Grounding Tap

Abstract

As a professional Tap Dancer, I have experienced the incredible effect on people’s lives through movement and sound. Tap Dance has provided a platform of musical expression, allowing me to connect with audiences from New Zealand and abroad. A successful Tap performance requires the Ground and Resonance. When I dance, I see the ground as a reflection, a mirror that forms a relationship between the underground and the overground. The ground is our instrument, and as we play the floor, rhythms are brought to the surface. I consider the audience my friends, often performing with no music or plan before entering the stage. The audience inspires the routine to continue, completing performances alongside me. This experience I call ‘resonance’, the invisible connection the dancer makes with the audience through sound. Tap Dance is the combination of these two elements, playing the ground to resonate with the audience. Throughout my years of dance experience, ground and resonance have never been consistent. Theatres often generalize the styles of dance, assuming a successful theatre for Ballet means a successful theatre for Tap. The unique characteristics associated with Tap Dance questions the architectural requirements for theatre, challenging mainstream principles of theatre design. Tap Dance originated in USA early 1800s with the coming together of West African Dance and the Irish Jig. The African origins of Tap, had me come across architect Peter Rich, who became the thesis’ main inspiration. Rich speaks of a concept known as ‘analogous space’, the point of harmony between artistry and culture. This inspired a process that begins with the live performance of Tap Dance, working backwards towards the architecture. To answer this thesis, I will be designing New Zealand’s first Tap Theatre located at Waitematā Ātea, Lower Queen Street, Auckland CBD. The Tap theatre represents an architecture that follows the dancer who follows the audience, listening to the requirements of the artistry through live performance. This thesis shows that by designing theatre through the notion of ground and resonance, Tap Dance can rethink theatre architecture.