The Art of Stage Dancing Part 11

All of a sudden she gets an idea about a professional engagement and she drags you along with her, and you both think you are ready to start in and do something big. But there is a right way and a wrong way to go about getting started, and you must start with the right manager for the sake of your whole future success. Remember that I am always glad to talk with you and to help you about engagements when you are ready, but you must prove your ability first.

No girl or boy can get an endors.e.m.e.nt from me who misses a lesson without offering a plausible excuse. You must be regular in attendance and you must be punctual. If you miss a cla.s.s you are obliged to telephone in before the cla.s.s starts. If you are ill you must bring a doctor's certificate the next time you come to cla.s.s. Your excuses must be sent to me personally. If you telephone in, be sure that it is sent through to me. I keep track of all the past pupils, and I do not recommend pupils who have not worked faithfully or who have been irregular in attendance.

There is a great incentive in cla.s.s work, since you can get encouragement and inspiration from the other girls. Some girls in the cla.s.s will take to the work more easily than others because they are in better physical condition, but if a girl gets along faster and better than you do, don't be discouraged by it. Just let it make you more ambitious to do as well. Your time will come if you keep at it.

Do not try to practice in this room. This is a place to learn.

Practice your lesson, go over the exercises, at home, several hours a day or use the practice rooms we provide. Don't be satisfied to come into cla.s.s and try to perfect your routines there. It isn't possible.

When you go on the stage professionally you will be expected to be already fully informed as to certain necessary facts that concern all actors everywhere. Much information about showmanship is given in our makeup cla.s.ses. You must take lessons in makeup before you go on the stage. You will do well to practice the same things here in the studio, now and all the time, in order to make you stage-wise and perfect in necessary stage deportment.

One of the things required of you on the stage is to _stand still_.

Don't move about or turn your head or lop around or move your hands or feet. You will have a fixed position established at rehearsals, when you enter upon professional stage work, and if you do not hold it and observe the rules about standing still, you will not be wanted and will not last long. It seems a very simple thing to do, when you think of it, but unless you do it right _here_, while you are learning the basic facts about a stage career, you may fall down on it _there_.

Heed this advice, and you will be grateful to me for it sometime.

If you are on the stage and someone is playing a scene, and your head is going from side to side, you attract the attention of the audience from the actor to yourself. When you do it here you take the attention of the cla.s.s away from me, and you also take my attention away from the cla.s.s, and if one or all of you do a "go as you please" about your movements, your talking and your att.i.tudes in cla.s.s, we have a pandemonium here that will drive your teacher frantic and prevent you from getting the instruction that you are paying for.

In this studio we insist upon and enforce discipline, just as your stage director will do when you join some company. It is good for you to get the disciplinary practice now that you must expect to receive when you pa.s.s from here to a regular stage. Those of you who really mean business and are going to succeed do pay attention to the studio discipline, always.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NW]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANN PENNINGTON]

NED WAYBURN'S TAP AND STEP DANCING

SOMETIMES CALLED CLOGGING

[Ill.u.s.tration]

You will remember that in a preceding chapter I said that Tap and Step dances were those composed chiefly of motions of the feet which resulted in combinations of various sounds made by different parts of the foot tapping or beating the floor, these sounds or beats being called "taps." This type of dancing expresses the American syncopated rhythms. It was the most popular type of stage dancing about forty years ago, when it was most beautifully performed by the greatest American dancing stars like the late George H. Primrose, the famous American minstrel.

Buck-dancing is done to syncopated rhythms, and you must get the right accent on those syncopated beats or taps or you cannot get the knack of doing a buck dance properly. So it is most important that you practice over and over again the four kinds of "taps" and "hops" which I shall describe now. First of all, stand in an imaginary circle the diameter of your feet, with your heels together, your right toe pointed right oblique and your left toe pointed left oblique, your weight equally distributed between the two feet, as described in a previous chapter.

Every dancing step is in counts of eight. Remember that all of your counts begin with the left foot unless you are instructed to the contrary. Remember always, when you hop, to land with the knees bent; otherwise, the landing of the body with stiff legs after the hops will be a shock to the nervous system which in time will undermine your health.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Straight Tap_]

The first tap is called a "straight" tap. Put your weight on the whole right foot. The left foot should be held about one inch from the floor. Tap the floor with the ball of the left foot for seven counts, working the foot on a hinge from the ankle, keeping your feet directly opposite and inside the circle or place. On the eighth count put the flat of the left foot down on the floor, shifting your weight to the left foot. Now in doing these straight taps count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, flat. And when you say "flat" you shift your weight to the left foot by putting it flat on the floor. Then comes the same with the right foot--seven taps with the ball of the right foot and "flat" on the eighth count. Now do the sixteen counts, first with the left, then with the right. Thus: (left) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, flat; then (right) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, flat.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Front Tap_]

The next tap is a "front" tap. The front tap goes front--it gets its name from the direction it takes. Swing the lower leg (from the knee down) like a pendulum. The tap is made with the inside edge of the sole of the shoe, striking the floor as the foot goes front only, clearing the floor as it goes back, the back swing being made to the count of "and." Put the accent on the number as you say it out loud.

"_Front_-and," "_2_-and," "_3_-and," "_4_-and," "_5_-and," "_6_-and,"

"_7_-and," and "_8_-flat" (weight on the left foot). Swing the lower leg from the knee back and forth, not the upper leg at all, striking or tapping the floor only on the front swing. Then execute the same taps with the ball of the right foot, stopping after the count of "8-flat" with both feet flat on the floor, the weight equally distributed between them. Now, you have had the "straight-tap" and "front-tap" with both feet.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Back Tap_]

The next is the back tap. Make the back tap like the snap of a whip, swinging the lower leg from the knee only, like a pendulum, with a sharply accented move to back, striking the floor with the ball of the foot as it goes back only to the counts, and swinging it front to the count of "and" when the foot must clear the floor each time. Snap it down--"_Back_-and," "_2_-and," "_3_-and," "_4_-and," "_5_-and,"

"_6_-and," "_7_-and," "_8_-flat" (with the left foot); then with the right foot, "_Back_-and," "_2_-and," "_3_-and," "_4_-and," "_5_-and,"

"_6_-and," "_7_-and," "_8_-flat."

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Heel Tap_]

We now come to the heel tap, which is made and counted like this: Heel, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, flat (8 counts). The same with the right heel for the same counts (8).

Practice these four taps, the straight, the front, the back, the heel, and the hop faithfully before you try to learn the buck dance, because from these four taps and the hop are built up many combinations which form complicated steps which you will want to learn later on. And the more you practice these fundamentals the better dancer you are going to be. Be sure to review, too, over and over again, the eight stage directions--front, left oblique, left, left oblique back, back, right oblique back, right, and right oblique.

In "tap" dancing, as in the musical comedy dances, there will usually be ten steps; one "travelling" or entrance step which will bring you onto the stage (from "off stage" into the line of sight of the audience), eight dance steps, and one exit-step to take you "off," out of sight of the audience, which will always be in the nature of a _climax_ to provoke applause.

But, as I have said above, in buck-dancing or in any type of tap and step dancing, the rhythm is most important, and in order to be thoroughly grounded on syncopated rhythms, I shall give you first of all a beginner's "time-step." After that you will learn a beginner's "break."

The "time-step" and "break" are the keys to tap dancing and must be mastered before the tap dance can be learned. The "time-step" and "break" must be perfectly timed to the syncopated rhythm. And it is going to take long, patient periods of practice in order to perfect them. Do not get discouraged. Apply yourself keenly to both of these fundamental steps.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRIVATE LOCKERS IN DRESSING ROOMS]

THE TIME STEP

The purpose of the time step is to get the syncopation into the dancing step, and establish the "tempo" of the dance.

With the weight on the left foot, front tap with the right, back tap with the right, hop with the left, with the right foot back and raised from the floor. The count is "And a _one_," with strong accent on "one." Now straight tap with right foot to count "two" and accent it.

Do a front tap with the left (count "and"), left foot straight front (count "three" and accent), right foot straight (count "four" and accent).

With the weight on the right foot, front tap with the left, back tap with the left, hop with the right, with the left foot back and raised from the floor. The count is "And a _one_," with strong accent on the "one." Now straight tap with left foot to count "two" and accent it.

Do a front tap with the right (count "and"), right foot straight front (count "three" and accent), left foot straight (count "four" and accent).

Repeat all six times.

THE BREAK

With the weight on the left foot, front tap with the right foot, back tap with the right, hop with the left, with the right foot back and raised from the floor. The count is "And a _one_," with strong accent on the "one." Tap right foot straight (count "two" and accent). Tap left foot front, tap left foot back, then left foot straight, to the count of "and three and." Now right foot straight, to count of "four"

accented. Hop on the right foot with the left raised from the floor in front, count "five" and accent it. Front tap with the left (count "and"), straight tap front with the left (count "six" and accent it), straight tap with the right, place the right toe even with the arch of the left foot (count "and") then left foot flat front to count of "seven" accented.

Now, first of all you had the eight different directions; after the eight different directions the four different parts of the foot and the "hop," and then the different kinds of sounds or taps that I just gave you. We begin to make all sorts of combinations of those sounds.

For instance, one of the primary steps which you must know is a combination of front, back and straight tap together. Stand on the ball of each foot; the weight is off the heels, and equally distributed between the b.a.l.l.s of the feet.

Now beginning with your left foot, do one front-tap, one back-tap, and one straight-tap, _accenting_ the straight tap--counting it 1, 2, _3_.

Now, begin with the right foot and do one front-tap, then one back-tap, and one straight-tap, counting it 1, 2, 3, and then alternately with each foot. On the third count your weight should rest on that foot. When perfected, that makes the first actual step in "Tap and Step" dancing.

One of my pupils of whom I am very proud is Miss Ann Pennington, another of the "Follies" stars. She became one of the leading exponents of "Tap and Step" dancing, and although she has reached this high point in her career, she still comes to me for advice and for pointers, and I am glad that she does this, because it shows that she realizes the necessity of new ideas and hard work to keep herself at the top. In dancing, as in many other professions, one must "keep everlastingly at it." The story of Miss Pennington's career is similar to that of many who have come to me for instruction. She had innate ability, good looks, a sense of rhythm and a willingness to work hard and patiently, and with these qualities has achieved success.

MR. WAYBURN ADDRESSES A CLa.s.s IN TAP AND STEP DANCING