TapUK 2026: Inside Our 30th Adult Tap Dance Weekend in Torquay
- Florence Sharma
- Jul 31
- 8 min read
At 9.15 on Saturday morning, five rooms at the TLH Torquay started dancing.
By the end of Sunday, we had worked our way through 40 workshops, three very different evenings, a birthday singalong, a packed showcase and enough torn newspaper to leave fairly convincing evidence of what we had been doing all weekend.
But a timetable never really explains TapUK.
It doesn’t tell you how many canes hit the floor before Connor’s Top Hat workshop reached the end. It doesn’t explain why a studio full of adults were pretending to run for a train while somebody desperately tried to hand out newspapers in time with the music. And it certainly doesn’t explain how Rob entered Sunday night’s dance competition with Diane Hampstead and managed to be the one who walked away with the prize.
For everyone who joined us, this is your chance to catch up on what was happening in the other four rooms while you were busy dancing.
For everyone who missed it, this is what all those photographs were about.
15–17 May 2026 · TLH Torquay · 2 days · 3 parties · 40 workshops
Forty workshops. Eight choices. Far too much to miss.
The hardest part of TapUK happened before anyone arrived in Torquay: choosing the classes.
There were 40 workshops spread across eight time slots, with every class pre-booked before the weekend. Each choice meant accepting that something else was happening in another room without you.
Alongside elementary, intermediate and advanced tap, the timetable included ballet, soft-shoe show dance, jazz, jive and Latin. There were sessions devoted to paddles and tap history as well as Jo’s ’90s mash-up and a brand-new chair exercise class.
Jason spent a full session taking paddles apart and looking closely at their technique and rhythm. Lee returned with his much-loved soft shoe show dance. Jo moved between ballet, her ’90s mash-up and chair exercise, while Susan gave tired feet a break with a Tap Talk exploring two of the great female tap dancers.
Simon and Anna took us through ’60s jive, the Big Apple and a Vintage Chorus Girls Jazz routine. Angus brought salsa, boogaloo and cha-cha to Sunday, giving tap dancers the opportunity to discover whether their hips were willing to cooperate after two days of workshops.
Everyone’s weekend looked different. Some filled all eight slots with tap. Others mixed tap with ballet, jazz, show dance or Latin. Some chose familiar teachers, while others deliberately booked something they had never tried before.
That is one of the best things about our adult tap dance weekend: you can challenge yourself without being pushed through exactly the same programme as everybody else.
“Where else do you get to try such a variety of sessions with brilliant instructors that are both challenging and achievable — mostly!”
The classes we’ll still be talking about next May
Every year, certain workshops take on a life of their own.
This time, canes and newspapers were responsible for most of the chaos.
Connor taught choreography from the musical Top Hat, which he had performed in himself.
It looked beautifully elegant when he demonstrated it. Once the rest of the room picked up the canes, elegance had to share the floor with concentration, panic and the occasional survival instinct.
The cane-ography was clever, stylish and every bit as difficult as it looked. Canes were passed, caught, spun and, in quite a few cases, dropped. Some hit the floor once. Others appeared determined to return there at every available opportunity.
That didn’t stop anyone.
The room kept going, Connor kept counting and, by the end, the whole thing looked just like the musical... ish.
Connor teaching choreography from the musical Top Hat. 
Diane’s newspaper class began with complete carnage
Diane’s Extra! Extra! Tap All About It! opened with everyone pretending to rush for a train while one dancer attempted to hand newspapers to an entire studio full of people in time with the music.
It was chaos.
Somehow, the newspapers reached where they needed to be and the routine moved on to a human tap train. From there, we launched into a newspaper fight, danced on the papers, and tore them apart with our feet for the finish.
By the end, the ballroom was covered in shreds of paper and the dancers looked extremely pleased with themselves.
Inspired by Gene Kelly’s newspaper dance in Summer Stock, it was creative, fun and completely different from an ordinary choreography class. It also gave us some of the best photographs of the weekend.
Not every good class had to leave you breathless
TapUK isn’t built around the idea that the hardest or fastest session must automatically be the most worthwhile.
Sometimes you want to spend an hour concentrating on one step. Sometimes you want to try a completely different style. Sometimes your feet and knees would quite like you to sit down.
Jason’s paddles workshop gave dancers the chance to focus on one familiar step and dig into the detail.
Susan’s Tap Talk kept our tap brains occupied while giving our legs a well-needed rest.
Then there was Jo’s chair exercise class.
New for 2026, it was created for anyone who wanted a lower-mobility way to join in with the music and movement.
We heard from so many people who enjoyed it that we will do our best to bring it back.
Being challenged doesn’t always mean pushing your body harder. It can mean understanding a step more clearly, finding a new way to move or discovering that you can manage more than you expected.
Jason’s paddles workshop. Jo’s new chair exercise class in action. Susan’s Tap Talk gave tired feet a break without leaving tap behind.
“The weekend was a chance to challenge myself. I was impressed with what I could manage.”
Friday night went back to the ’90s
The theme took us back to the decade TapUK began, and people put a lot of thought into it.
The Chatsworth Room filled with pop stars, film characters, double denim and costumes that clearly involved more effort than finding an old tracksuit at the back of a wardrobe.
There were four fancy-dress prizes and four winning costumes:
Slinky Dog, Thelma and Louise, the World Wide Web and East 17.
Elsewhere in the room, we had Kevin and Perry, Madonna, a cloned sheep and plenty of other reminders that the 1990s contained some questionable fashion decisions.
TapUK wasn’t the only one celebrating either. Our instructor Connor had turned 30 the day before the weekend began, and Jen was celebrating her birthday too, so Friday night included a very loud singalong.
Then the music went back on and the dance floor filled up again.
Four costumes, four prizes and a big start to our 30th TapUK weekend.
Kevin and Perry, Madonna, Dolly the sheep and friends. Birthday celebrations for Connor and Jen.
Saturday’s showcase refused to stick to one style
The Saturday showcase is always one of the parts of TapUK people talk about afterwards.
The Garage Girls opened with The Trolley Song, followed by Jennifer Fee’s fierce solo to Destiny’s Child’s Jumpin’ Jumpin’.
Sister Tap brought back their usual sense of fun with Crocodile Rock, while Zoe Davies Dance changed the pace with a jazz performance to That Man.
Then came the Spice Grans.
The whole group committed completely to their Spice Girls mash-up: costumes, characters and all.
Steve and Ted’s Combine Harvester had the room joining in, proving once again that a TapUK showcase can move from polished choreography to a mass singalong without anybody finding that remotely unusual.
Tap for Fun then brought Starlight Express to Torquay.
The costumes were extraordinary: colourful, detailed and clearly the result of an enormous amount of work. Once the group began dancing, it felt less like a number in a hotel ballroom and more like the musical had made an unexpected stop at the TLH.
Garage Girls — The Trolley Song Zoe Davies Dance — That Man Sister Tap — Crocodile Rock Spice Grans — Spice Girls Mash-Up Steve and Ted — Combine Harvester Tap for Fun — Starlight Express
Then the instructors took over
After the raffle interval, it was time for the instructor performances.
Jason opened with a smooth, jazzy I Could Have Danced All Night. Anna’s Hand Clappin’ had the audience bouncing along from the first beat.
Lee performed Stargazing with the clean, beautiful tap people ask to see year after year, including more than a few wings. Diane chose the wonderfully unexpected Belleville Rendez-vous, combining intricate rhythms with astonishing speed.
Simon and Anna brought jive, lifts and vintage style to Lady Be Good, before Connor closed the showcase with RAYE’s WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!.
It was sharp, musical and a suitably big finish to an evening that had already included a combine harvester, the Spice Girls and an entire cast of trains.
The TapUK 2026 instructors take over the Saturday showcase.
You don’t have to perform to feel part of it
The showcase works because the people watching put just as much into the evening as the people performing.
Every act is cheered on. Friends squeeze towards the front to take photographs. People sing along when encouraged and, occasionally, when nobody has encouraged them at all.
There is no pressure to perform. You can enter a solo, duet or group routine, help friends prepare backstage or enjoy the whole thing from your seat.
The same is true of the wider weekend.
You don’t have to attend all eight workshops. You don’t have to choose the hardest level. You don’t need to prove anything before you are allowed to enjoy yourself.
One guest described the weekend as:
“Great fun in a non-judgemental environment.”
Another called it:
“Brilliant, inspiring and life-affirming for a complete novice.”
That says far more than simply telling people TapUK is welcoming and expecting them to take our word for it.
Sunday night: Gatsby glamour and an unexpected winner
For those who stayed for Sunday evening, there was one final change of era.
Friday’s denim and pop stars were replaced by feathers, pearls, sharp suits and Gatsby-inspired dresses as Simon and Anna took the Arlington Room back to the 1920s.
They taught everyone some suitably stylish moves before opening the floor for a dance competition. Guests freestyled through a mix of music and styles while the rest of the room watched and cheered.
Diane Hampstead entered with her partner, Rob.
Rob won.
Who would have expected Diane to enter a dance competition, only for her partner to walk away with the prize?
It was a funny and glamorous ending to our 30th tap weekend.
What TapUK 2026 actually felt like
The workshops and parties explain what was on the programme.
The comments we received afterwards explain why people return.
“Best tap weekend ever.”
“My happy weekend!”
“A lovely, relaxing tap weekend.”
“I love Torquay! It’s the Tappers who make it so special.”
“Great variety, action-packed dance weekend.”
People arrived with different levels of experience, different bodies and different reasons for coming. Some wanted to push themselves. Some wanted to dance with friends. Some were returning for another year, while others were attending their first adult tap dance weekend.
They didn’t all take the same classes or experience the same TapUK.
With five rooms running at once, everyone’s weekend looked slightly different. You might remember the workshop where a step finally made sense, the performance you were nervous about, the costume that made you laugh or the person you met while trying to find your next class.
Or you might mainly remember a cane hitting the floor.
Again.
Thank you for celebrating our 30th TapUK with us
Thank you to Jason Di Mascio, Jo Summerfield, Lee Farrow, Connor Hughes, Diane Hampstead, Susan Harvey, Simon and Anna Selmon, and Angus Peters for giving us such a varied programme.
Thank you to everyone who performed in the showcase, Hayley Blue for Saturday night’s music, Sean Clee Photography for capturing the weekend, the TLH team and everyone who helped with welcome packs, memberships, merchandise, raffle tickets and all the jobs guests don’t necessarily see.
Most of all, thank you to everyone who joined us in Torquay and made our 30th TapUK weekend such a special one.
And to anyone looking through the photographs and thinking they should have been there:
You should probably trust that instinct.
TapUK returns in 2027
TapUK will be back at TLH Torquay from 14–16 May 2027, with another full weekend of workshops, performances and evening entertainment.
Before then, Autumn Beats is coming to Torquay from 6–8 November 2026. It will be a smaller, cosier and completely tap-focused weekend, with three instructors, workshops for different levels and plenty of time to catch up with other dancers.
We’ll see you in Torquay. Bring your tap shoes — and perhaps leave a little room in your bag for a newspaper.
Happy Tapping!
Florence, Sam & Dolores
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