Episode Notes

Tap dancers often complain that there is not enough written about tap dance—especially its history. But what if I told you that there is more written down about tap then you may realize. . . and some of it is pretty gross (by today's standards). Host Tristan Bruns takes a look at several instructional tap dance syllabi books published in the U.S.A.—ranging from the Jim Crow-era 1930s to the "color-blind" and egalitarian liberal ideologies of the early 2000s—and take a look at what conventions have been thrown out, but also what conventions have been supported and added to throughout the years.

The goal of this series is to try and trace the origins of some popular tap dance talking points that many people argue over, yet few question where they come from. Were there joyous dance parties aboard slave ships? Is tap dance predominantly Irish? Is tap dance inherently happy? Is tap dance really synonymous with the red, white and blue? All of these questions are addressed, and more, in the multi-part series, "The Hidden Histories of Tap Dance Histories."

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