Tap dancers aim to get the best possible sound when dancing, and having the right shoes can make all the difference.

We’ll look at the anatomy of a tap shoe, and see how the right footwear puts new life in your step, flap, slap, and stamp.

Last year, Chicago Tap Theatre (CTT) audiences saw The Hourglass stomp, riff, and tap down villains in the company’s “The Hourglass in the Stop-Time Chronicles,” a comic book tap opera. Now, the CTT has reintroduced their tap heroine in a new show, “The Hourglass and the Poisoned Pen.”

Recently, we had the chance to speak with CTT’s artistic director Mark Yonally about “The Hourglass” and about his approach to tap. Click on the title of this post to read our entire article, and to find out how you can see “The Hourglass and the Poisoned Pen.”