I’m still deciding over three classes or four as I walk pas the Sagrada Familia at eleven and bump into locals Yvan and Ludo who are on the way home to sleep after registering and coming back for classes with the Americans- Chloe and Jason. Ludo has recently run a tap jam at El Jungo in Madrid and performs with Ruben Sanchez (more on that later).
Basilio González, the festival’s artistic director is buzzing about and the first day is flexible.. so I take four with the possibility of reducing tomorow.
Sebastian Weber – Repertoire
I took Sebastian’s improvisation class last year which offered a handful of tools and ways of thinking about structure and form of improvising. This year, it’s part of his repertoire for his company Tap Royal. His warm up is a series of phrases and even from the beginning his inspiration and excitement for the music and the beats is contagious as a nearly full class is grinning and tapping away to his Indian rhythmic (he tells us) sequence followed by other short combinations that he explains are simple step wise but more complicated in their time signatures and accents. Then it’s into the routine and it travels and dips and we pretty much have it by the end of the class…
I took Chloe Arnold’s classes in Paris last week. She has a really nice strict, fast but inspirational and positive approach that gets everyone sweating in a the first few minutes (in Paris we did manic flaps for three minutes which is more exhausting than it sounds, especially when followed by sit ups, push ups and after an hour and a hald of class before). Today she combines intermediate and advance but searches always for clarity and pushing speed where she can. We do a short chorey that finishes in a classic Bill Bogangles Robinson step. She tells us she likes to often teach accapella as it gives a freedom for students to make what they want of the steps with music they like… and she encourages people to take something away from the class- even if the choreography is forgotten- perhaps the drum roll warm up- to master it and make it their own.
Guillem is the reason I am in Barcelona- I just remembered. I had a gig tap dancing on the bar at the Spiegletent at the Edinburgh fest and one night, this excited, bouncy Spanish thing ran up and said tap tap bounce bounce tap.. and invited me to the show.. Tap Ole. The first year of the festival I took Guillem’s famous sand dance class opposite the beach which was fun and funny and enduring (at the end of each day of classes). This class is Tap Ole repertoire. We start with simple steps but in flamenco rhythms which at first are harder than we expect… and one step when doubled is particularly odd when Corrine screams at me from behind that I’ve been confusing her for the past five minutes as I’m doing paddles not rapid toe step digs… at which point the exercise suddenly becomes clear. Choreography is nice and sharp and grounded but with light. Start the post four hour of tap sweat, which is not a good sign since I have an hour an a half to go with…
Jason Samuels Smith ! I took a class with Jason at the first Melbourne International Tap Festival in 2005 and I only remember it was stomp and… fast. Warm up is Steve Condos rudiments but with extras and in double time. Then straight onto the routine. It’s fast! Get caught up on the simpler steps and transitions and while I understand everything the brain has started melt down for the day. So while I should stay and concrete some of the routine after class, I instead limp into the tap free air and head tot he supermaket in a slight daze.
So I’m still not sure- three classes or four…
