My Must Reads

Tap-Dance-BooksIf you’re a tap dancer, it’s so important to know the history and context of the art form and its jazz roots (I think it makes tap a richer experience tbh), so why not make a start by checking out some of these books? I’ll keep adding to the list as I come across them:

Brotherhood in Rhythm: The Jazz Tap Dancing of the Nicholas Brothers
Constance Valis-Hill
Comments on Jazz Dance (1996-2014)
Bob Boross
Dancing Many Drums: Excavations in African American Dance
Thomas F. DeFrantz
Footwork: My Life in Dance
Sarah Petronio
Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots & Branches
Lindsay Guarino & Wendy Oliver
Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance
Marshall & Jean Stearns
Savion: My Life in Tap
Savion Glover & Bruce Weber
Shoot Me While I’m Happy: Memories from the Tap Goddess of the Lower East Side
Jane Goldberg
Solos That Speak: A Tap Dancer’s Guide to Authentic Expression
Simeon Weedall
Sportin’ Life: John W Bubbles, an American Classic
Brian Harker
Steppin’ on the Blues: The Visible Rhythms of African American Dance
Jacqui Malone
Tap Dancing America: A Cultural History
Constance Valis-Hill
Tap into Improv
Barbara Duffy
Tap! The Greatest Tap Dance Stars and their Stories
Rusty E. Frank
Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing
Mark Knowles
The Essential Guide to Jazz Dance
Dollie Henry & Paul Jenkins
The Essential Guide to Tap Dance
Derek Hartley
The Souls of your Feet: A Tap Dance Guide Book for Rhythm Explorers
Acia Gray
The Tap Dance Dictionary
Mark Knowles
What the Eye Hears: A History of Tap Dancing
Brian Seibert