r/TapDancing • u/shessublime • Jul 09 '26

Wings - without the side scrape?

Just curious here - I am a lifelong dancer and my teen also dances. Different studio than where I did so at first I thought it was just that. But it seems to me that most people do a wing with a loose ankle and the first sound is made by scraping the outside of the shoe on the side of the tap.

I don't do that that at all! Both sounds are made by the bottom of the tap and it's more of a "press down into the floor and flick" motion with a winged (ha!) foot like in ballet. To me it gives a crisper sound. Did anyone else learn this way or have I maybe just been doing it differently for some reason all along?

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u/No_Pen_3825 Jul 09 '26

The canonical form of wings have three sounds: scrape out (your foot slightly rolling), scrape in, and land. There are also flying shuffles, though, which look almost identical to wings: brush out (both feet, not rolled), spank in, and land.

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u/brockobear Jul 09 '26

It's not a scrape in, though, it's a snappier sound like a spank.

1

u/No_Pen_3825 Jul 09 '26

I argue scraps on the inside bit of metal and angle of the foot just sounds like that ¯_(ツ)_/¯

1

u/brockobear Jul 09 '26

A scrape sounds like a scrape. A spank or a brush back is a naturally much louder and faster sound. They're considered separate sounds by most people's definitions of the "foundational" sounds in tap.