
In this video, you will learn a basic warm up that can be utilized in any tap class. Tap expert, Kaleena Miller, will walk you through a warm up that includes shuffles and crawls. This video will focus on a basic toe heel warm up for tap dancers. We will focus on a basic crawl and shuffle. This combination should be done in the beginning of your tap dance class in order to warm up your leg muscles and loosen your ankles. It’s important to feel warm before beginning class in order to prevent injury. This warm up will start with the ball of your right foot, to the heel of your right foot, ball of your right foot and back to your heel. Then, you will shift your weight and switch to your left ball, left heel, left ball and left heel. This move is called a crawl. You will repeat this for a total of two times. Next you will complete a crawl, but you will double up on the sounds. This will also be repeated for a total of two times. Next, you will add a shuffle to the beginning of the warm up. You will begin by shuffling once, then double ball, double heel and double ball. As the warm up goes on, you will keep adding shuffles and completing the crawls as the eight count allows. For example, when you get to six shuffles, you will only have time to do one ball and one heel for the crawl. This exercise is designed to work your way up from a basic crawl and one shuffle to seven shuffles and then work back down from seven shuffles to one shuffle back to a basic crawl. This exercise is inspired by Steve Condos and his tap dance workout.