On Tap African Rhythm Night

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A Unique “Tap Jammin” Experience

Thank you for attending our first African-Cuban master tap class! We had such fun learning about and dancing to the exciting rhythms of Africa and Cuba. This evening was first inspired by my attendance of the "Rhythm Explosion" master classes in Bozeman, Montana the summer of 2005. It was there that I met Joanne Shamey and began a great friendship and appreciation of "hand drumming" and it's parallel relationship to tap dancing. Further inspiration came from watching & hearing Nancy Traina's April performance of TaPercussion showing similarities of making rhythms with hands and feet. (Both Joanne and Dave were drumming for that performance.) Then we topped it all off by my husband's and my trip to South Africa and Botswana this summer and Joanne's trip to Cuba. So what started out as Joanne and I talking about her coming to Salem and drumming for my tap students evolved into this collaborative effort of a master tap class!

The first part of our evening, we learned two Senegalese Rhythms. The first one, the Macru, has three parts, or three distinct rhythms. These rhythms can be played in unison or together to create a poly-rhythm. We had such fun dancing them across the floor both together and in rounds! The second Senegalese Rhythm was the Koukou, which is a more basic rhythm that can be played in a poly-rhythm format either in four or eight counts.

For the second part of our evening, we danced to Latin Rhythms. The Son & Son Montuno was fun as it is the basis for the salsa and can apply to any salsa sound. Often called the Clave, Nancy taught us how to switch back and forth between the 2/3 and 3/2 clave. We also got an opportunity to hear Joanne and Dave do a demo on the conga and bongo drums as they played unison and poly-rhythms for us so we could hear the difference. Lastly, Joanne showed us the Bolero, Mambo, Cha Cha Cha, and the Son, from her own Cuban drumming experience.

We are so grateful to have shared this fun and educational evening with you. I hope you enjoyed dancing to the "rhythms of life". Thanks to Nancy, Joanne, Dave, and Sara for sharing their considerable talent!

Yours in Tap,

Stacey Brown

April 2006

The Musicians

Nancy Traina: Nancy has been teaching tap dance in Corvallis, Oregon, for over 17 years. She is the director of Pacific Tap Dance Company and has studied tap under many master teachers including Brenda Buffalino and Jason Samuels Smith.

Stacey Brown: Stacey has been teaching tap in Salem, Oregon, for 3 years. She created "On Tap" in memory of her mentor Gregory Hines. She has studied tap with master teachers like Diane Walker and Randy Skinner. Stacey performs with the Portland Tap Connection and the Molly Malone Irish Dancers.

Joanne Shamey: Joanne hails from Newport, Oregon. She is a tap dancer and percussive musician. Joanne has studied Congo and djembe drumming in Cuba and with Mamadou Thioub in Newport. Joanne performs with the West African drum troupe Ashay and is also a special education teacher with the Newport school district.

Dave Chiller: Dave is a percussive musician from Corvallis, Oregon. He specializes in Bongo and Djembe drums and is a founder of Common Pulse teaching rhythm circle/group music making. Dave has been playing drums for over 20 years and is part of the Ashay West African drum troupe.

Sara Heimlich: Sara is from Newport, Oregon. She is a percussive musician focusing on Conga and Djembe drums. Sara is also a member of the musical group Ashay.

The Photos