Tap Dancing

Every morning when I wake up I turn on the T.V. whether I plan to watch it or not. I think I like the noise because I rarely do watch it. This morning there was a movie in progress which caught my attention, though, because it starred a very old Sammy Davis Jr. I never did find out the name of the movie but it was about tap dancing.

Down I sat with coffee in hand, enraptured by the skillful tap dancing and wondering why that particular style of dancing makes you feel so joyful to watch. There is just something about the rhythm of tap dancing that uplifts you.

The one and only time (sigh!) that I was in New Orleans, I saw a couple of young boys tap dancing on the streets for money. What thrilled me was that the taps were on their running shoes! The spirit of the dance wrapped up in the attire of the day.

Dancing of any kind makes us happy but there is such an abandon in freestyle tap dancing that speaks loudly of our inner human spirit. Maybe that's why it is so compelling to watch...the sound of the taps are an audio display where the body movements supply only the visual. It's as though the music begins in the head, travels through the swaying body and comes to life through the feet. We can hear what the dancer is feeling.

Just watching that movie (the dancing part) brought a touch of happiness to my morning and I believe that was the dancer's intent...to pass on to the viewer a bit of the joy he feels when he dances.