Ask A Dance Teacher

Join qualified tap teacher, Johanna Hadley and learn how to do a toe drop in tap. Watch the video below. Toe drop Also known as a ball beat or a heel supported toe beat, a toe drop is one of the basic steps a tap dancer learns. It is exactly the same step. Start with your knees nice and relaxed and a beautiful tap posture. Keep you heel in contact with the floor and start to lift off as your toe pulls upwards. Then let your toe drop down to... Read More

Learn how to perform a Maxi Ford in tap with qualified tap teacher, Johanna Hadley. Watch our video guide below. The Maxi Ford tap step is named after a famous vaudeville tap dancer and it is a fantastic step that is made up of 6 sounds. Maxi Ford with a toe tap First of all we explain how to do a Maxi Ford with a toe tap. Whilst your arms can be in any position, the way to position them for explaining this step, is to have them held out... Read More

Qualified tap teacher, Johanna Hadley, takes you through 5 top tips on how to make your tap shoes less slippery. Tip 1 My first tip for slippery tap shoes, is to check the toe plates. The toe plates are the first areas that start to show signs of wear on a pair of tap shoes and this can be a cause of slippiness. Take a look where the brand logo is and if it is starting to disappear it is already showing some signs of wear. Also keep a look... Read More

In this latest video from our Ask a Dance Teacher series, qualified tap teacher Johanna Hadley, will teach you how to do a heel dig in tap dance. Watch our video guide below. Begin with your tap posture – knees relaxed and weight forwards. Lift up your foot and use the very edge of your tap plate to lower down into the floor to create a sound. The important thing to remember about a heel dig, is that it stays on the floor. The placement of your heel is opposite... Read More

There are two types of flap in tap dance and qualified tap teacher, Johanna Hadley, takes us through both today. In this video, you’ll learn how to do a standard flap first and then a flap to the toe. In Tap there are two main standard types of flaps. The first is what we call a Standard flap and the second is called a Flap to the toe. A Standard flap has 2 sounds and the counts are a1. Be aware that it is not ‘And 1’ as you would... Read More

For our series Ask A Dance Teacher, we asked ballet teacher Janet Lomas some common questions about ballet training. Our question was, “What happens if you fail an RAD exam” Janet says: If you’re asking yourself this question, then chances are you’re not feeling confident about an upcoming exam. If this is the case, you need to speak with your teacher as soon as possible. You need to identify what it is exactly that you’re not feeling confident about: is it that you feel you don’t know the exercises well... Read More

For our series Ask A Dance Teacher, we asked ballet teacher Johanna Hadley some common questions about ballet training. Our question was, “How can I improve my balance and stability as a dancer?” Johanna says: Balance and stability is something that can be easily improved. But, it’s important to remain committed to a practice schedule because, just like everything in ballet, it’s not something that can be improved overnight. Improving balance and stability is something that is difficult to keep consistent for growing children and teens, so don’t be too... Read More

For our series Ask A Dance Teacher, we asked ballet teacher Johanna Hadley some common questions about ballet training. Our question was, “What happens during a ballet exam?” Johanna says: Ballet exams are a fantastic confidence booster and have a clearly defined assessment structure. Exams build progressively through the grades in terms of complexity and length of exercises. This means that the content of a ballet exam is vastly different for a young child entering their first ballet exam compared with that of a teenage student taking vocational ballet exams.... Read More

For our series Ask A Dance Teacher, we asked ballet teacher Johanna Hadley some common questions about ballet training. Our question was, “At what age should ballet dancers begin pointe work?” As well as, “What age should you get pointe shoes?”, “Can children wear pointe shoes?” and “Can starting pointe training too young damage the feet?” Johanna says: These questions get asked many times! Firstly, it’s important to understand that dancing on pointe is not a rite of passage, where all children go on pointe at a set age –... Read More

For our series Ask A Dance Teacher, we asked ballet teacher Johanna Hadley some common questions about ballet training. Our questions were, “How to teach yourself ballet? What are the risks associated with being a self-taught ballet dancer?” Johanna says: There are a lot of great resources out there to help enhance a dancer’s training, but it isn’t advised that you teach yourself. While you can still pick up extra tips from a YouTube video or a book, one of the most important things that can’t be done if you... Read More