Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #126033 in Books
• Published on: 1995-03-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 358 pages

Review
This account of great tap dance stars begins in 1900 and ends in 1955, covering the heyday of tap dance and including the memories of thirty fine dancers from Shirley Temple to Fayard Nicholas. The lively, fun stories detail individual artists' achievements as well as the evolution of the tap dance industry as a whole. -- Midwest Book Review

About the Author
Rusty E. Frank is a tap dancer, producer, historian, and tap dance preservationist. She studied with many of the great tap masters; she produced, directed, and appeared in the all-star tap revues Jazz Tap!; and she owns and operates On Tap!, which promotes tap productions and markets tap supplies. She lives in Los Angeles, where she is producing the documentary TAP! The Tempo of America.

Customer Reviews

TAP! BY RUSTY E. FRANK
I total am ejoying this book. Being a dancer my self it is wonderful reading about all the dancers during my time. Thank you so much Mr. Frank.

get this, think about the rest later
when this book used to be out of print, legions of ambitous tap dancers - including myself - were searching used-book stores across the country to find a copy. i know some who ended up copying every single page in the lincoln center library. the reason is very simple: there is no other book on the subject that even comes close to gathering this much information on the history of tap dancing. even though historians may argue about some details, the book is usually considered the standard by all the tap pros i know and whoever reads it will have a good understanding of where the art form comes from, what the important issues are, what stages of development tap dancing went through, who the important dancers of different times and styles were, and what the characteristics of different styles and approaches in tap dance are. if you want to know about the history of tap: get this book. otherwise you will find yourself digging through the shelves of rare book stores when it is out of print again.

Great teaching tool
This is a fantastic book! In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I made my college advanced tap class read it, as well. They were truly inspired by this book and have gained a renewed since of determination as far as entering the field of "commercial entertainment" with an emphasis on tap. Each person has a truly unique account of how it was back in the day, when people actually went to "tap clubs" just like we would go to dance clubs nowadays. What an experience to see this exciting time through their eyes.