Research

As a trained historian and dance anthropologist, Kat Richter specializes in the research of percussive dance forms, especially tap. In 2009, she earned Distinction from Roehampton University for her MA dissertation, "Importing Rhythm Tap: The Structure and Significance of the Shim Sham Shimmy at the London Tap Jam."

Papers and Presentations

Trading Taps: Spectacle and Meaning in the Percussive Dance Challenge (Society of Dance History Scholars; Surrey University, 2010; proceedings available online)

Anthropology with an Agenda: Four Forgotten Dance Anthropologists (Research in Dance Education, Vol. 11, Issue 3, 2010; available online)
Importing Rhythm Tap: The Structure and Significance of the Shim Sham Shimmy (Congress on Research in Dance Special Topics Conference; University of Florida, 2011)
On Taps: The Dancer/Musician Continuum and It's Implications for Tap Pedagogy (Congress on Research in Dance/Society for Ethnomusicology; to be presented November 2011)
Importing Rhythm Tap: The Structure and Significance of the Shim Sham Shimmy at the London Tap Jam (MA Dissertation, 2009; Distinction; available online)

Current Research Interests

The construction of meaning in percussive dance forms

Dance notation (especially tap notation of the 1930s)
Improvisation in jazz music and its potential for tap pedagogy
The integration of structural and ethnographic modes of dance analysis
Perceived origins and sterotypical representations of flamenco and tap
The depiction of performing artists in Impressionist art