In this video I'm going to teach you the "National Anthem" of tap dance called the Shim Sham
The first step of the Shim Sham Shimmy is called the Shim Sham, and I'll demonstrate
the first part.
We stamp with our right foot, and then we brush back and step.
And now do the same thing on the left side-stamp, brush, step.
And now do it on the right side again, and we're going to do a variation with a ball-change
that looks like this--stamp, brush, ball-change, and now finish it off with stamp, brush, step.
Stamp, brush, step.
Ok.
I'm going to face this way now.
We'll do the right side.
Oh ya!
And we start on the 8.
5
6
7
8 a 1
2 a 3
4 a 5
a 6 a 7.
And now repeat that whole thing again on the left, and then one more time on the right.
So we do it three times.
We just did it once, let's do it two more times.
Left side now.
6
7
8 a 1
2 a 3
4 a 5
a 6 a 7
8 a 1,
2 a 3
4 a 5
a 6 a 7.
Ok, so let's do all three now.
Starting on 8.
5
6
7
8 a 1
2 a 3
4 a 5
a 6 a 7
8 a 1
2 a 3
4 a 5
a 6 a 7
8 a 1
2 a 3
4 a 5
a 6 a 7.
So now for our break #1, we step forward right we dot our left toes, and then we step on
the ball of our left foot, we hop, step back, hop and step back, and now hop with your feet
out to the side, and then slide them in together.
And then end with a clap.
So let's do the whole break.
So we step forward, we dot, step and hop step, and then hop step again, out in clap.
So now let's do three shim shams with one break at the end, starting on 8.
5
6
7
8 a 1,
2 a 3,
4 a 5
a 6 a 7
8 a 1
2 a 3
4 a 5
a 6 a 7
8 a 1
2 a 3
4 a 5
a 6 a 7.
Step
dot
step
hop
step
hop
step
out
in
clap.
It's a tricky part to count that break.
That's why I don't bother to count it because I get myself confused.
So just remember that it's syncopated.
[Sings the rhythm phonetically]
Step #2 is called the Push & Cross.
And it looks like this.
We go 1
2
3
4
step scuff
heel step
step.
The first part is pretty easy just four steps.
Start with your right foot.
1, 2, 3, 4.
And what's fun about tap dance, just put your own styling into it.
So if you want to do your push and actually push with your feet like this--that's fun
to do.
I also do a little "boogie woogie" type-thing where we just use our knees.
So really whatever you feel is your flavor of dance please do that because that's what
makes tap dance fun.
So I'll just do the basic structure where we just step in place four times.
1, 2, 3, 4.
And now we're going to step for a fifth time, but then we're going to scuff with our left
foot like this--step scuff.
So we do step scuff, you gotta lift up your right heel, then drop it.
Cross over, and now step to the right.
Let's do left side.
5
6
7
8
1, 2, 3, 4
step, scuff, heel, step, step.
Ok, and now for our third time--here we go!
1, 2, 3, 4
step, scuff, heel step, step.
And now we're here for our break, because we've done something three times and now we
change it up for that fourth time.
And this is what our break looks like---step, scuff, heel, step, step, scuff, heel, step,
stamp, stamp.
So we do three push and crosses and then one break with crossovers.
Here we go!
First time, right side.
5
6
7
8
1, 2, 3, 4
step
scuff
heel, step, step.
1, 2, 3, 4
step, scuff, heel, step, step.
Third-and-last-time, and step, scuff and now the break
Step scuff heel step step
step, scuff heel step, stamp, stamp.
The third step of the shim sham shimmy is called the Tack Annie, and it looks like this.
From our stamp stamp we just finished with---stamp, stamp, brush, toe, step, brush, toe, step,
brush toe step, brush ball-change step.
So we step with our stamps and then we do a brush toe, and now step on it, change weight,
get the left toes ready to brush, brush toe step, get the right toes ready to brush, brush
toe step, and here's our ball-change variation.
Brush, ball-change, step.
With counts---
5
6
7
8
a 1 2
a 3 4
a 5 6
a 7 a 8
a 1 2
a 3 4,
a 5 6
a 7 a 8.
a 1 2
a 3 4
a 5 6
a 7
So there's a small change there because we need to get ready to do break #1, which is
this.
In order to have our right foot free we have to leave out that ball-change.
So let's do that third Tack Annie step with our slight change.
We do---brush toe step, brush toe step,
brush, toe, step
brush, step, step, dot, step, hop,
step, hop, step, out, in.
And this one we don't do a clap.
That's only the first one.
The fourth and last step of the Shim Sham Shimmy is called Half Break.
Now we change up our pattern.
We've normally done something three times and then a break.
This time we only do two tings...two things.
[laughs] Two tings!
Two things and a break.
And so the half break looks like this---
leap, step, shuffle, ball-change.
Do it again--leap, step, shuffle ball-change
and now do break #1--
step, dot, step, hop,
step, hop, touch, out, in.
Then do that whole cycle again---
leap, step, shuffle, ball-change
leap, step, shuffle ball-change
step, dot, step, hop, step, hop, touch, out, in.
Alright!
Let's go with music!
[Musical prelude plays for 12 beats]