My name is Jim Hunnicutt and in 1989 I saw the movie ‘TAP’ with Sammy Davis Jr, Gregory Hines, Diane Walker, Savion Glover and a slew of other tap legends. The tap sounds echoing in the first scene captured my attention and from then on I was hooked on tap. At the time, I was an 8-year-old boy, so when I asked to take dance lessons, my parents were probably a little taken back. Needless to say, I was signed up for classes that week and I started making sounds just like the guys and ladies in the movie (only a little slower). I moved up in classes, joined a dance company and like most dancers, started to compete. I had a great time dancing and performed every chance I had. After about 4 years the floors in the house were starting to take a toll, so my first dance floor was built in a garage we had in the back yard. It was a great little home studio complete with a sound system and random mirrors we would put up along the wall.
Fast forward 23 years and there was still that one little problem with tap shoes… everyone lost screws. I decided to start working on screw designs, experimenting with different sizes and testing, testing, testing, and Tight Taps was born!
Over the years I’ve answered hundreds of emails and phone calls about tap shoes; I hope to have them keep coming, so let’s talk shoes and screws! What are your favorite tap shoes? Why? Best sounding tap plates? What questions do you have?
