On a dark, rainy Saturday evening, thunder came from Lowell Lecture Hall, where TAPS, Harvard’s undergraduate tap dance company, performed original pieces to music such as “We’re in the Money” from “42nd Street” and Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz.” Although a relatively small group of eight members, their dancing filled the room in “Tapped Out,” their money-themed spring show. The performers were percussionists as well as dancers—with the strike of a tap-shoe against the pale wood floor, they could conjure a light drizzle or a hailstorm. Some seats remained empty, but the audience was boisterous, shouting, “I see you, TAPS!” and, “You go!” During the intermission, two toddlers in the front row were so inspired that they got up and attempted to imitate the TAPS dancers, stomping their feet and swaying their hips from side to side.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
At 9:50 a.m. that Saturday, Lowell Lecture Hall was silent and dark. But when Kathleen E. Golden ’10 entered, followed one by one by the other dancers, the space was filled with activity and chatter—about quick-changes between pieces and which lipstick and eyeliner they would use.
On the day of the performance, TAPS is here to run through every number in the program for six hours, beginning at 10 a.m. According to Golden, an officer of the group, they schedule extra rehearsal time to polish their dances as the performance approaches.
The TAPS pride was palpable as soon as the company stepped—or rather, tapped—onto the stage to rehearse. Jennifer N. Kurdyla ’11, another officer who has danced with TAPS for three years, entered the room wearing a black sweatshirt with “TAPS” on the back in large white letters. But by the end of the first strenuous run-through, her sweatshirt lay strewn on the edge of the stage. At a quarter past 10, the room was already crackling with energy. Lowell Lecture Hall was finally awake.
As she watched “Just Got Paid,” the opening number, Caitlin D. Driscoll ’11 scribbled on a notepad. Driscoll, the director of TAPS, has been a competitive Irish step dancer since the age of four. Her involvement hasn’t dwindled since coming to Harvard. In addition to working with TAPS, she is on the executive board of Corcairdhearg, the Harvard College Irish dancers. After the dancers finished, she said, “You have to rock it out. This is a rock-out piece.” And when a troupe member asked how to exit the stage, she said, “Yeah, walk like you’re cool, like you’re fly.”
“All right, all right,” the dancers responded, laughing as they returned to their positions to start again.
Throughout the rehearsal, it was clear that every group member was invested in TAPS. Each dancer, not only Driscoll, contributed their thoughts as to how they should arrange themselves, and the dancers were eager to help each other master complicated steps. At one point, M.G. Prezioso ’13 was worried. “I keep ending a beat early,” she said. Her peers were quick to help her. Kurdyla explained to her, rapidly tapping her feet and finishing with her right foot behind her left, “It’s ya-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.” With that, the problem was fixed. “Every time I watch a piece, I find something. Don’t be discouraged,” Driscoll told the company before a water break.
THE STAGE IS SET
The energy lasted throughout the day. At 6 p.m., the downstairs area of Lowell Lecture Hall was throbbing. The soft patter of tap shoes as dancers scurried back and forth between the bathroom and the “green room,” and talk of house elves and Ellen DeGeneres was unremitting. Two girls hummed “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” while going over the sequence for the last time. After the exhilarating scramble to finish applying blush, pin costumes, and straighten hair, TAPS came together in a circle and had their usual pre-performance pow-wow. “Thank you all for your hard work. You guys made being your director so easy. It’s going to be an awesome show. Everyone looked so good today,” Driscoll said, proceeding to give a card to each TAPS member to express her appreciation.
Though the group remains tight knit, TAPS is struggling to keep tapping. As Kurdyla explained before Saturday’s rehearsal, the group only has eight members this year; during her freshman year, there were 15.
“It’s really nice to have a big tap group. The sound and the energy are just better. I feel like a lot of girls start off with tap when they’re little and then move on to modern or ballet. I hope we can get more people to realize that tap isn’t just frilly, girly, and Broadway-style,” she said. “There are so many different kinds of tap—hip-hop, a cappella. It’s a very diverse mix and you can really find your niche anywhere.”
At the end of the year, TAPS will lose two graduating seniors and one third-year law student, reducing the group to five. At Harvard, it is especially difficult for small performing groups to become visible amidst larger, better-publicized productions. “I definitely felt the pressure this year, and we lost a portion of our usual audience because of these other shows. In the future I think we have to work on our PR campaign,” Driscoll said. “This is something I plan to discuss with the officers in the coming weeks, so we can make some important changes before next year.”
But “Tapped Out” made it evident that the challenges they face are not based on skill or the quality of their performance—as audience member Henry H. Hammond ’58 said, “The show went very well. Did you notice that they couldn’t stop smiling? They’re clearly having a good time.”
