Music begins to play as the dancers enter. They jump and leap all over the stage. Somewhere in the middle of the performance a ballerina does her solo. By this time one is asleep while fairies and sugarplums dance in his or her head. When leaving the performance, one has no recollection of what happened. Ballet is boring. Tap is exciting and arousing. Music style, technique, and the type of shoes make tap dancing completely different than ballet.
Ballet is predictable. It consists of long dances with the music being a slow and soothing melody. Whenever a tap dance is placed in a musical, excitement and rhythmical beats follow. Sometimes the performer becomes the sole musician dancing to its own beats and rhythms. In the
musical “Chicago” there is a tap dance near the end that is a prime example of the dancer using the shoes to create the foundations of that particular scene with nothing but their feet. Ballet usually has lengthy tunes, but once in a while there is an upbeat song. The Nutcracker is an example of both types of music. The Nutcracker is one of the few ballets in which I do not fall asleep.
There are many different types of ballet shoes, but common types used in performances are pointe shoes. The toe of the pointe shoes is hard. These shoes are used to lift the dancer onto her toes. Breaking in these shoes is usually a long and painful process. In tap, men wear flat shoes while woman traditionally wear high-heeled taps. I personally favor the flat shoes. I
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