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Got To Dance - Tap Attack
After the success of the first season the second season of Got to Dance has been on our screens since January 2011, bringing into our living rooms some of the very best dance talent as the programme searches for Britain and Ireland's top dance act every Sunday evening on Sky1.
Amongst the street, hip hop, break dancing, contemporary, jazz, ballet and even martial arts acts who auditioned hoping to win this year's prize of £250,000, the largest cash prize in British television histry, was one group of 24 young dancers from all over the UK who were representing tap - Tap Attack.
The group who had only been together for four months when they first auditioned for the judges in London in early October were heavily into preparations for last year’s IDO World Tap Championships and looked upon the audition as a great opportunity to perform together as until the audition this was something they had yet to do.
Despite this fact and the obvious enormity of the task ahead Tap Attacks choreographers Jo Scanlan and James Doubtfire were delighted firstly with the dancers attitude on the day with James commenting “For dancers as young and as inexperienced as some of these were, to get up and dance in front of the judges and the TV cameras and not be phased at all was a tremendous achievement in itself”.
“Their attitude was completely professional despite any nerves that they may have had or that would have been generated by the electric atmosphere inside the Got To Dance Dome”.
The audition day was also the first day that presenter Davina McCall had been on set and there was a definite buzz created by her presence.
After their performance the three judges all awarded Tap Attack a gold star which automatically placed them on the shortlist for the semi finals, but more importantly it was the feedback which was of significance to the group “We’d hoped with Adam being a tap dancer that there would be positive comments towards us, which there was, but it was the comments from Kimberly Wyatt and in particular from Ashley Banjo which I think the dancers and myself and Jo really took a huge amount from, not least because of their recognition as to how what we do can be every bit as relevant to modern dance as what it is they do” James added.
It was now a case of waiting to find out if in fact the judges still believed this after seeing all of the nearly 5000 acts which auditioned. Six weeks later the TV cameras turned up to a rehearsal, but with only two weeks before the World Championships there were obvious concerns as Jo Scanlan explaining “Both James and I had a feeling that potentially a judge may turn up, our only worry was that if it was bad news then morale would be significantly damaged just two weeks before we left for the World Championships”.
Thankfully however the news was in fact good news, with the studio door swinging open midway through a dance for Adam Garcia himself to walk through it. After explaining to the group about the obvious high quality of all the acts on this year’s shortlist he delivered the news that Tap Attack had been selected as a semi finalist telling the dancers “You’re doing this for the tap dancers”.
“We were obviously over the moon to be selected, it caused its own problems given the limited time we have together as a group and that because of other commitments we wouldn’t be able to start rehearsals until the new year, but we were honoured when we found out that we would be the only act representing Tap in this year’s show” Jo added.
Tap Attack returned from the World Championships and had seven weeks until their semi final and everyone sat back in amazement as the show started to air but they still didn’t have any music approved for use on TV or any choreography in place. The groups diverse geographical spread means that rehearsals are always few and far between, but the additional filming commitments dramatically ate into sessions.
There was also the issue of dealing with something that was completely new to the dancers and keeping them grounded but confident at the same time “Posters were going up everywhere for the show, on bus stops, in shopping centres and there seemed to be a plethora of magazine articles about the show wherever you looked and as the programme started to air you could see the dancers starting to realise that this was something quite big but also very real” James added “Especially when 20-30 seconds of our audition was shown “.
The group went off to a television studio mid January to film their profile footage and meet some of the other contestants on the show, but still the final music arrangement had not been cleared and the choreography not started.
On the day of the first semi final (Tap Attack would appear on the third semi final two weeks later) the group got together with the final cut of the music to learn the entire choreography from beginning to end “What they achieved in one six hour rehearsal was nothing short of amazing, James and I both work professionally as dancers and choreographers but these young dancers were every bit as professional on that day as anyone we’ve ever worked with” said Jo.
Another six hour rehearsal the following week to stage and clean the number as well as yet more filming for the programme and that was it – the advert for the following weeks show, featuring Tap Attack’s profile footage was aired the very same evening, and there was no denying now that the reality TV show was really a reality.
The build up to the show was a mixture of excitement, nerve wracking and hard work, starting by going to Pinewood studios on the Wednesday to fit costumes. Then the dancers started to arrive on the Friday night from their various locations all over the UK, and it was straight into more costume fittings and rehearsals.
The following morning it was an early start with more rehearsals, studio rehearsals, more filming - hard work but lots of fun and excitement also especially with the other acts from the same semi final.
The Sunday morning was an early start, with 24 members in the group it meant that some were in hair and makeup a whole 10 hours before the show aired so that they could be ready for the final dress rehearsal. There was more filming, more rehearsals and as the time ticked away the show was about to go live.
There were the inevitable nerves as for most it was their first time dancing on live TV but as they took to the side of the stage and one of the shows front runners received two red stars from the judges and these were significantly heightened.
But one of the benefits of doing a live show is that you don’t get the opportunity to dwell on these things for too long and before the group knew it they were ushered into position ready to perform.
The 90 seconds went by so quickly but the audiences’ reaction during and after the performance was intense culminating in a huge applause at the end. The judges each gave a gold star to the group as well as fantastic comments with Ashley singling out the choreography saying “Your choreography rhythmically compliments the music, so so well”.
In the end however the group lost out in a very tight public vote to Two’s Company and Lauren who went onto the finals on 27th February at Olympia.
The group had come so far in such a short space of time, having never performed together until five months before the show, here they were honoured to be representing tap in a country wide search for the best dance act and getting so many positive comments from the judges and subsequently the dance community and general public.
Perhaps this is one way of demonstrating how there is more than one way to win in a reality TV competition.
Amongst the street, hip hop, break dancing, contemporary, jazz, ballet and even martial arts acts who auditioned hoping to win this year's prize of £250,000, the largest cash prize in British television histry, was one group of 24 young dancers from all over the UK who were representing tap - Tap Attack.
The group who had only been together for four months when they first auditioned for the judges in London in early October were heavily into preparations for last year’s IDO World Tap Championships and looked upon the audition as a great opportunity to perform together as until the audition this was something they had yet to do.
Despite this fact and the obvious enormity of the task ahead Tap Attacks choreographers Jo Scanlan and James Doubtfire were delighted firstly with the dancers attitude on the day with James commenting “For dancers as young and as inexperienced as some of these were, to get up and dance in front of the judges and the TV cameras and not be phased at all was a tremendous achievement in itself”.
“Their attitude was completely professional despite any nerves that they may have had or that would have been generated by the electric atmosphere inside the Got To Dance Dome”.
The audition day was also the first day that presenter Davina McCall had been on set and there was a definite buzz created by her presence.
After their performance the three judges all awarded Tap Attack a gold star which automatically placed them on the shortlist for the semi finals, but more importantly it was the feedback which was of significance to the group “We’d hoped with Adam being a tap dancer that there would be positive comments towards us, which there was, but it was the comments from Kimberly Wyatt and in particular from Ashley Banjo which I think the dancers and myself and Jo really took a huge amount from, not least because of their recognition as to how what we do can be every bit as relevant to modern dance as what it is they do” James added.
It was now a case of waiting to find out if in fact the judges still believed this after seeing all of the nearly 5000 acts which auditioned. Six weeks later the TV cameras turned up to a rehearsal, but with only two weeks before the World Championships there were obvious concerns as Jo Scanlan explaining “Both James and I had a feeling that potentially a judge may turn up, our only worry was that if it was bad news then morale would be significantly damaged just two weeks before we left for the World Championships”.
Thankfully however the news was in fact good news, with the studio door swinging open midway through a dance for Adam Garcia himself to walk through it. After explaining to the group about the obvious high quality of all the acts on this year’s shortlist he delivered the news that Tap Attack had been selected as a semi finalist telling the dancers “You’re doing this for the tap dancers”.
“We were obviously over the moon to be selected, it caused its own problems given the limited time we have together as a group and that because of other commitments we wouldn’t be able to start rehearsals until the new year, but we were honoured when we found out that we would be the only act representing Tap in this year’s show” Jo added.
Tap Attack returned from the World Championships and had seven weeks until their semi final and everyone sat back in amazement as the show started to air but they still didn’t have any music approved for use on TV or any choreography in place. The groups diverse geographical spread means that rehearsals are always few and far between, but the additional filming commitments dramatically ate into sessions.
There was also the issue of dealing with something that was completely new to the dancers and keeping them grounded but confident at the same time “Posters were going up everywhere for the show, on bus stops, in shopping centres and there seemed to be a plethora of magazine articles about the show wherever you looked and as the programme started to air you could see the dancers starting to realise that this was something quite big but also very real” James added “Especially when 20-30 seconds of our audition was shown “.
The group went off to a television studio mid January to film their profile footage and meet some of the other contestants on the show, but still the final music arrangement had not been cleared and the choreography not started.
On the day of the first semi final (Tap Attack would appear on the third semi final two weeks later) the group got together with the final cut of the music to learn the entire choreography from beginning to end “What they achieved in one six hour rehearsal was nothing short of amazing, James and I both work professionally as dancers and choreographers but these young dancers were every bit as professional on that day as anyone we’ve ever worked with” said Jo.
Another six hour rehearsal the following week to stage and clean the number as well as yet more filming for the programme and that was it – the advert for the following weeks show, featuring Tap Attack’s profile footage was aired the very same evening, and there was no denying now that the reality TV show was really a reality.
The build up to the show was a mixture of excitement, nerve wracking and hard work, starting by going to Pinewood studios on the Wednesday to fit costumes. Then the dancers started to arrive on the Friday night from their various locations all over the UK, and it was straight into more costume fittings and rehearsals.
The following morning it was an early start with more rehearsals, studio rehearsals, more filming - hard work but lots of fun and excitement also especially with the other acts from the same semi final.
The Sunday morning was an early start, with 24 members in the group it meant that some were in hair and makeup a whole 10 hours before the show aired so that they could be ready for the final dress rehearsal. There was more filming, more rehearsals and as the time ticked away the show was about to go live.
There were the inevitable nerves as for most it was their first time dancing on live TV but as they took to the side of the stage and one of the shows front runners received two red stars from the judges and these were significantly heightened.
But one of the benefits of doing a live show is that you don’t get the opportunity to dwell on these things for too long and before the group knew it they were ushered into position ready to perform.
The 90 seconds went by so quickly but the audiences’ reaction during and after the performance was intense culminating in a huge applause at the end. The judges each gave a gold star to the group as well as fantastic comments with Ashley singling out the choreography saying “Your choreography rhythmically compliments the music, so so well”.
In the end however the group lost out in a very tight public vote to Two’s Company and Lauren who went onto the finals on 27th February at Olympia.
The group had come so far in such a short space of time, having never performed together until five months before the show, here they were honoured to be representing tap in a country wide search for the best dance act and getting so many positive comments from the judges and subsequently the dance community and general public.
Perhaps this is one way of demonstrating how there is more than one way to win in a reality TV competition.
This article originally appeared in the March 2011 edition of DancePlus Magazine
