Gasps From A Dying Art Form

Episode Notes: GFADAF EP18 - Logical Fallacies in Tap Dance Some errors in reasoning are so common that they have their own names. These logical fallacies, when practiced, give one a built in B.S. (Chorus) - O - Meter that enables one to spot poor arguments. Insults, popularity, outrageous misunderstandings, strawmen, red herrings and more are covered in this episode of GASPS, comp

Episode Notes GFADAF EP 17 - Learning To Die Daily; Tap Dance and Bipolar Disorder Sometimes people say the most reprehensible things, but is what they say really what they mean? When it comes to conversations in text, it can be very difficult to ascertain a person's true intention. There could be a lot going on in their life, including mental illness like bipolar disorder. On tap

Episode Notes GFADAF EP16 - The Origin(s) of Whiteness / Books From A Dying Art Form: David Roediger and the “Wages of Whiteness” Sure, we're all aware of the various harmful stereotypes placed upon non-white people, but what about white stereotypes? Where do they come from and how have they been instrumental in forming "white culture"? "Wages of Whiteness"

Episode Notes GFADAF EP 15 - Belated 4th of July Spectacular! According to many, the United States' greatest strength is that we are a proud nation of immigrants. So why do so many people demonize immigrants? Every patriot is no doubt familiar with the famous lines "Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" but don't seem to understand i

--Episode Notes GFADAF EP 14 - Books From A Dying Art Form: "Five Points" by Tyler Anbinder Imagine living in a room no larger than a walk-in closet, sleeping shoulder to shoulder with strangers, it's pitch black, no windows, no ventilation, you might miss a stair step in the inky darkness and tumble to your doom... This would give you an idea what it's like to be a resid

GFADAF EP 13 Paulo Freire and the Pedagogy of the Oppressed Tap Dancer Who wants an episode on the philosophy of education? Too bad, you're getting one anyways! On this episode, host Tristan Bruns dives into the philosophy of Paulo Freire, the famed Brazilian educator who taught hundreds of illiterate people in Brazil to read in only 45 days (!) and who influenced such scholars as

If you've read the book "Jazz Dance" then you may have been surprised at one part in particular, the epilogue, which begins with an argument against the emasculation of male dancers. (I know!) Most damning of all is a quote attributed to Gene Kelly, where he claims that the dance industry is "dominated by homosexuals." What did Kelly mean by that? Did he even sa

Episode Notes Antisemitism is trending in 2022. I regret that it has reached tap dancers. This episode is about trying to convince this person that what they are doing is in poor taste, and extremely dangerous, and also to provide some tools for listeners to identify antisemitic and other types of propaganda when they encounter it. A well-known tap dancer mentioned to me a book abo

Tap dance history and philosophy from across the pond! Host Tristan Bruns reviews the book "Teach Yourself Tap Dancing" (2007) by Derek Hartley and compares it to other books in the "Hidden Histories of Tap Dance Histories" series—A meta analysis of syllabus-style, at home, DIY instruction books from 1932-2018 that compares and contrasts the various accounts of the history of tap

Episode Notes Following the U.S. Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and '60s, the language about how we talk about race (and tap dance) changed. In the new era of color-blind speech, one must navigate a slippery slope of semantics to uncover the racial subtext underneath. Host Tristan Bruns takes a look at the book "Tapworks" by Beverly Fletcher—the official tap dance reference m