National Tap Dance Day falls on May 25 every year, and is a celebration of

tap dance Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely perf ...

as an American art form. The idea of National Tap Dance Day was first presented to U.S. Congress on February 7, 1989, and was signed into US American Law by President George H. W. Bush, on November 8, 1989. House Bill Text The one-time official observance was on May 25, 1989. Senate Bill Text Tap Dance Day is also celebrated in other countries, particularly

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

and

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

. Tap Dance Day is celebrated online, with 27,518,521 mentions on social media in 2016. Some may also celebrate it individually, due to geographical dispersion, or lack of access to the wider tap community. National Tap Dance Day is celebrated in many different ways. For example, a studio may send people out onto the streets to teach the

Shim Sham Shimmy The Shim Sham Shimmy, Shim Sham or just Sham originally is a particular tap dance routine and is regarded as tap dance's national anthem. For today's swing dancers, it is a line dance. History In the late 1920s, when Leonard Reed and Willie Br ...

to passers by. The Shim Sham Shimmy is a popular move that is used in tap dancing. However, there are several cities (particularly in the United States) that have their own performances and events to coincide with Tap Dance Day.

References

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External links

Learn about National Tap Day Japan, celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2004.National Tap Dance Day mentions on social media.
Tap dance May observances 101st United States Congress