Guest Instructor - Linda Murphy - Tap Dance

Admittedly, I am not a dancer (actually, "admittedly" I am not a singer or an actor either and I faithfully use my camera as a get-out-of-audition-free card...) BUT I am fascinated by tap dancing. No offense to the other dance genres out there; it's just that nothing gets my toes a tappin' like a good ol' tap class. I think I've watched "White Nights" a hundred times just to see Gregory Hines and Mikhail Baryshnikov go toe-to-toe, as it were.

So...when I found out Linda Murphy was teaching tap during Week Four I was on it, and WHAT a treat it was indeed. Linda is a fantastic teacher and her enjoyment of dance was apparent while she led this class over a two-day period. Incidentally, she's now the third Murphy I've met in the two years of Next Step Prep (we met Michael earlier this summer when he taught acting for film, and Matthew was here last summer teaching ballet...and I hear through both Matt and Linda that the last of the Murphy clan is QUITE a tap dancer, so we'll just have to work on her next!). Listening to Linda talk about her kids and their artistic careers just warms my heart, and it shows how much parents believing and supporting their child's dreams MATTERS. It really does. So thanks, Linda, for our little chat after class that one day. It was a great reminder to me as a mom and I hope the students felt it, too.



Linda taught the students a routine for "You Can't Stop the Beat" from "Hairspray" (here's some similar choreography by the 2002 Broadway cast performing on the Today show). What a fun, energetic number. Since she only had two days to work on it she kept the choreography simple and really pushed the students to make these moves precise. Some of the students had never tapped before, so the mechanics of tap were taught and coached. We had a few tap-converts after the class was over, for sure!

We couldn't have a blog post without a footwear comment, so here...I like Riley's socks...there...


Coaching on the precision of the move...






One of the nice things about Next Step is that we have all levels of performers, from beginning to advanced. This is especially true for our dancers. It's pretty cool to watch the more advanced dancers help the beginners out.





I've also discovered that tap is kinda hard to photograph, so I have to go into the "it's not blurry, it's ART" realm here :) But I do like this image.


Unfortunately we didn't get a photo with our teacher after class, but we are no less appreciative of what she did for the students. It was a great time and the students learned a LOT!

If you're around for the final showcase performance on August 5th, a few of the students will be performing this choreography and it looks GREAT...

AND, if you're in Missoula this fall, Linda will be teaching at On Center Performing Arts, so definitely think about taking a class with her. You'll be glad you did!

Thank you, Linda!!!