Putting Their Happy Feet Forward

Dancing-Penguin Movie Raises Interest in Tap

From left, Dominique Evans, 10; Nathan Cordes, 12; Ben Rudisin, 13; and Jewel Galbraith, 13, show that Mumble the penguin isn't the only one with fancy dance moves. (Photos By Bill Webster -- The Washington Post; Penguin Photo Courtesy Warner Bros.)

After seeing the movie "Happy Feet," did you dance out of the theater? Like Mumble, do have have trouble keeping your toes from tapping -- even in school?

If so, you're not the only one inspired by the tap-happy penguin. At the Knock on Wood Tap Studio in Silver Spring, kids are learning to shuffle, dig and brush just like Mumble.

"When you are tap-dancing it is like an electric pulse going through your body," said Nathan Cordes, 12. "You feel good, like you can go anywhere with just your feet."

Nathan is one of 30 dancers in the group Tappers With Attitude, which practices at Knock on Wood and performs around the Washington area. Recently, the group danced at a Silver Spring movie theater for an audience that had come to see "Happy Feet" on the screen.

The movie "is like real life," said dancer Jewel Galbraith, 13. "A long time ago people didn't really think of tap-dancing as an art form. But now people are realizing that it is -- like in the movie when [the penguins] realize that tap-dancing is what saved them."

Tap-dancing originated in the late 1800s when groups of immigrants would get together to show off their traditional dances. The different dance moves started blending together, and tap-dancing was born.

Tap-dancing was popular in movies of the 1930s and '40s, including several featuring child star Shirley Temple. "Mary Poppins" and "Happy Feet" continued this tradition.

Dominique Evans has been tap-dancing for six years. "I started when I was about 4," she said. "I think I did it because I have seen so many movies about tap, and I wanted to try."

As the "Happy Feet" penguins showed, it's possible to tap-dance to almost any type of music. Tappers With Attitude dancers enjoy jazz, hip-hop, Latin and go-go music. Sometimes they even sing along. One way the group learns different rhythms is by singing the alphabet to those rhythms.

The dancers spend hours each week practicing, but no matter how tired their toes become, it's worth it, they say.

"You should really definitely try it," Jewel urged. "It is something anyone can do, and it's lots of fun. "

-- Amy Orndorff