February 18th, 2019
Another good tap lesson today with Euan and Laura, our brilliant and dedicated ‘pupils’, and I finally mastered the the time step! As a dyspraxic dancer, tap is a massive challenge for me, and of course I haven’t practised. But by breaking the step down into tiny incremental components, I have at last found it living in my body (and my brain). And of course, this is also why I am an advocate of the liberation of tap – … – ways to free-form and enjoy the feeling of the movement, also the sound that it and you make, and to use this as a way of connecting to other dancers.
We spent the afternoon watching The Empire Theatre DVD, and June is in it! What a great surprise – she is in her living room, talking and sharing information, including this innovative make-up removal: “we used to use lard. It gave us a lovely complexion”, and photographs, including one of Doreen, Middie Cockburn and others. June also said of her profession, ‘even if you were only in the chorus, you still felt you were somebody’ Great to watch the film, and a great film – thanks to Paul Hudson who gifted us with it last year.
We then had a tap dance youtube feast and watched The Ganjou Brothers and Jaunita and tried to spot Marie, then watched lessons for beginners, Fred and Ginger, 4-year-olds tapping, Roy Castle and Shep…. and more, literally had to throw Doreen and Marie out at 4 pm! Let’s do more of this! – Janice Parker
An Audience With... 