Lost In The Shuffle

Enjoy this FREE 30 minute excerpt from Hillary-Marie's Improve Your Improv Workshop (August 2021).

Join Hillary-Marie as she answers all of your tap dance improv questions (literally). After receiving over 300 questions from tap dancers and tap teachers all around the world, Hillary-Marie shares with you the most common questions about improvisation, including questions about technique, musicality, tap jam etiquette, teaching, working with live music, overcoming the fear of improvisation and more.

There is a HUGE difference between teaching kids and teaching adults. Join Hillary-Marie as she breaks down many of these key differences for you so that you can cater your classes to the needs of your students. Because knowing, recognizing, and appreciating the differences between these groups of dancers, will help you thrive as a teacher, and therefore, help your students thrive as well.

Bonus episode! Hillary-Marie shares some inspirational Mile Davis quotes.

Hillary-Marie shares a crazy story about the time that she met Oprah with her mentor, Harold Cromer.

How do you know you're ready to start teaching? How do you know you're ready to start learning how to teach? How do you know you've had enough training to start teaching? How do you know your students are ready to learn how to teach? Join Hillary-Marie for answers to these questions!

Weekly Tap classes vs. Workshops. They're both important in your tap dance journey… But how do you know which one your should be putting your energy and finances towards? Join Hillary-Marie as she discusses the differences between weekly classes and workshops like tap festivals, convention weekends, intensive weeks, and masterclasses... and what they have to offer YOU in your tap dance journey.

You need to sit in the pocket. You need to finish your phrase. You need to loosen up. Sound familiar? Hillary-Marie discusses three common tap dance-specific corrections, and what they REALLY mean.

This one's for all the Tap Teachers out there. Take a moment and ask yourself... what does an awesome tap class look like? How do you know that the class you taught was great? For years now, Hillary-Marie has noticed a trend of dance teachers measuring a successful dance class by the choreography their students are picking up at the end of class. This can include how much choreo they pick up and how quickly they pick it up. Is this truly the measurement of a successful tap class? Tune in for Hillary-Marie's thoughts as she speaks directly to Tap Teachers.

Pullbacks. Wings. Toe stands. Over the tops. All the tricks! What order should they be taught in? What age/level should they be introduced? Hillary-Marie shares two things that are super important to keep in mind when teaching trick steps to yourself (and two things that you should avoid at all costs).

Tap dance levels are tricky business. Why? Because there is no standard level that is acknowledged by the Tap Dance Community at large. This means that what is considered Advanced in one place can often be considered Advanced Beginner in another. How do you label the levels of classes at a dance studio? What about at a Tap Festival? How do you know which level to sign yourself up for? How do you know which level to place a student in? Hillary-Marie answers each of these questions for you.

Bonus episode! Looking for good leggings?

Hillary-Marie shares 5 Tips for Creating Choreo on Portable Tap Floors that will help you turn the portable floor into a tool of inspiration, rather than a damper on your creativity. Whether you're choreographing for yourself, or for your students to perform outdoors, or indoors at a convention that only has Marley available, or in a theater on a concert dance stage where they won't allow you to dance on their floor… these tips are guaranteed to help.

Hillary-Marie celebrates her 100th episode by talking about Tap Dance Dreams, including the the dreams of Tap Dancers all around the world, including her own, and how they've changed over time.

Wish you could pick up choreography faster? Need help remembering it? Hillary-Marie shares 3 tips and tricks on how to do exactly that!

Bonus episode! Check out this Netflix show for some Tap Dance.

Hillary-Marie discusses the two types of jumps that every Tap Dancer needs, and why these jumps are the key reason for tap dancers getting stuck in their pullbacks, wings, over the tops, etc.

So you've got a gorgeous sprung wood tap dance floor, and now it's time to refinish it... Here's a step-by-step process on how to do it.

If you've ever heard someone say... “Keep your heels off the floor” “Get those heels up” “Make sure you're on the balls of the feet” “Don't let those heels touch the ground” “Get on the balls of your feet!” Then this episode is for YOU.

Tap Dance History is one of the most heavily debated topics in the Tap Dance Community. Understandably so, because the Tap Dance Community is passionate about the culture and history of the art form bring honored and recognized. Join Hillary-Marie in this episode as she shares her heaviest hitting takeaways from one of a recent deep dive into Tap Dance History research for the iTap Teacher Certificate Program. From The Stono Rebellion of 1739, to The Negro Act of 1740, to Master Juba, often referred to as the “father” or “grandfather” of Tap Dance, this episode is filled with lessons learned, major takeaways, and more.

This question comes up all the time during iTap Chats. How long should a tap class be? In this episode, Hillary-Marie dives deep into the structure of her program at Grooves Unlimited and iTapOnline, and the best class lengths for specific ages and levels.

Not sure when or how to introduce music theory into your tap classes? No worries! In this episode, Hillary-Marie gives you her top tips and tricks on incorporating music theory as a regular part of your weekly tap classes.

Hillary-Marie shares with you 3 mistakes you might be making in your tap dance practice time, and how to solve them quickly and easily so you can become the tap dancer you truly want to be.  

As more and more Tap Teachers learn about tap dance history, they’re appreciating the connection of tap dance to jazz music. And this often leads to the question... how do I incorporate Jazz music into my Tap classes? In today's episode, Hillary-Marie is going to give you easy tips and tricks on how to introduce jazz music into your weekly tap classes in a way that will excite and energize your students.

Do you ever find yourself wondering... How can I dance faster without missing my sounds? How do you teach speed and clarity? In this episode, Hillary-Marie gives you the answers you need by sharing with you the three most common mistakes that tap dancers make when approaching fast footwork and how to fix them.

Not sure when or how to use a metronome in your personal practice or tap classes? No worries! In this episode, Hillary-Marie gives you all the info you need on how, when and why to use a metronome.

Hillary-Marie shares 3 tips to capturing the wandering attention of your tiny tap dancers.

Hillary-Marie and the iTapOnline Community answer the question... what's the biggest lesson that your tap teacher taught you?

Hillary-Marie shares 5 quick and easy tips on how you can energize your teen tap classes this week.

The iTapOnline Community answers the question... what's the ONE thing that you wish your tap teacher taught you?

Do you ever feel like you've exhausted all your options for across the floor steps? Hillary-Marie shares with you an exercise that will make sure you never run out of across the floor exercises.

Hillary-Marie answers tap teacher questions from the iTapOnline Community, including best tap shoes for student, how to help dancers dance lighter on their feet, and what tap shoes looked like back in the day.

Hillary-Marie shares her top tips and tricks for teaching your students crispy clean and perfect pullbacks.

Are your students using tap journals? In this episode, Hillary-Marie shares how tap journals have transformed her students' dedication to tap dance and how you can start using them in your classes this week.

Hillary-Marie shares her favorite journaling exercise for shuffling into the New Year, with a Love It, Leave It and Learned It list.

Check out the top 3 most popular episodes of the 2020 year!

Is your flap coming from the front or the back? Hillary-Marie discusses proper Flap technique.

Taking a moment to give thanks for all things tap dance.

How did we end up with so many names for tap steps? Hillary-Marie discusses the inconsistency of tap dance vocabulary and how it relates to tap dance culture.

Hillary-Marie discusses one of the secrets to why and how her students learn SO quickly.

Hillary-Marie shares four tips for tap dancing in a mask, including how to find a mask you like, why you need to bring multiple masks, the importance of drinking a LOT of water, and one extremely SUPER important thing to keep in mind while teaching in a mask. Click here for 10 Free Tap Dance Resources Click here to join the iTapOnline Family

Hillary-Marie answers Tap Teacher's questions, including how to build rapport with students who are Zooming into class that you've never met before, how to not get exhausted teaching over Zoom, Google Meet vs. Zoom, and tips for finding teaching jobs.

I’ve just finished my first week of teaching Hybrid style classes at my studio, Grooves Unlimited (Livingston, NJ), and it was AWESOME. If you’re a Tap Teacher who’s set up for Hybrid this season, I want to share with you guys some tips and tricks on how to make this awesome class for both you and your students.  Click here to learn more about the Ultimate Hybrid Dance Class Course.