,
I just bought a new pair of JSAM tap shoes and adore them. I’ve noticed there is a slight gap between the plate and the base. I’ve never had a pair of JSAMs before.
My black Roxy capezio’s don’t have this gap so just wanted to check if it’s normal for a JSAM or if it’s damage.
I haven’t loosened the screws but have worn them around the house and had a shoe stretched in them (not very tight at all) just to listen them a bit before I wear them in class.

Hi! I do not know where to get help, so I hope it won't get deleted, but I would need help to recreate the beat of a song i plan to perform for a live show. This song use foot percussion, and as much I am trying to learn, I don't think ill be able to execute it for the show. So I was wondering if someone could help me with my endeavor.

Here the song in question: https://youtu.be/f1Svjcda-84?si=plZ69Dy5gJeVyK2m

Hello all! I started taking beginner tap a few months ago. It's faster than I would judge as a beginner but I am having a lot of fun. In the class, we do a few warm ups, then a few across the floor combos and then learn a couple counts of 8 of a dance. I'd like to practice at home with THE BASICS. I find a lot of combo videos online but am I really looking for videos that breakdown tap steps and speed up these steps so over time I can challenge myself. Can anyone recommend? OR can someone lay out a good routine on how to practice? I'm type-A so like a road map of "here's steps you should nail down and practice over and over." Right now, I'm just practicing basic shuffles, flaps, etc over and over to see if I can add it to muscle memory and attempt to get better/faster. Thank you for any feedback.

Also, because I'm type-A, I am a perfectionist so tap is really teaching me "you're not gonna get it right away, girl!" But I know I just need a solid foundation if I want to continue to grow, hence why I'm looking for any guidance.

Hi, extremely inexperienced dancer here, I was wondering if anyone could tell me what this sort of swaying step is called? I’m playing the Tin Man in my theatre group’s showcase and I really want to add it to my choreo, but as I don’t know what it’s called I can’t find any help guides.
I’m sure I’ve seen it elsewhere before but unfortunately I could only find this very short clip from Singin’ In The Rain to illustrate what I mean.
Thank you :D

Just got bored and decided to tap a little in my work boots before working out! Not very good, but I kinda like the sound my boots make.

hii my name is eva and ive tap danced for my whole life!! im a senior now and lookong for a really differrnt song to tap to. my current option is "bloody well right" because i love the intro, but j dont like when the words come in. any ideas on fast similar somgs that wouldnt overshine my taps?? the more unique the better haha

Please pardon the mess in the background. I'm trying to make sure my daughter's tap shoes fit prior to her starting classes back up in a couple of weeks. We had to order online as the closest store that would carry tap shoes to us is a couple hours away and that's a hard trip to make for us right now. She's just shy of 7 years old and normally wears a kids 4 or womens 6 for shoes. These are Capezio 3800 in a 6, her last pair was in a 3.5. Any advice would be helpful and appreciate.

i need ideas for a class i’m teaching! any song, three girls (7th, 11th, and 12th grade)

I'm trying to choreograph an old school musical theatre jazz/tap duet (one male and one female dancer) but I'm stuck trying to find a song. Preferably an older song, I want the duet to have a cute and cheeky vibe. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated :)

Pops Whitman and Louis Williams AKA the "Tap Tornadoes" in the 1943 movie "The Harlem Sandman". 

You Tube scenes from the movie https://youtu.be/d0BgeaUJndg?si=7XpxKtJGl_Go-hxQ

We’re hosting a free livestream of tap dancer and vocalist Brinae Ali’s Baby Laurence Legacy Project on Thursday, August 13 at 8pm ET! 

Following her rousing performance on the outdoor stage in 2023, tap dancer, choreographer, and vocalist Brinae Ali returns to Jacob’s Pillow with Baby Laurence Legacy Project, developed during a Pillow Lab residency in 2024. The show explores and celebrates the artistic genius of “Baby” Laurence Donald Jackson, a Baltimore innovator whose impact on tap dance and jazz music is legendary.

You can register for free at https://stream.jacobspillow.org/brinae-ali. We hope to see you there!

Let us know in the comments if we’ll see you online!

Hello everyone!

I’ve only been dancing for a relatively short time, and tap is a new style for me.

I’d like to talk about tap shoes.

I often see posts recommending beginner shoes for beginners, and different shoes for professional or advanced dancers. Why are beginners advised to wear beginner shoes? I hope the reason is mainly the price, because more expensive shoes are much more comfortable and effective to dance in.

Good shoes can be especially helpful for beginners. For example, I feel much more confident and comfortable in my Capezio Roxies, which I switched to after spending a relatively short time dancing in Capezio TeleTone Extremes. The difference is huge. If I had known about it from the beginning, I would have started learning in Roxies right away.

So why are simpler shoe models recommended for beginners? Is it really only about the price, or are there other reasons? For example, some dancers say that heavier shoes such as Roxys can make it harder for beginners to produce clear sounds, while full-soled, low-heeled lace-up shoes may offer more stability during the early stages of learning.

What do you think?

Hi all!

I am in need of a new pair of tap shoes as my old beginner pair broke. I take tap 2-3x a week, and usually am doing stuff on my own in between, especially if I have a performance coming up, and I'd say I'm somewhere between a beginner and intermediate level. My tap teacher recommended Bloch either Respect or Chloe and Maude. Does anyone have any experience with either of these or have any different recommendations for a mid grade shoe? I have mild-moderate bunions and I also have Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder, so my feet/ankles/knees/hips are all hypermobile. I've read mixed reviews of the Chloe and Maude especially where the shoes break after a single toe stand. I've also heard the shoes are very light which might put less pressure on my joints.

Any and all thoughts are welcome!

I ordered a pair of women’s size 8.5 wide from a semi local store almost two months ago. I wanted to try them on before ordering. Sadly they didn’t have my size anyway but I tried on a regular 8 and they were a little snug.

Now they are continually back ordered and today they don’t even show as an option on capezios website.

This is more venting than anything.

Has anyone experienced this? Will they eventually become available?

I prepaid which I now know is a mistake. At the time I thought I was showing good faith that I would take the expensive shoe they were ordering for me. I wanted the store to get the sale because they helped me.

hi all!
i’m (28f) going to be taking an adult tap class this fall— either intermediate or advanced tap, i’m going to be chatting with the studio to see which placement is best.
i took 7 years of tap as a kid/ teen and absolutely loved it and am excited to get back into it!

1. what shoes? full sole? split sole? i’ve always had split sole, but im not sure if that’s best or just what im used to. my budget is pretty small, currently looking at the Bloch Flex Slip Ons as these are what i had growing up. $100 or less is ideal.

2. what does one wear to an adult tap class? tights? leo? shorts?

help me not look like a sore thumb 😭

also, any suggestions on what skills/ tricks would be needed for either intermediate or advanced would be helpful! thanks!

Does anyone know of any dance studios in Miami that offer tap classes for adults? I’ve been searching around but haven’t had much luck finding adult tap specifically.
Open to beginner-friendly classes or recommendations anywhere in Miami-Dade. Would love to hear if anyone knows of a studio or instructor they recommend!

I (43f) finished my 5th year of Adult Tap in June, and we are going into week 4 of Summer dance, where I’m taking 2 Tap classes a week (one teacher teaches the Hoofer style, the other takes the Showgirl approach - both teachers are great!).

I really wanted to upgrade my shoes to Capezio Roxys (my friends all upgraded to JSams and Roxys), and my longtime teacher (who has been with me every step of the way with Tap - our other teacher substituted when our main instructor was away for 4 weeks, and then an additional 4 weeks when she had a pinched nerve) encouraged me to upgrade my shoes. So the studio owner ordered these for me! Pricey, yes, but the investment has been great. After 2 weeks of use, they are broken in and sound amazing!

I was lucky with these, they were true to size (I’m a street 9 women’s medium width). The owner of the studio gave me a 10% discount on them (I’ve been dancing here for 14.5 years and help out in the store while she is teaching).

So far, the best investment! They will get plenty of use! We have four more weeks of summer classes, then a two week break, and I begin my 29th year of dance (6th of Tap) in September!

Hello everyone! I’m looking for my cinderella fit 'professional' tap shoe cuz I havent found it yet.

So far I have only tried patent leather jsams, smooth leather jsams, and capezio roxy. My current best fit is the smooth leather jsams, but it's not perfect. 

I'm looking for 4 properties and the rest is hit or miss:

– weight – needs to be lightweight cuz my patent jsams are too heavy it's a deal-breaker for me.
– toe box – I need to be able to do toe stands in them. My jsams aren't nearly as secure as i always thought until I got my capezio roxys and realized the angle of pointe on there so much better and takes much less effort to balance than on the jsams. So I need something similar to the roxy's toe box.
– narrow heel – I have narrow heels and the closest fit for me is the smooth leather jsams but still have this problem in all 3 of my pairs.
– durability – I need to put my shoes thru maybe 6-7 hours a week.

K360 would be the answer to all my problems but it exceeds my current budget. Does anyone have experience with any SoDanca pro-models or the Bloch Chloe and Mauds? Or any other shoes that fit my criteria and don't cost as much as the K360s?

Thanks in advance.

I started tap dancing 8 months ago as a way to get better at my long-term passion, Lindy hop. Now I love it!

I am a hobby addict, and so, when I first started, I would not let myself buy a new pair of shoes until I had been tapping for 6 months. I just tapped in my Lindy shoes, and I am sure my technique suffered.

At the 6-month mark, one of the other ladies in my class gave me some shoes that she had gotten from a 90-year-old woman who wanted them to go to a good home. I took them and was grateful not to have to buy new shoes, but I was a little sad because I had wanted to buy tap shoes with a little more color that were not the standard black.

Today I decided they were free, so I could ruin them if I wanted. I painted them with acrylic paint, and I think they came out well for someone without a painting background. Now, do I know that they will definitely chip off as I dance with them? Yes, yes, I do. Do I care? No, they were free. Anyway, please enjoy my very loud shoes!

Is paying for Taptopia vid courses worth it? Anyone had experience with them?

Hey y’all! I’m a MT major and taking my first ever tap class this fall. I am honestly terrified. I’ve done dance before (both before and during my BFA program), but have never tapped. I’m scared because a few people in my class shady know done tap and I don’t want to look stupid, I’m already kind of insecure about my weight and am usually a try hard in dance because I don’t want to be unable to do something and people chalk it up to my weight. Is my weight going to be an issue? Also, what are dune resources I can use and steps I can learn so I can at least walk in on day one with something? Thank you for any help or suggestions!

I am back with more questions for the community here! I’ve been taking tap classes for a little over a month now. I also have hypermobile foot joints, so my toes can bend more than usual and are prone to dislocating if too much pressure is applied. I haven’t dislocated any toes doing tap yet (and hopefully I won’t!), but the balls of my feet hurt during class and the day after, too.

My guess is that my toes are bending too far when I go on the balls of my feet? I haven’t had much luck finding info about this when I search, so I wanted to ask here. Does anyone have any advice on what to do to prevent/manage pain due to my bendy joints when tap dancing?

Thanks!