A weekend of tapping

Since starting to date (and then live with) a woman who has a number of interests, this time of year will be an interesting time for me.

So far there has been the Tap Concert. 300 sets of tap shoes beating the hell out of the theatre flooring. A seat designed for an Oompa-Loompa and for some reason being able to be seated in a place that the lighting people decided needed to be lit at rather inconvenient times.

Aside from but physical harm, I must say - the concert was a blast! I'm not good at enduring tedious concerts (I may have fallen asleep at a few while at High School, so later in life will be fun!), but the tap concert actually grabbed and held my interest.

The end of year event always has a theme, this year was the body parts. Being a tap studio, there had to be music attached. The theme appeared to be very, very loosely followed in some cases. I'm still wondering how "Insane in the membrane" made someone suggest it. Then again with the inclusion of "I wanna wash that man out of my hair", I could have sat through another attempt from Cypress Hill to enough the girls and guys on stage to tap.

There were many classic moments - the infamous "Sausage Incident" won't be forgotten in a hurry (some have put this down to nerves, I think someone really did forget!) - the very enthusiastic young (ish) white gentleman in the bad afro wig singing along to "Your love still brings me to my knees - Marcia Hines" I still have trouble remembering what the tappers were doing on stage. I suspect they were too when the aforementioned gentleman ended up in his sequined underwear on stage. I may have laughed a bit then. I may have laughed enough to have the old fuddy-duddies next to me to try to lean away from me (positive for the tiny seats!).

The tiny little humans were so very cute. Although their tiny teacher trying to pass herself off as someone of their age (very, very young) really didn't do anything for the act.

As I'm sure most of my readers will be waiting for - the 2 routines that I waited with baited breath for. While I do have my favourite, I thought both were fantastic. It did take a little while for the audience (at least at the 2nd session) to catch on with the less than seriousness of the routine, but once they did it was all the better. "Young hearts run free" may not be a song I'm exactly up to speed with, but the tapping actually helped the song. Although the unfortunate (and insulting!) placement of the only boy on the stage (also the tallest person on stage) in front of a certain short girlfriend wasn't exactly pleasing to the boyfriend. I may have to have words before next year's placements are worked out. I must say that there was a lot more visible joy on stage the second time I saw this. I won't mention that this may have been related to the fact the show was almost over and it was almost time to collaspe. Nope, I will just say they all looked much happier. And ladies, please - learn the hand flick, seriously I want to see a much better one next year!

My favourite of the 2 was the rendition of a classic Meatloaf song. It showed the dynamics of the group, the seriousness that they take the skill required (even if they don't want to show it) but also the fun they have while together and learning. The closeness of the group is obvious when they are doing something they are really enjoying. Taking it as a whole performance, this act was the best of the bunch. People may accuse me of being biased, but these will only be people who were on stage and didn't have to, I mean didn't sit through 7 hours of tap shows in a 27 hour period. I know what I liked and I know that some of the acts too themselves way too seriously.

I was a little concerned before attending this concert. I had been dragged (kicking and screaming) to watch the DVDs of former performances, also comments of "It's wonderful that people of all shapes and sizes are able to get on stage" - not something you want to hear after the mention of the amount of stockings and lycra that may be on stage this year. But I was surprised - yes, there were people of all shapes and sizes, but they all did wonderfully, they all were happy (well, ok most were happy) and they entertained me in a very good way.

I'm not sure I'll be able to sit through the entire DVD, at least not at normal speed, but I think a recap of a select few routines are in order. I will be skipping the entire "Blister in the sun" act though, Mary Poppins is ruined for me forever. Those 2 images are not supposed to be anywhere near each other!

On a slightly seperate note - yes, I did attend 2 shows. Apparently the "worst" and the "best". While I found the "best" to be the most relaxed (I put it down to people knowing it was almost over) the "worst" wasn't all that bad and in fact had I seen them in reverse order (not exactly possible) I'd have said they were both as good as each other. I attended both shows for a number of reasons, the biggest being an attempt to surprise someone. I decided it may not have been the best idea to surprise someone on stage during a performance (I could almost hear the "What the fuck are you doing here again??") so the innocent look on my face and the "Yes dear?" when the 2nd ticket was found was good enough. I think Cathy may have skipped a little bit over the weekend.

So to finish my rambling for the moment - I find I much prefer an amateur performance that knows what it is and does it well, over a semi-professional performance that aims for professionalism but fails when it attempts the airs of something it is not. And really, guys and girls - tapping isn't exactly the most serious thing out there, perhaps picking something that shows how much you enjoy the doing rather than how much you have attempted to "learn" over the last 12 months (Yes, I'm looking at you "I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair" tappers!).