ABSTRACT
The Shim Sham Shimmy endures, simultaneously a marker of identity among a now-global tap dance community, and proof that there is nothing “routine” about the 32-bar “national anthem of tap,” or the oft-marginalized and caricatured art form it has come to represent. The Shim Sham has survived for nearly a century: an oral tradition passed from one generation to the next. In some performance contexts, it serves as filler: a ready-made chorus of choreography when dancers need a mental break or a quick finish. In other cases, the Shim Sham functions as a finale to a tap jam or a formal concert, uniting a group of soloists through “muscular bonding,” which William H. McNeill defines as “the human emotional response to moving rhythmically together in dance.” According to the oft-cited jazz historians Marshall and Jean Stearns, Shim Sham became “a standard routine in show business around 1931” and drew upon a comedic number known as "Goofus".
