The Physics of Footwork
What is Loose-Ankle Tap?
Loose-ankle tap is perhaps one of the profession’s best-kept secrets. Mark Yonally, artistic director of Chicago Tap Theatre and a long-time loose-ankle specialist, explains that the technique “involves a completely relaxed ankle. The movement is initiated from the hip, with everything from the knee down hanging limp, like dead weight.” He demonstrates by flexing his hip and pulsing from the thigh, causing his foot to flop loosely. “The leg acts as a lever, with all the heavy work being done by the large muscles in the thigh and hip rather than the small muscles of the ankle.”
So how much of a difference do loose ankles make? “At the highest levels of tap, it’s hard to see what someone is doing,” Yonally explains. “However, you can often hear the difference between the two styles, and you can certainly feel it.”
Why Use Loose Ankles?
Relaxing the ankle produces a clean, light, open sound. Furthermore, loose-ankle dancers can typically tap longer and faster than working-ankle dancers, since they aren’t burning out the small muscles of the ankle.
Using a loose ankle can also expand choreographic choices. Acia Gray, executive and artistic director of Tapestry Dance Company in Austin, TX, says, “Because I’m not working from my feet, I’m able to travel more onstage. By working from your pelvis—like you do in ballet or jazz dance—you can engage the energy from your core and move more easily.”
Gray knows the differences in the two styles well, having started her career as a working-ankle, bent-knee dancer. She also discovered that loose-ankle dancing is easier on the body. After she learned loose-ankle technique from master teacher and choreographer Sam Weber, the chronic pain in her knees disappeared. Yonally, who also credits Weber as his mentor, also came to the technique after a knee injury.
Weber, who was taught to use relaxed, loose ankles from his first tap lessons at age 4, is an unabashed proponent of the style. “The only way a dancer who keeps the ankle rigid can reach a high level of technical proficiency,” he says, “is by learning to relax the ankle,” either consciously or unconsciously.
Some moves are simply impossible to do with an overly-tight ankle. For example, Gray’s hallmark “one-and-a-half” involves three sounds from a straight-leg shuffle and lift. Yonally’s dancers at Chicago Tap Theatre regularly perform ripples (“side riffs”) in unison, using a twisting motion to get three rapid-fire sounds while still retaining a sweetness and clarity of tone.
Other moves can be done faster with a loose ankle. For example, you can dramatically increase the speed of your nerve taps and running front shuffle-steps by relaxing your ankle.
