American theatrical dance, distinguished by percussive footwork that marks out precise rhythmic patterns on the floor. The sources of tap dancing include the Irish solo step dance, the English clog dance, and African dance movements. The slaves in southern United States merged, in the early 19th century, these folk styles, resulting in the beginning of tap as we know it today. The slave dances were copied theatrically in 1828 by white performers in blackface minstrel shows. 

Eventually metal plates, or taps, were added to the leather soled shoes. In the 1920s and 1930s black dancers contributed to the development of new styles of tap dance, and black dance teams became popular for their acrobatic, often satirical acts.

Jazz provided further rhythmic complexity, and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson became America’s most famous tap dancer. The style was further expanded in the 1930s and 1940s, when dancers such as Fred Astaire, Paul Draper,  Ray Bolger. In the late 1970s and early 1980s interest in tap dance underwent a resurgence with great tap dancers like Sammy Davis, Jr. Gregory Hines-and Savion Glover