A tap/gap year

Sally Clark talks to 18 year old Jonah Ende about his time tapping in New York.

It’s not uncommon for Aussie teenagers to elect to have a “gap year” following their year 12 studies and travel abroad to experience the world whilst they transition themselves into adulthood and whatever will come next.But those with a passion for performance (dance or musical theatre), may choose to forgo the international travel option to devote those funds and themselves to a year (or two) of full-time study, in the hope that they might skill themselves up to professional standard and thus define their “what’s next”
.

Sydney’s Jonah Ende, is an 18-year-old with a passion for tap dance who found a way to combine both options when he took himself off to New York’s Broadway Dance Centre (BDC), in February this year to train with them for six months as part of their International Student Visa Program (ISVP)

Ende admits that the catalyst for starting dance lessons came after his mother, Tara, observed him dancing at a family bat mitzvah, when he was 8 or 9, and recognised some talent (she had been a dancer herself who trained and danced with Jane
Beckett). She suggested that dance lessons might be a good idea but he confesses to being apprehensive, at first, until nearly two years later
when they came upon an all boys dance class at Dein Perry’s Tap Pups School.


He started with tap classes only but, as his love for tap and dance flourished, he took up other classes on offer there including hip hop, jazz
technique and acrobatics. He notes, “Tap Pups School has been like a second home to me. I am still tapping with many of the boys who were at the
school when I started. Dein, being my first teacher, introduced me to tap dancing and seeing where it has taken him has given me the drive to succeed.”
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This is an extract from an article by Sally Clark in the October/November issue of Dance Australia, out now! Buy Dance Australia at your favourite magazine retailer or subscribe here, or purchase an online copy via the Dance Australia app.