Deslocando a verticalidade

a dança House desafiando o corpo de quem sapateia

Abstract

This research, conducted as part of the activities of the “Theory and Practice in Dance: Training Processes” Research Project (PIBIC/CNPq), the Comunidança Project (UFRJ), and experiences within Hip-Hop culture, reports on academic and artistic experiences regarding the Black history of tap dance in dialogue with House culture and Helenita Sá Earp’s Fundamentos da Dança. The study highlights the “single story” and the erasure of Blackness in tap, often labeled in Brazil as “American tap” from a white, sanitized perspective. The aim is to denounce this hegemonic logic, reaffirming the Afro-diasporic roots of tap and challenging its verticality through the corporeality of House. The research conceives the tap-dancing body as a political and global territory that expresses itself beyond the feet. Bridging academia and the streets—between cyphers, battles, and scientific research—the study highlights the impact of public funding on the development of methodologies that value the body as rhythmic resistance and a territory of insurgency against hegemonic whiteness.