For audiences, it's the continuous click-clack of the shoes that makes tap dancing such an exciting spectacle.
For performers, it's the creation of an art form that drives the motions in their feet.
At this year's 6th-annual New Mexico Tap Jam, audiences can watch amazing artists perform myriad of tap styles ranging from Jazz, Swing, Hip-hop and Broadway. In addition, UNM students will be given the opportunity to put on their dancin' shoes and tap to their feet's content.
The Tap Jam will feature the Bill Evans Rhythm Tap Ensemble along with two guests straight from Chi-Town, Bril Barrett and Mark Yonally. The event will also showcase tap dancers from the Albuquerque community, along with students from both UNM and NMSU.
According to Evans, the event's founder and coordinator, "The evening is a wonderful variety of tap dancers from youngsters to older professionals and everyone in between."
Evans, who teaches modern dance classes at UNM, said he is particularly looking forward to the performances by the Chicago guests. He calls Barrett a "rhythmic virtuoso" and says that the dancer's style, which is inspired by Hip-Hop music, is both "incredible and powerful."
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Yonally, who is a UNM graduate and artistic director for the Chicago Tap Theatre, embraces Jazz music as a model for his dancing.
"He's a marvelous improviser in jazz-tap," Evans said.
So what is it about tap that makes it so different from other dance forms?
Evans said it's the rhythm of tap dance that makes it unique.
"I think rhythm is the universal language," he said. "I think people in every culture on the planet respond to rhythm very directly and very immediately. (Tap) isn't culturally specific the way many dance forms and art forms are. There's something about these rhythms that really speaks to people."
For anyone who's ambitious enough to pursue this universal language, the Tap Jam Festival will offer two classes this weekend.
The classes, which will be taught by the Chicago dancers, will be in Carlisle Gym on Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Students should arrive 15 minutes early.
What: Tap Dance Jam
When: Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 6 p.m.
Where: Outpost Performance Space, 210 Yale Blvd.
Price: $18
Ticket Info: 268-0044
