On Thursday, Feb. 15, the Enloe dance department is holding a tap showcase at 6:30 p.m. The performance will feature solos, duets, and group tap pieces, all choreographed by Enloe students. This is the first tap performance in Enloe Dance history, and a testament to the growing importance of tap in the department.
“The Tap Showcase is really a celebration of Enloe’s honors tap [class],” says Faith Hidenfelter, a leading senior in the honors tap class.
Enloe is one of the only high schools in Wake County that offers tap as a class, let alone at an honors level. The showcase is a chance for the Enloe community to show appreciation for the unique opportunities that our school has to offer.
Enloe dancers have really found themselves in the tap program.
“[Doing tap], I genuinely felt happy and confident on stage for the first time,” says Riley Howell, another leading senior in the program.
Speaking on why she loves tap, Howell added, “I enjoy the attention to detail that tap requires! Even though it seems like two small pieces of metal on the bottom of your shoes […] a slight change in angle can completely alter the sound!”
The Enloe tap environment fosters relationships between the dancers, allowing them to learn from each other.
“In Enloe [tap], you get to learn from different people with different experiences,” Hidenfelter says about tap’s impact on them. “I learned a lot of new skills I never knew. There are a lot of leadership opportunities, and people come from all walks of life.”
Tap itself broadens the dance department to more people, as students can start tapping without any expertise in other styles.
“Tap is a really unique style,” Hidenfelter says. “You don’t need to know ballet, jazz, modern, or have any [dance] experience to put on a pair of tap shoes.”
The honors tap class is more than qualified to present their own choreography, as the class is based on fostering student ideas and leadership.
“I’ve not only grown through choreography but also through student leadership,” Howell says. “Considering how others are going to process the information I give them, whether that is choreo or instruction, has added a new depth to the way I organize dance in my head.”
A showcase of all student choreography, specifically all tap, is a unique occasion Enloe students do not want to miss.
“There’s something for everyone,” Hidenfelter says. “I think people are really putting their own spin on it. I prefer rhythm tap, but I’ve seen people using K-pop dance techniques. And one of the group pieces is jazzy—it’s super fun.”
Howell will be performing a duet with junior MC Stevens and describes the process.
“We are reworking a solo piece [MC Stevens] performed at the Emerging Artist Showcase at Southeast Raleigh [High School]. Getting to dance with one of my peers makes it impossible not to enjoy the process,” Howell says.
Stevens’s original solo was also performed at the North Carolina Dance Performance Adjudications and received a Superior scoring.
The Tap Showcase also serves as a fundraiser for a tap guest artist piece in the Spring honor’s concert.
“A [large part] of our winter concert [tap] piece was actually student choreographed, which was a really fun opportunity,” Hidenfelter says. “But in bringing in a different perspective, we can all learn new skills, new combinations of steps, and new styles. We’ve never had a guest-artist-choreographed piece in the tap department before, so this would be a really great opportunity for everyone.”
It is clear that this generation of Enloe tappers is paving the way for major growth in the department. Make sure to attend the Tap Showcase on Feb. 15 to see these tappers talent in person. You can also keep up with the dance department on Instagram @enloedance.
