Philosophy Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-2019
Publication Source
Midwest Studies In Philosophy
Abstract
This essay considers whether tap dance might be categorized as a kind of feet- and body-created jazz percussion rather than as a musical form of dance. Its focus is thus primarily ontological, although there is much to be said about the experience and value of tap dance that goes beyond ontology. The nature of tap dance is then investigated in historical, functional, and culturally contextual ways, after which the essay shows how the answers to the historical and functional questions are best solved by cultural and contextual considerations. Finally, this essay concludes that yes, tap dance is a form of jazz percussion but that it still belongs primarily to dance and not to a dance-music or musical ontological category.
Inclusive pages
183-194
ISBN/ISSN
1475-4975
Document Version
Postprint
Copyright
Copyright © 2019, Wiley Periodicals Inc.
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons
Volume
44
Issue
1
Peer Reviewed
yes
eCommons Citation
Bresnahan, Aili W., "Is Tap Dance A Form of Jazz Percussion?" (2019). Philosophy Faculty Publications. 183.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/phl_fac_pub/183
Comments
The document available for download following the publisher's required embargo period is the author's accepted manuscript, provided in compliance with the publisher's policy on self-archiving; it may only be used for non-commercial purposes and must be cited appropriately. To view the version of record, use the provided link to the DOI.
It appears in a special issue of Midwest Studies in Philosophy on the philosophy of dance.
A version of this paper was presented at the Jazz Philosophy Intermodal Conference in Santa Ana, California, in the summer of 2019.
Acknowledgment: I am grateful to the philosophers, in particular Renee Conroy, David Ring, and Robert Kraut, for their comments and suggestions. I would also like to thank Robert Bingham (Temple University) for his assistance locating scholarly historical sources on tap dance.