This is Tap

This is Tap is a non-fiction book about Savion Glover's life and how he became a world-renowned tap dancer.

(NOTE: I was given a copy of this book but all opinions are my own.)

First, a wee bit of back story.

Years ago, I was on the board of directors for our city’s community theater. I was over ticket sales the first year.

That year, the play was No, No, Nanette, a musical comedy based in the 1920s. (One of the songs in it was Tea for Two for those of you old enough to recognize it . . . )

One scene was an energetic tap dance.

Because I was over ticket sales, I never went to any of the early practices. About 2 weeks before the show opened, I went to watch one. When the cast did the first tap dance, the tapping sound filled the auditorium and I was blown away. They did fantastic! I had never seen such marvelous tapping. I loved it. (This was LONG before Riverdance . . . )

I’ve been a tap fan ever since.

So you can see why I jumped at the opportunity to review This is Tap: Savion Glover Finds His Funk by Selene Castrovilla. This book tells the true story of how Glover got into tap dancing.

At 4, he took drumming lessons. At 7, he stared tap dancing lessons. At 10, he had the title role in the Broadway show The Tap Dance Kid. At 15, he performed in a musical review in Paris. He has also played the part of a dance teacher on Sesame Street for 5 years.

One night at a hip hop club, he realized that he had been dancing to someone else’s beat. He started tapping to the rhythm he felt inside — and thus merged tap with hip-hop.

In addition to being a fabulous tap dancer, he has been credited with saving tap dance from obscurity.

One of the things that I really like about this book is that the words are rhythmic, rhyming, giving it the feel of tap dancing. I also love the rhyming words. They aren’t the typical cat/hat type of rhymes.

Crackity. Stackity. Poppity. Boppity. Crash, crash, crash.

Rippity. Dippity. Chuggity. Tuggity. Blast. Blast. Blast.

Whiffity. Sniffity. Swirlity. Twirlity. Burst. Burst. Burst.

As Glover grew older, he developed his own style of tapping — one where he heard the rhythm in his mind, felt it in his body, and let it come out his feet. The more he tapped, the better he got. The better he got, the more famous he became.

In addition to tapping, Glover is also an actor and choreographer. He’s been in movies, TV episodes, 22 TV specials, music videos, stage appearances, several tours, and has won 10 awards. (One of Glover’s tap teachers said that he was possibly the best tap dancer that ever lived.)

This is an awesome book! I give it 2 thumbs up.

While it’s fun to read about Savion, it’s also fun to watch him dance. I really like the following video clip from Sesame Street because it’s really similar to the book with it’s rhyming words and rhythm. (Maybe after reading this book to a grandchild, you could watch this video together.)