About

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Vicki’s Tap Pups make great noise together. Whether it’s the sound from their signature black-and-white tap shoes, the laughter of new friendships or the awareness they raise for single mothers in the community, America’s largest adult tap group certainly knows how to have fun.

WHO WE ARE

America’s Largest
Adult Tap Studio

Vicki G. Riordan started a small adult tap dancing class in 1997 with just 17 women and men in an elementary school cafeteria. Since then, Vicki’s Tap Pups has not only grown in size, but also in the strength of the community it has created. Most Tap Pups originally thought they were just signing up for a tap class, but soon realized that this dance program is so much more than tap. There’s a strong power when like-minded people come together, that’s why Vicki’s Tap Pups is not only about finding rhythm on the dance floor, but also finding a new sense of rhythm in life.

Memoir: ENCORE PERFORMANCE, Simon & Schuster

“Riordan writes with a song in her heart, and she taps into all the emotions, joys and challenges that inform women’s lives. Her dance program changes lives; her book will, too.”

– Jeffrey Zaslow, New York Times bestselling author of The Girls from Ames and co-author of The Last Lecture

Read the Full Story

Shuffle Ball Change to Time Steps

There’s a level that’s right for you

LEVELS

New Beginner

Welcome to tap class. This level is designed for dancers that have never made a tap sound before and for those who took as a child but need to brush back up. Also, this level is for those of you who have been taking New Beginner classes last summer at Champions (2021).

The New Beginner level is a yearlong program that gives a dancer the fundamentals and basics so they can begin getting their “tap feet”. Over the course of the year, you will learn 2 routines as well as several combinations, technique and all the basics to continue growing as a tap dancer.

Beginner 2

Beginner 2 is for dancers that have spent at least one full year as a new beginner and/or was most recently a Beginner 1 for at least one year.

This level is designed for dancers that have mastered the New Beginner program and the steps in those 2 dances. Beginner 2 will focus on the first 3 time steps, some elevated combinations and of course focus on detailed form, technique and very clean tap sounds.

Intermediate

This level is for those dancers that have spent a few years as a Beginner 2 and mastered the first 3 Time Steps. Intermediate is for those ready for more complicated combinations and the next set of Time Steps.

The routines are faster and requires a higher level of dance technique than Beginner 2.

Advanced

Call Vicki to discuss your level. This is an extremely fast-paced class and you will need to be able to move your feet in order to keep up.

Check out the Class Schedule

Vicki’s Philosophy

Tap Dancing Isn’t Just for Kids Any More.

Vicki’s philosophy mixes a unique blend of serious technique with everyday life experience to help adults not just learn, but to relate to her classes. She has a highly effective ability to infuse just the right level of fun to the program that keeps her students coming back year after year. Vicki’s classic-style-choreography helps to create a sense of reinvention that lets her students feel extremely relevant in today’s youth-oriented-pop-culture society.

When children take dance classes, most times they are dragged in by the hand of their parent. When Vicki’s adult students come in for their first class, they carry their new dance shoes in with pride.

ANNUAL SPRING SHOW

Sizzle Reel (2017)

Annual Spring Show:
Tap into your inner-fabulous.

Ever since Vicki started her Tap Pups program in 1997, she made sure her dancers had the opportunity to show their friends and family just what they’ve been up to every week. What began as simply allowing a small, “safe” group into the last class of the year before the summer break, turned into a full-blown annual event that attracts almost 1700 people from around the state of PA. The core essence of the annual spring show remains the same today as it did when they were held in the elementary school cafeteria where Vicki used to teach classes – it’s all about letting that inner-fabulous out!

Themes and Performances:
All to help the Tap Pups shine.

Every spring show features all levels of dancers and has a unique theme that helps the audience to understand just how the Tap Pups feel. Past themes have been, “It’s Time to Make Noise”, “Finding Our Rhythm” and “Encore Performance: The Show” – the theme of last year’s show. It is not required for every Tap Pup to participate in the show, but usually over 200 of the dancers participate. Even though the average age of the participants are the age of grandmothers, there are a lot of younger, (equally as fabulous) tappers in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s who perform. The mix of ages and levels truly makes the show unique and exciting.