Built for show
“Tap Dogs” combines two activities that people like to stand around and watch: tap dancing and construction work.
The show, which arrives for one performance at the Opera House on Tuesday, is the worldwide “extreme tap dancing” phenomenon that came out of Australia in 1995.
It’s 100 percent tap dancing, but it also has what you might call a narrative structure – and we do mean structure.
“The whole idea is that we’re building the set as we go,” said Ryan Gravelle, a cast member since 1998.
“When the show starts off, the stage is completely bare,” he said. “We’re just tapping on this wood stage. But as the show progresses we actually construct this massive set in the middle of the stage.
“We end up tapping on all of these different surfaces, all kinds of metal and ramps that range from 30 degrees to 70 degrees. We even tap up and down ladders. So the construction of the show is the construction of the set.”
The cast consists of six men, each taking on a construction site role. There’s a foreman and a crew goof-off, for instance.
Gravelle has played all six roles during his eight years with the show. These days he’s 2IC, which stands for “second-in-command.”
So the six cast members must not only be world-class tap dancers, but also skilled in the building trades. Construct the set poorly and disaster can ensue.
“One time in Mexico City, we’re building this scaffolding and one pole got put slightly in the wrong place,” said Gravelle, by phone from an Ohio tour stop. “But everything else was fitting in until we got about four or five minutes into the routine.
“All of the sudden, there was this one piece that wasn’t fitting in. Let me tell you, that was the most realistic ‘scaff-build’ ever. There were people running everywhere and screaming, trying to figure out what was wrong. But we eventually got it sorted out and finished the routine exactly on time. We didn’t have any choice.”
Any kind of dance show is hard on the body, but a “Tap Dogs” gig adds another element of danger.
“We’ve had, unfortunately, some career-ending injuries, because there is so much metal on the set,” said Gravelle. “And a lot of times, we’re probably 15 or 20 feet off the ground.”
“Tap Dogs” is the brainchild of Dein Perry, who learned to tap-dance in Newcastle, Australia, an industrial town north of Sydney. For six years, Perry worked as an industrial machinist. Then he moved to Sydney, got some parts in musicals and landed a small government grant to choreograph a tap show.
That show eventually became “Tap Dogs,” which debuted at the Sydney Theatre Festival in 1995. It then created a sensation at the Edinburgh Festival and moved to London for a smash West End run.
It has been touring the world ever since.
The show contains no dialogue (except for the screaming, if something goes wrong) and is accompanied by a one-man band installed in a tower above the stage.
This sole musician plays drums, congas, keyboards, an electronic marimba and all kinds of other instruments. The original score is by Andrew Wilkie.
Still, plenty of the “music” comes from the soles of the tap-dancers.
“There’s no music at all for the first 20 minutes, which is a testament to the style of tap that Dein has tried to create,” said Gravelle.
“The old school of tap, the Fred Astaire kind, was almost always accompanying music and the tap levels tended to be the same. But with this style, we try to put so many more accents in. That makes it musical in itself.”
Between the dancing and the construction work, doesn’t this job get exhausting?
“Yeah, of course,” said Gravelle. “Plus, this is a real rock ‘n’ roll style tour, pretty much one-nighters. We roll into town at 3:30 or 4 p.m., check into a hotel, do a sound check, do the show and then hopefully find a cool bar and have a few beers.”
You can’t say these dogs haven’t earned it.
.