Lewis developed online tap dance components for beginners while instructing tap dance at Middle Tennessee State University.