Mariecar MendozaWith the hard rhythms of a thunderstorm rolling across the outback plains of Australia, the Tap Dogs’ boots beat the stage with a rhythm that neither slags nor slops.
The Tap Dogs, six Australian men that tap-dance, look like blue-collar construction workers, in flannel shirts and denim jeans. Their loud percussion will rattle the rafters today at 8p.m. in the Christopher Cohan Center.
The troops originator, Dein Perry, loves to dance. After learning to tap- dance, he practiced long hours in the yard behind his teacher’s garage to be a good tap dancer. The time came for the teenager to go seek his fortune and Perry left his hometown of Newcastle, England. With a steel workers union card and a dream, he headed south to Sydney.
Neither singing nor dancing paid for his supper, so he took a job as a construction worker. At work, Perry is enlightened. He formed a dance troupe for real men. Construction workers like to dance too. First calling themselves the Tap Brothers, the troupe keeps a solid footing of male presence. It’s a camaraderie thing, an all-guy thing, he said.
The choreography is kept as masculine as it can be, the dancers have loosely interpreted male behaviors with a seeming resistance to becoming too virile.
Tickets are available at the Performing Arts Center ticket office or call 756-2110.