# What's the point of tap dancing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143 "2004-12-10T15:58:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/1 "2004-12-10T15:58:47Z")
Looking from the outside in, it seems like a completely useless skill to learn. But I know next-to-nothing about dance, so I’m probably wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/2 "2004-12-10T16:08:06Z")
Unless you’re a working Broadway gypsy, yeah, it would be “useless” to learn (though great exercise!). But I’ve always wanted to learn to tap-dance. To the delight of my downstairs neighbors, I never will. Look at Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell dance “Begin the Beguine,” or Fred and Ginger “Isn’t It a Lovely Day to be Caught in the Rain,” or Busby Berkeley’s “Lullabye of Broadway” number, or Jimmy Cagney and Ruby Keeler doing “Shanghai Lil.” “Useless,” undeniably, but _gee_, it’s swell! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/3 "2004-12-10T16:31:57Z")
What’s the point of any dancing? Fun to do, fun to see, sometimes a source or expression of emotions (joy and pain), is simply an art. What _purpose_ does any art have? I really enjoy a good dance routine, any genre. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/4 "2004-12-10T16:34:45Z")
In most dancing, the dancer is interpreting the music. In tap dancing, the dancer is an active participant in creating the music. Tapping is in effect playing a percussion instrument while dancing. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/5 "2004-12-10T17:04:22Z")
Cause it’s kewl, yo. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/6 "2004-12-10T17:05:19Z")
What everyone else has said – and more too. After a lifetime of watching movie musicals, I took up tap-dancing 16 years ago, and the main point is that it is WAY too much fun. It’s amazing to be able to create incredibly complex rhythms with your feet. It’s amazing that my feet know how to do all sorts of complicated things that my brain no longer understands. One of the things I like best about tap is that it is the one thing in my life that absolutely is not about conscious thought at any level --well, while you’re learning the step, or the combination, or the routine, maybe – but then the muscles take over and away you go. Good tap – and by “good tap” I mean not just Astaire, Kelly, Eleanor Powell, and Vera-Ellen, but The Nicholas Brothers, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Honi Coles, Jimmy Slyde, Gregory Hines, and the best ever, Savion Glover – is earthy. sublime, complex, simple, dazzling, unadorned – it’s an intricate pattern of sounds made by four simple elements, two heels and two toes. You can learn the basics in a few weeks – and then spend the rest of your life mastering them and putting them together in new ways. Ah. I’m speechless. Let me gather my thoughts and get back to you. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/7 "2004-12-10T17:24:52Z")
The purpose of lap dancing is to get the blood to move south from your brain so that you can be happily separated from your money. …what? ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/8 "2004-12-10T17:37:23Z")
I’m having trouble getting my head around your OP, **SmackFu**. What’s the _point?_ Do you ask what’s the point of movies, or novels, or painting, nor non-procreative sex, or anything else humans do that isn’t directly related to eating or passing on our genes? ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/9 "2004-12-10T19:55:47Z")
I didn’t realize it was purely recreational. Sorry if I offended. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/10 "2004-12-10T20:26:42Z")
> [@Fiver](#): > > Do you ask what’s the point of movies, or novels, or painting, nor non-procreative sex, or anything else humans do that isn’t directly related to eating or passing on our genes? Spoken like someone who’s been reading Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics.” Am I right? ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/11 "2004-12-10T20:29:17Z")
Didn’t realize a type of dancing was purely recreational? 😕 What did you expect it might be? A secret WWI-era method of delivering Morse-coded messages to spies in crowded dance halls? I’m honestly confused here. Why single out tap as some special kind of dance that might have a purpose other than recreation, somehow unlike any other kind of dance? ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/12 "2004-12-10T20:41:25Z")
Becaues I don’t see professional tap dance companies. Even on Broadway, most of it isn’t tap. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/13 "2004-12-10T20:43:53Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Didn’t realize a type of dancing was purely recreational? 😕 What did you expect it might be? A secret WWI-era method of delivering Morse-coded messages to spies in crowded dance halls? Lisa: But my parents are counting on seeing me dance! And I’ve worked ever so hard. Vicki: I’m sorry, Lisa, but giving everyone an equal part when they’re clearly not equal is called what, again, class? Class: Communism! Vicki: That’s right. And I didn’t tap all those Morse code messages to the Allies 'til my shoes filled with blood to just roll out the welcome mat for the Reds. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/14 "2004-12-10T21:19:34Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > Becaues I don’t see professional tap dance companies. Even on Broadway, most of it isn’t tap. Well, tap dancing has fallen out of favor with the younger set, but it’s my second favorite dancing to watch (ballroom and salsa are tied for first). I used to tap my little heart out when I was a wee keebler. It’s a blast, and the sound of tap shoes is just…so…TAPPY! It’s an unmistakable clear clicking that borders on an addiction. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/15 "2004-12-10T22:35:17Z")
It gives you a sweeeeeet ass. Exhibit: Gene Kelly You question tap, yet not “Riverdance” style clogging? Odd, really. ---
**Author:** ![Cherry2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cherry2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cherry2000)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/16 "2004-12-11T04:50:53Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > Becaues I don’t see professional tap dance companies. Even on Broadway, most of it isn’t tap. Only one of the greatest, most exciting, most creative percussion dance companies out there [http://www.stomponline.com/](http://www.stomponline.com/) ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/17 "2004-12-11T05:40:59Z")
> [@Fiver](#): > > Do you ask what’s the point of movies, or novels, or painting, nor non-procreative sex, or anything else humans do that isn’t directly related to eating or passing on our genes? I just had a really funny mental picture of a post-apocalyptic race of humans who choose their suitors by tapdancing. The females all line up in a row, and the males, clad only in tap shoes, bowties, and ragged post-apocalyptic clothing, each try to put on the best routine and attract the most fertile breeding partners, thus ensuring the survival of superior tapdancing genes. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/18 "2004-12-11T06:13:06Z")
Yul Brenner _is_ the ULTIMATE TAPPER Coming soon to a slab floored theatre near you. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/19 "2004-12-11T06:48:17Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Didn’t realize a type of dancing was purely recreational? 😕 What did you expect it might be? A secret WWI-era method of delivering Morse-coded messages to spies in crowded dance halls? Man, now we gotta send out the black helicopters. What was your street address again? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143/20 "2004-12-11T07:05:08Z")
Unmarked helicopters hovering, uh The Lord is coming soon But I know the truth I know the whole shebang, uh I know the names of men they had to hang [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-tap-dancing/279143.md?page=2)