Tap dancer recounts tour experience

Tuesday afternoon, the African-American Dance Company was treated to having a member of the "Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk" talk with the dance company about the night's show. \nRobert Reed III, a tap dancer from St. Louis, Mo., answered the company's questions about the show and tap as a dance form. He gave advice to the dancers on subjects such as warming up, saying that the best warm-up is improvisation. He also explained that the best method for covering up mistakes made on stage is simply to "play it off." \n"If you slip, make it a turn, if you fall turn it into a split," Reed said half-jokingly.\nThe performer talked about the familiar nervousness right before a show begins and said that he gets rid of the feeling by "sparring" with other dancers as a warm-up exercise.\nReed talked with the dancers on the importance of tap and the form's origins. He said tap dance was born in America during times of slavery when Southern slave masters took all the drums away from the slaves because drums, the slave masters realized, were used as a form of communication for Africans. After having their drums taken away, the slaves developed the skill of rhythmically tapping their feet as a way of communication, Reed said. \n"Anything that a drummer can do with his hands, a tap dancer can do with his feet," he said.\nHe continued to talk about the history of tap dance on Broadway and in movies like "Tap!," which starred tap greats like Gregory Hines, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Savion Glover, himself when he was younger. Reed discussed the condition of tap today by saying audiences show more interest in the form today than in recent years. \n"Tap dance is exploding," he said.\nAlthough the 20-year-old dancer has been dancing professionally since his teenage years, when asked about the audition process for the show Reed admitted that the process was indeed a challenge. He said that in tap dance everyone has to have a gimmick or a trick that sets them apart form other tap dancers.\n"The competition was fierce," he said.\nThe dancers also asked questions about the preparation for "Noise/Funk." Much to the amazement of the AADC, Reed said that the cast held intensive practices for a staggering eight hours a day for two months leading up to the tour. \n"I find that being part of the show is just like being a part of a sports team," Reed said.\n"Noise/Funk" highlights African-American history through tap, percussion, song and poetry.\n"The historical aspect will really put it into perspective for you," said professor Iris Rosa, director of the African-American Dance Company.\nReed, who has known Glover for some time, spoke about working with him on this latest project. He said that Glover has a distinctive style of teaching. \n"Savion seems to have an intense, innate knowledge of the art," Reed said. "This is because it has been passed down to him by the masters of tap themselves."\nReed left school at the University of Missouri, where he was a computer science major, in order to join the cast on a tour around the U.S. and Japan. He joked with the students about the irony of being a computer science major when the "dot-com industry collapsed." Reed talked about tap being an infinite field where one puts together various elements from one's life to create innovative movements.\n"At the most basic level, tap is tap, but there are most definitely many different forms of tap," he said.\nThe style of tap dancing he does is called "rhythm tap."\nMost of the students in the company have never tapped before, and Reed's presentation seemed to inspire them with his knowledge of the art form. For a treat, he laced up a pair of $200 tap shoes and dazzled the dancers with a short presentation of some of his "basic" moves. He coaxed his audience to clap along to his tapped rendition of popular songs, one of which was "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson. \n"Everyone has rhythm," Reed said after the performance.\n"It was a really good experience for us to meet someone who is actually a professional dancer," said Clifton Davis, Jr. a senior in the dance company. "It was interesting to learn about professional dance since we only mostly know about the educational aspect of dance."\nReed closed by showing the dancers more of his moves.\n"In dance, you want to make all of the friends that you can and learn from them," he said in closing.\nTwo other cast members visited the IU Soul Revue and the African-American Choral Ensemble.