The days of Fred Astaire are long gone. So are the days of Gene Kelly. They're so long gone, in fact, that few people can still name any of Astaire's movies, and Kelly, well his name draws a blank with most. So does any one really care about tap dancing anymore?
Apparently so. Numerous reinterpretations of the genre have reappeared in the 1990s. At least three have come to Taiwan in the last two years. The fourth to visit, and one of the more recent entries into the revived genre, Caution: Men at Work -- Tap, continues the trend as it comes to Taipei's National Theater for five performances next weekend.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THEATRICAL ARTS INTERNATIONAL
The show, still relatively young, bills itself as being in the tradition of Stomp and Tap Dogs, an Australian production that drew some attention. On stage, it combines seven dancers and a live rock band. Different acts have the tappers dressed as blue collar workers or men in suits, but mostly the guy next door. The stage set is industrial-urban, multi-level and full of construction site motifs. There is also a giant staircase at back center stage and three giant letters, T-A-P, suspended from the rafters above the stage, lest someone forget and think the show is actually Stomp.
Stomp, of course, was the show that introduced this current trend of tap reinterpreted. It's dancers took the rhythms of tap dancing, expanded the footwork beats to percussion instruments made from everyday household items, and made the whole thing contemporary. It debuted in 1991 in Brighton, England, and financial success enabled it to expand into five performance groups, one of which continues to tour the world. This touring group visited Taipei in October 2000.
Since then, two other groups based on similar concepts of kinetic, percussive dance have also visited Taiwan. Cookin', a Korean group that actually prepared food on stage as part of their performance, came twice in 2000. Then earlier this month, a Spanish group called the Camut Band brought their show, Life is Rhythm, which like Caution: Men at Work, also involved tapping to a live band.
Finding it's niche within the spectrum, the specialty of Caution: Men at Work may be that it looks back on tap somewhat historically, rather than emphasizing some particular new form of fusion (for comparison's sake, Stomp brings in street dance, Cookin' brings dance into the territory of the knife-wielding Asian chef, and the Camut Band expressed a heavy interest in African dance and rhythms). Like the other shows, its aggressive pace and high energy delivery mean that Attention Deficit Disorder sufferers planning to attend can probably skip their daily dose of Ritalin.
The show itself is produced by Theatrical Arts International, a group that supplies shows to the California Theatre for the Performing Arts ? mostly post-Broadway tours like Cats, Miss Saigon and Saturday Night Fever -- and sends others touring the world. Travelling shows in 2002, include On Golden Pond, Big -- the Musical and a theater-circus combo, Zero Gravity.
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