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  Tap dance shoe and method of teaching tap danceUSPTO Application #: 20060032085Title: Tap dance shoe and method of teaching tap dance Abstract: An improved tap dance shoe for teaching tap dancing or for use to enhance a tap dance performance. The improved tap dance shoe has at least one heel light and one toe light in communication with a battery disposed inside the shoe and, respectively, with pressure actuated switches disposed at the heel and toe of the shoe. The switches are in operative connection with the heel tap and toe tap so as to complete the electrical circuit with the battery. When the dancer taps either the heel or toe tap, the respective switch will energize the respective light to indicate that contact has been made. The dance instructor can determine if the student is hitting the heel or toe tap properly and the student can better see what steps the instructor is doing. Preferably, a buckle or hook and loop connectors are used to secure the shoe to a foot. (end of abstract) Agent: Richard A. Ryan, Attorney At Law - Fresno, CA, US Inventor: Jeanne Randall USPTO Applicaton #: 20060032085 - Class: 036008300 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Boots, Shoes, And Leggings, Boots And Shoes, Dancing The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060032085. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/602,093 filed Aug. 16, 2004. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] A. Field of the Invention [0003] The field of the present invention relates generally to shoes that are specially configured for use in artistic and other presentations, such as dance, and methods of teaching such presentations. More particularly, this invention relates to such shoes that are specially configured for tap dancing and methods of teaching students how to tap dance. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to such shoes that are configured with one or more indicator lights that light up when the shoes are properly utilized and to methods of teaching dance with such shoes. [0004] B. Background [0005] As is well known, dancing is a very popular entertainment and art form that requires the dancers to learn the various steps of the particular style of dance. One such popular style of dancing is tap dancing. Like most other styles of dancing, tap dancing has a vast series of recognized moves or steps that the dancer uses and mixes to create his or her own dance routine or which another person, such as a choreographer, mixes to create a dance routine for the dancer. These dance steps vary from some of the more basic moves, such as the shuffle, flaps and cramp roll, to the more intermediate moves, such as the paddle rolls, trills and walking step, to the advanced moves, such as the boogie step, chug, retro step and slides. Most of these, as well as other, dance moves require specific movement of the dancer's body, particularly his or her legs and feet. Like most other styles of dance, dancers typically spend many years learning and trying to perfect the various moves and steps that make up a tap dancer's "catalog" of dance moves. More advanced dancers utilize the knowledge they have gained from developed tap dance moves to create their own moves. [0006] Tap dancing differs in at least one very important aspect from most other forms of dancing, namely that a principal object of tap dancing is to create sound with the action of the dancer's shoe against the dance floor as the dancer creates the visual aspect of the performance. In fact, tap dancing has been compared to musical sound, where the dancer utilizes his or her shoes as the instrument to create the sound against the dance floor. Like a drummer's drum sticks or a guitar player's guitar strings, the tap dance shoes a dancers utilizes and how he or she utilizes the shoes are a very important aspect of the way the dancer creates the "music" of tap dancing. As well known in the field of tap dancing, how hard and fast and where on the shoe the tap dancer hits his or her shoes against the dance floor affects the type and intensity of sound created by the dancer's movement. [0007] Although there are many types of tap dance shoes currently available, they all typically share the same general configuration, that being a shoe portion worn on the dancer's foot and a pair of taps on the bottom side of the shoe, one positioned at or near the toe section of the shoe and one at or near the heel section of the shoe. Typically, but not exclusively, the taps are metal plates that are attached to the bottom of the shoe with screws, rivets, adhesives or other types of connectors. One common type of taps used for tap dance shoes is commonly known as Teletone taps. As the dancer positions his or her foot to cause the toe or heel tap to hit the dance floor in different motions, different tapping sounds are produced to obtain the desired effect. [0008] Teaching tap dancing, like most dancing instruction, usually involves instructing a dancer or group of dancers (or would-be dancers as the case may be) how to move their feet to obtain the desired toe or heel contact with the dance floor. Typically, the tap dance instructor instructs the student or students on the desired dance and tap action and then watch and listen for the student(s) to perform the dance step properly. As anyone who has seen or heard tap dancing will recognize, the motion of the foot is typically intended to be very rapid, which makes the dance instructor's task somewhat difficult. While a very experienced dance instructor may only need to hear what the student did to know if he or she performed the step correctly and what they did wrong if they did not perform the step correctly, seeing the student's foot action is usually required to fully evaluate the student's ability to perform the desired step. The problems with evaluating a tap dance student's dancing is somewhat compounded when the instructor is teaching a group of students at the same time, which is the typical manner for at least the beginner and intermediate students. In the group setting, the dance instructor attempts to hear and watch what the students are doing, often while doing it as a group, so the instructor may correct any missteps or improper toe/heel placement. As such, the ability to accurately and quickly see the student's foot action is a major limitation of the presently available tap dance shoes and tap dance instruction methods. [0009] In addition, to watching the student's foot movements, the dance instructor typically demonstrates the various dance steps he or she desires the students to follow and repeat. One difficultly with teaching tap dancing is that most of the dance steps require rapid movement of the foot, which can be quite difficult to watch and grasp, particularly for the new or novice dance student. While the instructor can slow the dance step down for instructional purposes to demonstrate each element and nuance of the dance step, there is still the need to be able to demonstrate the combined, rapid foot movements that make up a typical dance routine. As stated above, the added aspect of obtaining the correct touch for the heel and/or toe tap against the floor is one aspect of tap dancing that makes it somewhat more difficult to learn and perform than non-tap dance steps. Besides having to teach the foot and body movements that make up a tap dance routine, which is similar to other types of dance, the tap dance instructor must also teach the student proper heel and toe tap selection and how much impact is required to accomplish the sound desired for the particular dance routine. Presently, there is no effective visual guide to assist the tap dance instructor with showing the student the proper heel and toe placement. [0010] Shoes having visual and/or audible components, such as lights or bells, incorporated with the shoe are well known. Generally, the shoes have lights or sound generating mechanisms that produce flashing lights or play a tune of some sort while the wearer is wearing the shoe. Some of the prior art shoes have mechanisms that are responsive to contact pressure by the wearer against the floor or other surface. A number of such shoes and shoe devices are the subject of previously issued patents. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,253 to McCormick describes a shoe provided with a removable heel that has a battery disposed inside and a light source providing illumination that is visible on the exterior of the heel. U.S. Pat. No. 5,969,479 to Wong describes a light flashing system for shoes that is configured to generate a pattern of illumination for a plurality of lights on the shoe in response to changes in inertial forces caused by movement of the shoe. U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,324 to Goldston, et al. describes an athletic shoe plug-in light module that has a battery and a light emitting device for insertion into a receptacle in the sole of the athletic shoe. U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,080 to Van Staden describes a musical shoe having a plurality of piezoelectric sensor disks around the periphery of the heel and toe section of the shoe that are each connected to a oscillator circuit so as to produce distinctive musical sounds when an external force is applied to that area of the shoe. U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,300 to Kianka describes a shoe having a speaker operatively connected to a plurality of piezoelectric transducers that are used to produce sound when sufficient flexing or contact occurs. In one embodiment, a sound synthesizer circuit is provided to produce a variety of different sounds. [0011] While the foregoing and other known prior art generally describe shoes and shoe devices that are capable of illuminating one or more lights on the shoe or generating sound from the shoe as a result of contact with the ground or other surface, nothing in the prior art utilizes such technology with tap dance shoes or for teaching tap dancing. What is needed, therefore, is an improved tap dance shoe and method of teaching tap dance that solves the problems and provides the benefits described above. The preferred improved tap dance shoe should be configured to provide the instructor with a illuminated visual indicator of the dance student's toe and heel placement against the dance floor. Such a visual indicator would be an improvement over merely trying to watch the movement of the dancer's feet and in would be in addition to the presently available audible method of determining proper toe and heel placement. The preferred tap dance shoe would allow the instructor to quickly and determinatively see whether the dance student is properly placing the heel or toe of his or her shoe against the floor and substantially assist the student with following the dance steps being taught by the instructor. The preferred tap dance shoe should also be both economical to manufacture and not require any different or special movement on the user's part. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0012] The tap dance shoe and method of teaching tap dance of the present invention provides the benefits and solves the problems identified above. That is to say, the present invention discloses an improved tap dance shoe that provides one or more visual indicators which indicate when the wearer is properly placing the heel or toe of his or her foot against the dance floor. The present invention is configured so as to be generally economical and to be worn as a regular tap dance shoe so as to not interfere with the dancer's normal dance movement. The improved tap dance shoe allows the tap dance instructor to better determine whether the student is placing the proper part of the shoe against the floor so as to improve tap dance instruction and substantially assists the student with following the instructor's dance steps. In addition to its use for tap dance instruction, the tap dance shoe of the present invention provides a visual element to a tap dance presentation which adds to the tapping sound of the normal dance shoe. [0013] In one general aspect of the present invention, the improved tap dance shoe of the present invention is configured similar to presently available tap dance shoes except that it comprises a visual indicator on the shoe which is in electrical communication with a battery disposed in the shoe and with a pressure actuated switch mechanism, which is also operatively connected to the heel or toe tap of the tap dance shoe. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, both the heel tap and the toe tap have a visual indicator and a pressure actuated switch that are associated with the taps so as to indicate external contact with the taps, such as what occurs when the dancer taps his or her taps against the floor. The heel tap and heel switch are in electrical communication with a heel visual indicator and the toe tap and toe switch are in electrical communication with a toe visual indicator. Various types of switch mechanisms can be utilized to complete the electrical circuit between the battery and the visual indicator when the respective heel or toe tap contacts the floor. In the preferred embodiment, the visual indicator is a light, such as a light emitting diode or other light source, and the heel light is located at or near the heel and the toe light is located at or near the toe section of the tap dance shoe. Either or both the heel light and the toe light can be incorporated into a design element, such as a flower or like design, that is attached to the shoe. Instead of the typical string ties used with current tap dance shoes, the improved tap dance shoe can utilize a buckle mechanism or a hook and loop mechanism to secure the tap dance shoe to the dancer's foot. [0014] The improved method of teaching tap dancing utilizes the improved tap dance shoe described above. In the preferred embodiment, both the instructor and the student are wearing the improved tap dance shoes so that the student can watch the instructor as he or she demonstrates the dance move the student desires to learn. Instead of just watching the movement of the instructor's feet to see the contact of the taps, which can be very fast, the student can see the visual indicators lighting up to indicate contact with the heel or toe tap. After the instructor demonstrates the dance step, the student can attempt to perform the same step. With the improved tap dance shoes of the present invention on the student, the instructor can more easily see if he or she is performing the correct sequence of taps to achieve the desired dance step. As with the student, the instructor will not have to rely on just the sound of the taps or the movement of the feet. The visual indicators, preferably lights, will more quickly and easily show if the student is properly tapping the heel or toe tap. [0015] Accordingly, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide an improved tap dance shoe and method of teaching tap dance that provides the advantages discussed above and overcomes the disadvantages and limitations which are associated with presently available tap dance shoes and tap dance instruction. [0016] An important objective of the present invention is to provide an improved tap dance shoe that visually indicates whether the heel or the toe of the tap dance shoe has been properly placed against the floor. [0017] It is also an important objective of the present invention to provide an improved tap dance shoe that can be worn and used as a standard tap dance shoe. [0018] It is also an important objective of the present invention to provide an improved tap dance shoe that adds a visual element to the standard tap dance presentation. [0019] It is also an important objective of the present invention to provide an improved tap dance shoe that can visually indicate to a tap dance instructor whether the student has properly placed the desired part of the dance shoe against the dance floor. [0020] It is also an important objective of the present invention provide an improved tap dance shoe that can be worn by a tap dance instructor to assist a tap dance student with following the steps being taught by the instructor. [0021] It is also an important objective of the present invention to provide an improved method of teaching tap dance that utilizes tap dance shoes having one or more visual indicators thereon to indicate the placement of the heel or toe section of the shoe against the floor which are worn by the instructor to teach the desired dance steps and/or the student to show mastering of the dance steps. Continue reading... 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