Six solid men take the stage, looking rugged in their jeans and
industrial work boots. They appear ready to hit the construction site
to do … some tap-dancing?
Clearly, this isn’t a traditional tap-dancing performance. There
isn’t a pretty backdrop and a lamppost to sing and dance around. There
are no top hats or jazz hands. No, this is Tap Dogs, 90 minutes
of nonstop tap that showcases the mind-blowing dancing skills from guys
who really do appear more suited to a construction site.
But looks can be deceiving.
Tap Dogs is a production from Australia that debuted in 1995.
Current producer Aldo Scrofani says that in the show, the
performers—they’re not referred to as dancers, but as the
guys—start on a plain-looking construction site. They build as
they tap—over and under scaffolds, ladders and ropes. There are
even power-tool-triggered fireworks. The show has its own musical score
that helps keep up the intensity of the tapping.
Scrofani says he wants Tucson to be astounded at the ability of
these performers.
“These blokes are not typical Fred Astaire-type tap dancers,”
Scrofani says. “They’re good-sized boys and astounding tap
dancers.”
The cast members performing in Tucson hail from all over the world,
including the United States, Australia and England. Many are Tap
Dogs veterans. Chris Erk of Ohio first joined the show in New York
City in 1997. He was 16 years old.
“I toured internationally with them for five years,” Erk says. “This
is my first time back in seven years.”
When he was 4 years old, his father’s band would practice in the
family basement. His father played the drums, and rhythm got hold of
Erk at an early age. He has since trained in numerous forms of dance,
but says tap is what he finds to be the most fun.
Erk says that the high energy of the show keeps him working hard. He
and the other five cast members are onstage tapping throughout the
entire performance, so there is never a dull moment. But what really
makes the show special, at least to Erk, is the camaraderie the guys
have both onstage and off.
“The audience picks up on it, too,” he says. He explains that with
the guys happy, and the audience feeling it, everyone has a great time.
He also says that because most of the guys are veteran performers this
time around, “this is the best show.”
Scrofani and Erk both say that there’s nothing else quite like
Tap Dogs. It is the brainchild of Australian choreographer Dein
Perry. Perry grew up in the industrial area of Newcastle near Sydney.
He danced and also worked as an industrial machinist; this combination
of talent and trade inspired the show’s construction theme. Perry was
in the original cast, along with friends from his hometown.
The guys’ characteristic boots are modified with metal plates for
tapping by the famous Australian footwear company Blundstone.
There’s no specific plot, but a story follows the guys. They have
names like the Foreman, the Kid and Funky.
After its 1995 Australian debut, the show came to North America a
year later for Montreal’s Just for Laughs comedy festival. The show
then traveled to New York City; since then, Scrofani says, producers
have taken the show on tour every few years.
Erk returned for this tour, he says, because he’s never underworked
with Tap Dogs.
“Everything’s very involved,” he says. “The set is like a pop-up
book.”
This article appears in Sep 24-30, 2009.