Taps tongue-in-cheek without technical trauma

The dancers of Taps never rest. Thanks to them, Yale has moved past the years when seeing a full evening of proficient and innovative tap dancing was a pleasant surprise. But the group's third annual show, "Got Metal?", is anything but complacent. Instead, the evening's pieces systematically challenge everything semi-sacred about tap dancing. Music? The program features Leonard Cohen, bagpipes, Mozart, and silence. Steps? Not always necessary; these dancers can improvise. Metal? Not required, as one interlude set piece demonstrates. Take something really basic: a floor to dance on. The second-half opener, "Surface Jazz," even plays with that basic convention.

But even if the show is idiosyncratic, it's never inaccessible, perhaps because none of these dancers forget that Taps is all about timing. Sure, the non-creative need not apply, but if you can't tell a joke, don't bother with this group either. The well-delivered punch line, be it verbal or physical, always pops up in the right place to remind both performers and audience of the sense of humor at the center of most of the dancing.

For example, "Johnny Takes on the Devil," choreographed by Gaylynn Burroughs, CC '99, Jason Moff, DC '99, and Larra Pleasant, DC '00, sets two groups of dancers in opposition, the Johnnies and the Devils. Good guys wear bandanas, bad guys wear red horns, and each frantically tries to out-tap the other in a basic retelling of the sung ballad. It's faithful to the music, but campy and playful, too: by the end of the piece, devils learn the errors of their ways, and one Johnny (the ever-delightful Pleasant) struts in mock cockiness around the stage. "TV Medley," choreographed by Amber Carroll, SM '99, starts with a similar intention--the physical retelling of musical ideas--but it quickly runs out of ideas of its own. There's no choreographic theme, and the set pieces are conventional on their own (there's even a brief kick line) and don't add up to much more when put together. Perhaps the problem lies in basing five minutes of dancing on the evocative strength of music like the Addams Family theme.

Other pieces apply the same sense of irony to more serious subject matter. "Democracy," choreographed by Eryn Rosen-thal, BK '98, to music by Leonard Cohen, uses the themes of a seemingly undanceable song to weave its own choreographic commentary. What starts out as tapped hopscotch and clapping games becomes the mechanical movements of wind-up dolls or trained soldiers, then the stacatto of gunfire and the regular pulse of a heartbeat. Rosenthal's choreography finds a rhythmic frame for Cohen's eerie chanting, and the result is probing and moving without taking itself too seriously.

Some musical jokes work in surprising ways. Who would have thought that a live bagpipe player could inspire four dancers to update some grand old clog-dancing combinations? Or that Eine Kleine Nachtmusik could so easily inspire some great tap dancing from Kelly Burns, BK '98? Or that eight dancers and an improvisational jazz saxophonist could come up with free-form, on-the-spot synchronicity? Proof of the Pudding gets into the act as well, singing the a capella accompaniment to Burns's "The Proof's in the Tapping." It's one of three pieces with live music in the show, all of which are welcome additions.

In the midst of all this experimentation, though, I found myself pining for some long stretches of pure tap choreography. Luckily, "Got Metal?" has two pieces that fit this criterion, smack in the middle of the two halves. In "Mingus," choreographer Amanda Kap-lan, ES '00, puts her group of dancers through a series of sharp-edged poses, then sets them to meditating on the thousands of shaded steps in between. It's all black and white, stacatto and stylish, and the dancers revel in just how cool they are. In "A Capella," choreographer Melissa Tepe, SY '99, dispenses with music altogether. This leaves her with only the steps to play with, but the result is some of the most precise and technically- assured dancing of the show, as six tappers seize on Tepe's creative combinations with absolute coordination and assurance. All six falling in and out of syncopation together is a testament to how magical purity can be.

It's a nice affirmation of the show's good humor that the final number, "Can You Feel It?" (choreographed by Pleasant) gives the audience the grand finale it's been hoping for. Precise grids of dancers in white shirts and dark pants tap furiously together to big, rhythmic music. Unashamedly sexy--hips carry whole stretches of choreographic statement--it's the perfect upbeat ending. And it proves what those watching "Got Metal?" have known all along: these dancers can do the traditional stuff. They'd just rather tap on the edge.

Back to A&E...