05 May Our Review of Tap Dancing! La La Land Collaboration

Our Review of Tap Dancing! La La Land Collaboration

Deni headed to Pineapple Dance Studios to slip on her tap dancing shoes and learn a routine from La La Land.

La La Land tells the tale of a very modern love story with vintage touch in a charming dance and song manner, so I was delighted when Lionsgate UK invited me to learn a routine from the movie.

A tap dancing class was to take part at Pineapple Dance Studios on Langley Street in London, to celebrate La La Land’s home entertainment release.

I fancy my boyfriend a bit of a Ryan Gosling lookalike (with a bit of Ryan Reynolds too), and we love hitting the town together and boogieing into the night. But I’ve been wanting to learn a proper dance in ages with him.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTceTAHFobM/

We almost made it to El Grande for their monthly salsa and bachata workshop followed by all-night dance party in London a few weeks ago, but were too shattered buy the time evening rolled around.

Also, as a fitness-lover I want to get my heart pumping often and stay in shape, but performing the same weights-and-cardio routine three/four times a week in the gym can get mundane, and my body gets bored.

So. Tap dancing. Wow.

Since taking the class, I have discovered a super-fun new way to keep fit

I cannot believe the sweat Toby and I worked up, and the satisfaction we felt after mastering a few simple steps.

When you learn a routine, it really does look quite snazzy all pulled together, something one doesn’t get in the gym: the satisfaction there being hitting a new weight or rep target.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTcHOJdFH8F/?taken-by=deniveganfitness

Upon entering Pineapple Dance Studios we were directed to the studio where we’d learn the iconic dance performed by Emma Stone (wearing yellow dress) and Ryan Gosling in the film; a scene from which is pictured on the posters.

Lovely reps from Lionsgate and petite pocket rocket dance teacher Adele greeted us and we joined a few other bloggers and lifestyle reporters to learn the two-minute choreography.

The tap shoes were comfortable but I recommend going a half-size up if you’re ordering them. They resemble low-heeled Mary Janes with a hidden steel toe and steel plaques on the ball part and on the entire heel.

There are a few basic steps in tap such as a step (step on just the ball part of the shoe keeping the heel off), stamp (ball and heel ‘stamp’), toe (tap with the hidden toe cap – genius aren’t they?), shuffle (where you brush the ball part forwards – sometimes also backwards – and stamp), and hop (on one leg).

We merged them into a sequence resembling something like the La La Land dance below:

LA LA LAND is released on Digital Download May 8th and Blu-ray, Limited Edition Steelbook, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray & DVD May 15th