Foot Notes’ tap dancers launch club’s third year

“We form our own music with our feet,” said Sara Kaufman, team captain of IU’s first tap-dancing student club, Foot Notes Tap Dance Group.

Now a senior, Kaufman founded Foot Notes at the end of her freshman year for students who wish to share their passion of tap dance.

The student group said it welcomes all who are interested in getting their feet shuffling — from beginners learning classical style to advanced dancers who want to sharpen skills.

Foot Notes’ call-out meeting to launch its third year is from noon to 1 p.m. Oct. 9, in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation room 173A, Dance Court 6, in the racquetball court hallway.

“Tap dancing is a wonderful, but largely unappreciated, art form,” Kaufman said. “It is such an enjoyable art form to watch and to perform. There are so many different styles from classical to hoofer and rhythmic tap dancing.”

Kaufman began tap dancing at age 5, learning classical tap in a studio dance setting. Her interest in rhythmic tap dancing erupted at age 9. She attended master classes and festivals around the country, competing and winning several titles.

To join the club, a small fee is charged to pay for the costs of club T-shirts and water for events. The fee covers a student for both semesters.

Foot Notes sponsors one main workshop each year. Previous years have brought in tap-dance masters Bill Evans and Sarah Savelli to organize master classes at intermediate and advanced levels.

“Sarah Savelli is very well-known in the tap-dancing world,” senior Foot Notes member Xavier Medina said. “There was a great turnout last year. I attended the intermediate and advanced classes. It was an exuberant atmosphere, while also laid back. Everyone was having fun and learning in a clear and concise format.”

This year’s tap-dance master has yet to be determined.

Tap dancers who join the club are regularly updated on national festivals and practices, which take place every other Saturday for hour-long sessions normally at noon in HPER 173A. The schedule is very lenient and undemanding, Kaufman said.

Although Foot Notes doesn’t sponsor members’ national festival attendance, members are encouraged to attend on their own. Kaufman said she hopes attendance can be sponsored in the near future, along with group involvement and performances on campus.

Foot Notes is a growing group. It has more than 100 active members, both male and female, on its e-mail list and regular attendance at Saturday practices.

“Foot Notes is unbiased in its structure,” Medina said. “Some students have never tapped before, while others with studio background all have different styles and showmanship that they were taught.”

Medina said some students are adamant in tapping for an hour or so every day, while she only taps about twice a week.

In previous years, Foot Notes recruited and advertised by handing out flyers and tap-dancing on plywood along sidewalks on campus and downtown Bloomington.

“The rhythmic aspect makes it so unique from other dance forms,” Kaufman said. “Rhythm is necessary and incorporated in other kinds of dance, but in tap dancing you form your own music.”

Kaufman said Foot Notes is just getting started and has an exciting future ahead.

“With talented and dedicated officers, it will continue to grow and provide opportunities for students to share their passion of tap dancing,” she said.