Students Delved Into the Thrills of Tap in a Masterclass with Singer, Dancer, Actor and Choreographer Jared Grimes
This past semester, several dozen BYU students and faculty members had the chance to learn from professional dancer, actor, singer and choreographer Jared Grimes, who visited BYU for a BRAVO! Professional Performing Arts Series performance and masterclass.
Grime’s career has included a choreographic debut with Cirque du Soleil’s “Banana Schpeel” and his Broadway credits include “A Soldier’s Play” and a Tony-nominated performance as tap-dancing Eddie Ryan in the 2022 revival of “Funny Girl” (a show which also starred Ramin Karimloo, who will perform at BYU in January 2025 as part of the BRAVO! Series).
To set the tone for the masterclass, Grimes acknowledged their shared identity as students. “I don’t want this to feel like a class; I want this to feel like a meeting of the minds — the whole teacher-choreographer thing scares me sometimes. I will feel like a student forever, so I want to learn from you today and hopefully you’ll learn some things from me.”
Grimes taught students and faculty about the importance of using one’s body rather than just the ankle or tap shoe as they dance. Relaxation, he said, is vital in opening up the sound and sending it to the back of the room. “Tap dancers like The Nicholas Brothers or most tap dancers from the ‘golden era of cinema’ are using their entire bodies; it makes producing sound easier,” he said. “In this art form you might think you need to tense that foot to try to force that sound out, but in actuality, your foot is relaxed. As you flow through that flexibility, that’s where the muscles come into play.”
During his performance the day preceding the masterclass, dance professor Wendi Isaacson had the opportunity to perform with Grimes onstage when he asked for volunteers from the audience. Having seen and been blown away at his talented performance in “Funny Girl,” Isaacson jumped at the opportunity to share the stage with him. “There was no way I was going to miss out on the opportunity to tap dance with Jared Grimes,” she said. “To my surprise, he started dancing a piece of historical tap called ‘the Shim Sham Shimmy,’ a piece I know very well. We danced easily together and it was such a treat to be onstage with an artist that I respect and admire so much.”
“One thing that has stuck with me ever since attending his performance and masterclass was his advice to break the so-called ‘tap rules,’” Isaacson said. “He urged us all to step outside those preconceived confines and experiment with all of the possibilities that we had not previously considered. He thinks outside the box and tries out steps that people think are impossible. I want to challenge myself, as well as my students, to think that way as well.”
Grimes urged the students to abandon any fear of mistakes. “You can mess up and still be grand to somebody who’s tuned into what you have to say or wants to experience what you have to offer,” he said. “I’ll try to mess up because I know that I can’t — you can do no wrong when you’re locked into what you have to say.”
Student Sydney Petersen resonated with Grimes’ remarks about embracing mistakes. “Messing up can be embarrassing, but when you mess up you give yourself room to create something new,” she said.
Grimes has come to embrace the rollercoaster that is artistic creation, “the scare,” as he called it. “It’s scary but then you settle in and create,” he said. “I am always excited about the scary part because I know I will settle in and want to create.”
“What really stuck out to me was when he talked about recognizing fear and taking advantage of it,” said dance major Vallie Bulow. “The way he described letting go and acknowledging how to get through that fear was really amazing and inspiring to me.”
Grimes repeatedly stated that tap as an art form is more than simply donning a pair of tap shoes and following certain steps. “The shoes do not dictate your ability or your potential as an artist, as a creator, as a musician or even as a tap dancer,” he said. “The steps are easy. You can learn the steps, you can practice steps forever. But this kind of stuff is confidence, it’s faith, it’s surrendering, it’s music, it’s rhythm, it’s physical fitness, it’s everything you are as a person before you put on a pair of tap shoes.”
