I firmly and enthusiastically believe that the internet is a wonderful time-waster, to wit, the hours I spent today happily watching oodles of fascinating clips on YouTube.  Mega-corporation party-pooper grumbling notwithstanding, YouTube is a wonderful way for enthusiasts to share video that is simply unavailable anywhere else.  Period.  For lovers of musicals, and dance and all things show biz, it’s a miracle.

The only problem with YouTubing is that you can get so lost clicking from one interesting vid to another that you forget what you went in search of in the first place – and isn’t that just what makes it so fantastic?  I can’t even remember what I was looking for today, but came upon a great clip from a 1985 TV special Night of 100 Stars, an elaborate dance number called “Pair of Shoes” which features a slew of celebrity dancers strutting their stuff in a nice long sequence.  Some of the movie star-type names appearing are Donald O’ Connor, Ginger Rogers, Van Johnson, Jane Powell, and Gwen Verdon, as well as loads of other names that you will recognize.  One of the most electrifying moments comes when actor Christopher Walken dances out and tears up the stage with his particular brand of loose-limbed, exuberant hoofing. 

Maybe he’s no better than other dancers (he is, though), but boy, does he have style.  And it’s perhaps all the more thrilling for its unexpectedness.  Those of us who loved his performance in 1981’s Pennies from Heaven as a high-kicking lothario already knew he was a talented dancer, but it’s still always a total treat to watch this serious and gifted actor make with the syncopation.  A few years ago he was mesmerizing starring in and dancing through Fatboy Slim’s award-winning Spike Jonze-directed music video “Weapon of Choice.”  Walken, who’s currently starring in the screen version of the musical Hairspray, is also a multi-appearance host of Saturday Night Live, and spoofed his dancing reputation in this appearance.

Tap dancing is nothing new in the movies, though you don’t see much of it these days.  Probably a lot of us have our favorite film tap routines; one of mine is certainly Fred Astaire’s “Puttin’ on the Ritz” from Blue Skies, a swell, fiercely-executed number that still impresses.  And I do love Gene Kelly tapping in skates in It’s Always Fair Weather, Gene, Dan Dailey and Michael Kidd tapping with trash can lids from the same movie, and so many more.  Tap does seem to be undergoing a bit of a popular renaissance, and you can find several “how to” videos available which might help turn you into your very own favorite tap dancer.  I have a pair of tap shoes in my closest from a mostly unsuccessful attempt to learn back in the 1980s, but it’s a testament to my continuing wish to someday take it up again that they remain safe and secure, waiting to be called into duty again.  After watching great tapping in movies, on the internet, or perhaps even live, you might be bit by the tap bug, too.  I hope so!