Hartt faculty members Kevin Ramsey and Ralph Perkins were featured on CT Public, to discuss the history of tap dance in America. CT Public’s podcast Where We Live explored the history of tap dance, as well as how the rich legacy of tap dance is alive today.
According to CT Public, tap was first developed as a fusion of footwork styles with roots in Africa and Ireland. Over the decades, tap legends like Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Eleanor Powell, and Gregory Hines popularized the art form and brought it to the national stage.
Kevin Ramsey is the chair of the Theatre Division, and Ralph Perkins is associate professor of Dance and Music Theatre. Ramsey and Perkins shared both their personal anecdotes about the roots of their passions for tap, as well as their expertise on the art form’s rich history and its connections across disciplines and cultures. According to Ramsey, tap is “not just about a bunch of steps, it’s really an oral communication,” and ‘tap dance has actually influenced music in a very deep way.” They were also joined by Katie Cavenagh, founder of the Connecticut Tap Collective, and Jillian McNamara, founder of the American Dance Collective.
The full recording can be found here.