One of the things I love most about tap is that we aren’t just dancing to the music—we’re part of the music! Our feet become another instrument, and that idea goes all the way back to the beginnings of tap.

Tap is a uniquely American art form that grew from the meeting of cultures and traditions. African American rhythmic and percussive dance traditions blended over time with Irish and other European step-dancing traditions. In places like New York City during the 1800s, dancers watched one another, challenged one another, borrowed steps and rhythms, and began creating something new.

As tap moved into vaudeville, Broadway and eventually Hollywood, it really began to shine. Metal taps were added to shoes, jazz and tap grew up alongside one another, and dancers began experimenting with rhythm, improvisation and musicality.

And then came some of the names we still associate with the golden age of tap—Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, the Nicholas Brothers, Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell, among many others. Each brought something different to the art form and helped introduce tap to audiences around the world.

Tap’s popularity faded for a while as musical tastes changed, but thankfully, tap wasn't finished! Artists such as Gregory Hines helped bring renewed attention to the art form, and dancers like Savion Glover later pushed rhythm tap in exciting new directions.

Today you’ll hear terms like Broadway Tap and Rhythm Tap. Broadway tap tends to bring the whole body into theatrical choreography, while rhythm tap puts more emphasis on what our feet are saying—the sounds, rhythms, accents and musical conversation.

And that may be my favorite thing about tap: there is always another rhythm to discover.