Artist: Keith Terry
Album: SLAMMIN all-body band
“My main goal as a tap teacher is to have students understand that they are an instrument themselves,” says Acia Gray, co-founder of Tapestry Dance Company in Austin, Texas who teaches students from beginner- to professional-level at the Tapestry Dance Company Academy. And to get this message across to students, she uses music by the SLAMMIN all-body band, a group that literally uses themselves as the instruments, drumming on their own bodies as they sing a cappella beats.
“This has to be one of my all-time favorite albums. This brilliant group of vocal and body percussionists puts a tap dancer’s soul in a beautiful place,” Gray says. “I’ve used this for choreography, percussive study and classes. It just makes you want to dance, and it’s a live album, so you actually hear them play off of each other. This is true rhythmic art.”
For more on Acia Gray and her tunes for tap class, check out “Gray’s Got Rhythm”