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Compiled by musician/folklorist Mike Seeger and dancer Ruth Pershing, Talking Feet introduces us to dancers from the Appalachian, Piedmont, and Blue Ridge Mountain regions of the South. In its various forms—flatfooting, buckdancing, hoedown, rural tap or clogging—Southern dancing involves a great deal of personal style and innovation as dancers create the rhythm of old-time country music—talking blues, bluegrass, hand-patting and western swing. Traditionally, people have danced at corn shuckings, apron hemmings, weddings, and house parties. Nowadays, clog dancers compete at festivals and competitions. Talking Feet is a precious record of the experience of old-timers and an inspiration to younger enthusiasts who want to absorb the tradition and make it their own. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fun but essential to understand old time music and black dance
In the film associated with this book you can see a grizzled old white Mountaineer do an African animal dance, one that friends of mine have filmed folks doing in Mali today.This book is the best thing available on the old time dance traditions that once thrived in the mountains and valleys of the South, a the mix of African and European dances.This book provides not only an outsider's explanation of the dances, but tries to take as many of its words from the dancers themselves, not just about their dancing, but about their lives, and the music they dance to. Diagrams of the dancing steps are even provided at the end of the book.

Those of us interested in old time music, blues, and other traditional musics forget that so much of it was born as music for folks like these to dance to. As a musician, I have learned so much from studying the dancing that the tunes I play on the banjo, fiddle, and guitar was made for. As a musicologist studying the history of black banjo music, I do not think I could have gotten as far as I have without the aid of this and other studies of Black and European-American dance.

I heartily recommend the accompanying DVD of the same title which is even more fun than this book

... Read more

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The very letters of the two words seem, as they are written, to redden with the blood-stains of unavenged crime. There is Murder in every syllable, and Want, Misery and Pestilence take startling form and crowd upon the imagination as the pen traces the words." So wrote a reporter about Five Points, the most infamous neighborhood in nineteenth-century America, the place where "slumming" was invented.

All but forgotten today, Five Points was once renowned the world over. Its handful of streets in lower Manhattan featured America's most wretched poverty, shared by Irish, Jewish, German, Italian, Chinese, and African Americans. It was the scene of more riots, scams, saloons, brothels, and drunkenness than any other neighborhood in the new world.Yet it was also a font of creative energy, crammed full of cheap theaters and dance halls, prizefighters and machine politicians, and meeting halls for the political clubs that would come to dominate not just the city but an entire era in American politics. From Jacob Riis to Abraham Lincoln, Davy Crockett to Charles Dickens, Five Points both horrified and inspired everyone who saw it. The story that Anbinder tells is the classic tale of America's immigrant past, as successive waves of new arrivals fought for survival in a land that was as exciting as it was dangerous, as riotous as it was culturally rich.

Tyler Anbinder offers the first-ever history of this now forgotten neighborhood, drawing on a wealth of research among letters and diaries, newspapers and bank records, police reports and archaeological digs. Beginning with the Irish potato-famine influx in the 1840s, and ending with the rise of Chinatown in the early twentieth century, he weaves unforgettable individual stories into a tapestry of tenements, work crews, leisure pursuits both licit and otherwise, and riots and political brawls that never seemed to let up.

Although the intimate stories that fill Anbinder's narrative are heart-wrenching, they are perhaps not so shocking as they first appear. Almost all of us trace our roots to once humble stock. Five Points is, in short, a microcosm of America.Amazon.com Review
Though long ago bulldozed away and remade, the rough-and-tumble lowerManhattan district called Five Points was once considered to be sorepresentative of New York that foreign journalists traveled there togather horrifying stories for their readers. Wrote a Swedish reporter,"lower than to the Five Points it is not possible for human nature tosink."

In his wide-ranging reconstruction of Five Points's few square blocks,historian Tyler Anbinder shows that that journalist was not far off themark. "Dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of its residents lived in windowless,teeming apartments that were unfit for habitation," he writes. Alcoholism,violence, and prostitution were commonplace. Poverty was epidemic, andliving conditions were so intolerable that the reforming sociologist JacobRiis used the area as a case study for the wretched excesses of urban life.A corrupt city government kept the police at bay, making the neighborhoodsafe for a succession of crime lords but woefully dangerous forresidents--most of whom, in time, would be newcomers from Ireland, Italy,Russia, and other faraway lands, as well as African Americans newly arrivedfrom the South. "Locked into the lowest-paying occupations," as Anbinderwrites, they labored, saved, and eventually moved on, making room for thenext wave of immigrants.

Five Points is gone, though a few of its streets remain, marking the edgeof Chinatown. Anbinder's careful study brings it back to life. --GregoryMcNamee ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

Fine Points and Five Stars
Scholars at times drive me nuts. They'll argue over minutia all the while forgetting that we simple folk readers want something more than dates, names and chronology. We want the era- whatever era it is- to breathe again. Thanks to Tyler Anbinder's FIVE POINTS the 19th century NY city's 6th ward comes alive again in vivid, gritty and raspy detail.
While movies like The Gangs of New York offer a selected view to the area (maybe not always as accurate as it could have been), and the political cartoons of Thomas Nast, and the later photographs of Jacob Riis exposed other views, I think it will be Lincoln's visit to the area during the war that that will leave a lasting impression as well.
Good job, Anbinder. Five Stars not just for the history but for putting faces back to the names.

Five Points: The Nineteenth Century Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections and Became the World's Most Notorious
This is a great book, about a now forgotten neighborhood in New York City.
Anbinder, in a great narrative describes in great detail how the Five Points came to be, how and why it became a slum.

Anbinder without being anti-immigrant, shows how the massive immigration waves of the 19th century along with the immigrants own ignorance of such things as what happens when you have as many as 26 people living in one room, along with the greed of the landlords who owned the tenements were at the root of many of the problems that the Five Points had.

One word of warning, at times the book is emoitionally difficult to read
such as the overcrowding in the tenements mentioned above, and the heart rending story of "Tatterd Maggie" a girl of 8 about years of forced to live on the streets of the Five Points because of her parents drinking problem.

If you can get through these and other heart rending reads it is well worth it, you will truly be a better person for having read this book.

five points
I love the book. Howver, I ordered two copies. One came in excellent condition. the other book was advertised as having no dust cover and slight marks on the binding with no markings on the inside. In reality, the book has underlingings all through the entire book. Very disapointing for the price.

Compelling subject, average history...
Tyler Anbinder's Five Points has all the ingredients for a ripping good read:entrenched corruption, slum lords, riots, brawls, decrepitude and renewal, history, Manhattan, the rise of gangs, the loss of innocence, and the cycles of depravity and salvation.What, then, can possibly go wrong? For starters, an uninspired narrative, a pedestrian account relating names, dates, data - minutiae.This is where Anbinder errs.

Obviously, facts (and many of them) are expected in non-fiction, but their mode of presentation is key.Anbinder takes a subject intriguing on its face and fails to hitch a ride on the momentum.Five points is competent, it is readable, it brings a notorious slice of American history to the fore, but it singularly fails to propel the reader at a velocity such a book should.

Yet, even ordinary histories inform and, if this is what you seek, you'll find it here in spades.Five Points is comprehensive, clear-cut, and, at times, sets a pace, but its garden-variety nature proves a hurdle to its worth.Too often, I lacked that hunger to continue and picked the book off my nightstand with something approaching resignation.Falling short of its potential, Five Points by Tyler Anbinder rates no more than 3+ stars.

Irish In New York
Tyler Anbinder presents a history ostensibly focused narrowly on a lower Manhattan neighborhood.In actuality, Anbinder not only delivers the history of the Five Points area, but he also conveys a larger sense of the context and background that made this neighborhood significant.Anbinder organizes his material into very approachable chapters, each preceded by a brief illustrative anecdote or incident, which relates to the theme of the specific section. ... Read more

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Dance your way into a new hobby

Derek Hartley, a professional with 20 years of experienceperforming, teaching, and choreographing with his own company, teaches you the basics of rhythm and movement. With the help of a great practice soundtrack (on CD), he introduces you to all the basic steps and moves and then describes a number of fun routines to try. Teach Yourself Tap Dancing covers the basics of traditional "show" tap as well as the more contemporary "rhythm" tap.

Customer Reviews (1)

Not the Best
Even though I have had approx. 6 months of tap dancing class so I know many of the basic steps, I found this book and CD difficult to use. I believe the author is not very successful at describing how to tap dance using words.I think that beginners would really struggle to understand what they are supposed to be doing. ... Read more

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Oh no! From tap to ballet and from salsa to disco, dance styles are getting ruined and dancers everywhere are fumbling over their own two feet!From the moment they met their first fairy at the end of a rainbow, Rachel and Kirsty have been good friends to Fairyland, helping the fairies defend their home against mean Jack Frost, who is on a constant quest to steal their magic. Now they're helping the Dance Fairies, who make dancing fun for everyone. At least that's what they're supposed to do-but when Jack Frost's goblins steal the fairies' magic dance ribbons, dancing everywhere is sure to be ruined. Rachel and Kirsty must help the fairies find their ribbons, or dancers everywhere will be tripping all over themselves!Rainbow Magic has become an international hit with young girls, who like to imagine that they too will meet a fairy one day and help save a place like Fairyland! ... Read more

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An informative, highly illustrated guide for students and teachers of dance and anyone interest in the art of “foot percussion.” ... Read more

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Readers can learn about such interesting after-school hobbies as dance, cheerleading, and band. Each book includes a history of the activity, along with tips for getting involved and improving on skills. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not worth the price. .
This should be a give away book when you buy a pair of tap shoes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Wonderful!
I love this book!This is the touching story of a relationship between a young girl and her grandfather, and how their love of dance forms a bond between them that is enduring.

The story is perfectly pitched for children, including those learning to read.The rhythm and cadence of the dance steps wind their way into the narrative, giving the story a pace and liveliness.The story itself is warm, with a tenderness that stays authentic and accessible for kids, without crossing the line into becoming sugary.I think most children could easily relate to Emma and her love for her grandfather, and the author does a wonderful job of showing a child's perspective on their relationship.Emma shows us first how her grandfather kindles the love of dance in her, their special connection as a result, her uncertainty about how to handle the changes in his memory, her happiness in finding a way to still connect with him, and then her simple acceptance of giving the same gift of dance back to her grandfather in her own turn.Adults will also feel and appreciate all the emotional undercurrents that don't have to be spelled out in the story.The vibrant illustrations bring the perfect touches of charm and humor.

This book is perfect for any child who has a special relationship with an older family member, including those trying to understand changes such as Alzheimer's.But, no special situation is required to enjoy this book, it is an enjoyable read for any and all.My daughter and I love this book, and I highly recommend it!

Tender story of a girl and her grandfather who is suffering from memory impairment and how they "remember" together
Tip-Tap Pop is a heart-warming story of a young girl and her sweet relationship with her grandfather.From a young age he taught her to dance and to listen to the music all around her.One summer he slowly forgets everything and sits in his chair all day.Emma is sad and so are her feet.She doesn't feel like dancing anymore. With patience Emma helps grandpa's feet remember how to dance.That is enough for her that sometimes his feet remember.

Sarah Lynn's use of sound and meter make this a fun read.Although an unconventional topic for a children's book, it is a story that will touch adults and children alike whether or not they know someone suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's.It teaches valuable lessons while still being entertaining. Valeria Docampo's vivid drawings make the characters come to life and jump off the page. ... Read more

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Chapters: Tap Dance, Shoeing, Irish Stepdance, Clogging, Shoe Tossing, Tap Dogs, Sean-Nós Dance, Shim Sham, Stepping, Shoe-Banging Incident, Tap Dance Technique, Sneaker Collecting, Tap City, Step Dance, Hoofers Club, National Tap Dance Day, Zapateado, Flash Dance, Maxie Ford, Sneaker Phone. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 90. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt:Flash dancing was a form of tap dance (tap was also called jazz dance at the time) evolved in 1920s-1930s which combined dance with acrobatics . Prominent flash dance crews of the time include the Nicholas Brothers , The Four Step Brothers and the Berry Brothers . During 1920s-1930s many films and TV shows were released featuring the style. References (URLs online) A hyperlinked version of this chapter is at The Hoofers Club was an African-American entertainment establishment and dancers club hangout in Harlem , New York , in the early to mid twentieth century. The club was a legendary site of some of the best of jazz and tap performers , particularly in the 1920s and 1930s. It was located on Harlem's "Swing Street," the stretch of 133rd Street between Lenox and Seventh Avenues known for its music and dance venues. The Hoofer's Club was actually a small room in the back of a comedy club. It was 12 feet by 12 feet and was open 24/7/ . Among the tap-dancers who appeared at the club were Bill Robinson , Jack Wiggins , John Bubbles , Honi Coles , Eddie Rector, Dewey Washington, Raymond Winfield, Roland Holder , Harold Mablin, "Slappy" Wallace, Warren Berry, and Baby Laurence and other black tap dance greats. . . The Hoofers Club was depicted in Francis Ford Coppola 's film The Cotton Club from 1984. The "Tree of Hope," a piece of which is still touched by performers for good luck on the stage of the Apollo Theater , originally stood outside the Hoofers Club and th... ... Read more