Etm Double Down a Review of Modern Tap Dancing

¶ … Dorrance Dance's ETM: Double Down The Dorrance Dance Company is the brainchild of MacArthur Genius Grant Winner Michelle Dorrance. Although the viewer might presume that tap-dancing is a relatively traditional, even hackneyed form of American dance, Dorrance infuses it with new life and gives it a hip-hop beat. As noted in its review of the most recent Dorrance Dance production by the NY Theater Guide, ETM: Double Down at the Joyce Theater takes the viewer by surprise every moment.

"The dancers walked onstage in semi-darkness, dragging along the floor a something that is either a crate or piece of scenery. It turns out to be a combination of both -- an electronic tap board designed by musician/choreographer/dancer Nicholas Van Young" (Contino).

While most dances are rigorously choreographed (many ballets, for example, uses dance steps that have existed in a particular fashion for more than a century), one of the signature aspects of the Dorrance Dance company's output is the manner in which it infuses contemporary dance with jazz-like improvisation, even in the middle of a performance. "For example, Warren Craft's solo was built around falling, with the last obvious one with his foot dragging behind him serving as a cue for the others to resume dancing" (Contino).

The dance style emphasizes highly naturalistic elements, suggesting that performers are expressing their feelings about their dancing in the moment of execution: "Another seamless sequence began as a solo, turned into a duet and then back into a solo. At times, dancers seemed to be doing different steps, but were actually executing an excitingly high level of syncopation" (Contino). Dorrance herself notes in the program for the production: "Tap dance was America's first street form and is deeply rooted in the foundations of Hip Hop and House dance" (Dorrance).

Tap dance has also historically made use of 'found' objects in performance, spanning from Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson using steps to leap from place to place, to Gene Kelly doing a shuffle step in the rain, to Stomp making use of garbage can lids with percussive sounds. ETM: Double Down incorporates an electronic tap board in to the repertoire of the dancers' props and can be viewed in the proud tradition of making the visuals and techniques of tap dance in performance better suited to contemporary audiences.

Not everyone was enamored with the show. The New York Times praised its "a free-flowing continuity while delivering a variety of sounds, musical styles (Afro-Brazilian, music-box indie pop, a cover of Adele's "First Love") and emotions (joy, pain)" but also stated that the "show seems like a later stage in what is still a trial phase, with too many short sections, too many disparate ideas and iterations" (Seibert).

However, this seems to be a mistaken impression of Dorrance's style which is deliberately a pastiche and resists a feeling of 'completeness.' The production is supposed to have an organic, street feel by the artist's own design. By incorporating spontaneous improvisation into the work, there is a blend of both real life and stylized performance that makes the dancing unique and like nothing the average viewer has.