In the hallways of the Richards Building there will be happy feet tapping to beat of the music for this year’s Rhythm Tap Dance Camp.

Students from all over the country have come to the BYU campus to learn new tap techniques and styles during this three-day camp.

Five tap instructors will teach a tap dance bringing their own unique style and choreography to each class. The students will learn five routines they can share with their families and dance studios at home.

There are 20 tap dancers, ages 14 to adult, attending this year’s Rhythm Tap Dance Camp.

Even families attend the camp. A mother and her two daughters drove from Bullhead, Ariz., to learn new tap routines to take back to Arizona. 

“I like the combinations they teach us, and I just want to get better at tap dance,” said McCall Jennings, the 17-year-old daughter. “It’s really fun, there are five different instructors and they all have different variety.”

Rhythm Tap Dance Camp instructor Cynthia Gubler graduated in marriage, family and human development last year with a minor in dance and is a part-time faculty member for the Department of Dance in the world dance division.

“With any tap camp, the purpose is to give more exposure to tap dance,” Gubler said. “When they come they learn new things — styles, and techniques that they can take back home. The nice thing about this camp other than the rest of the dance camps is we have many adult women, and we hope they take home confidence in their tap dancing and new ideas to continue in tap.”

Rustin Charles Van Katwyk of Vacaville, Calif., is co-director of the camp with faculty member Colleen West. He is also part-time world dance faculty member at BYU. 

“We are always looking for more people to be a part of it,” Van Katwyk said. “What I want them to walk away with is a greater understanding of tap culture and how it influenced the Hollywood entertainment for the past 30-40 years. I also want them to understand the history of tap today still exists, and how tap plays into today’s culture.”

The instructors encourage the camp students to share the dances they learned with dance studios.

Van Katwyk said attending Rhythm Tap Dance Camp will help students decide if they will pursue a life in tap. It also exposes them to the culture of tap, which is an American dance that originated from jazz music. 

Another choreographer of the camp is 23-year-old Chante Sinclair of Provo, a BYU student who is majoring in clinical psychology with a minor in world dance.

Sinclair emphasized that tap dance camp will help students become diverse in tap and broaden their appreciation of tap as an art form. They can also become stylistically diverse from all the different pieces they will learn.

“I totally love tap dance camp, it’s a party,” Sinclair said.

For information about Rhythm Tap Dance Camp visit its Web site, ce.byu.edu/cw/dancecamps/rhythm_tap.cfm

everettmshell@gmail.com