Tap classes for adults who want more than just the steps.
Real technique. Real progress. Real people.
Dance.
Art.
Movement.
Rhythm.
Learn.
Progress.
Shine.
Dance. Art. Movement. Rhythm. Learn. Progress. Shine.
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Most people who find this studio have been thinking about it for a while.
Not days. Longer than that.
There's something about tap dance that gets into people and stays there. A memory. A feeling. Something they saw once and never quite forgot.
And then life. Work. Kids. The sense that it's probably too late, or too hard, or just not the kind of thing adults do.
It is absolutely the kind of thing adults do. This studio exists to prove it, one class at a time.
This is where you start.
What matters in the studio….
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Community
This studio is more than classes where people nod politely and head home.
This is where friendships are formed.
People celebrate each other's breakthroughs.
They show up week after week and somewhere along the way they stop being strangers who happen to tap dance together and start being each other's people.
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The Energy
There's a moment in almost every class when something shifts.
Someone lands a combination they've been working on for weeks and the whole room feels it, the clapping, the high fives, the kind of celebration that nobody planned but everybody needed.
The end of class when everyone is buzzing and nobody quite wants to leave.
This is what happens when adults give themselves permission to just go for it.
It happens every single week.
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Authenticity
Tap dance has a rich history, a technique, and a culture, all of its own. It deserves to be taught that way.
Every class is grounded in that, not just steps copied without context, but tap dance understood from the inside out.
The people in this studio show up the same way. No performance. No show ponies.
Just adults turning up as themselves, respecting each other and the art form they're all trying to learn.
The people in the studio.
Meet Megan
Your tap teacher, hype woman, and the one cheering you on just when you need it.
Megan’s tap dance journey didn’t begin as a child, but as an adult learning under Isabelle Ryan, the studio’s original founder.
That experience shapes everything about how she teaches. She understands the nerves, the learning curves, the doubts, and the breakthroughs that come with starting something new later in life, because she’s lived every one of them.
Committed to excellence in both performance and teaching, she has trained in the U.S. with world renowned tap dance artists and continues her professional learning through ongoing classes, workshops and online study to ensure her teaching remains current, but deeply rooted in authentic tap dance technique and history.
She has taught tap dance at leading institutions including the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School and the National Theatre Ballet School along with choreographing for television, major events and film.
But what drives her every single class, is teaching adults to create music with their feet, while building the skill, confidence and courage to take their place in the rhythm.
Meet Isabelle – Founder
I’m Isabelle, the founder of our tap studio, originally Isabelle’s Tap Studio. I learnt dance (ballet, tap and jazz) as a young child with the dream of becoming a professional dancer.
My dreams came true in my late teens and I began a long career dancing in major musicals including No No Nanette, Funny Girl, Irene and The Wiz, just to mention a few.
Along the way many of the other dancers asked me to teach them how to tap, word also got around outside of the theatre world and that’s how I transitioned to a 30+ year career in teaching tap and that’s how the studio started.
As well as running my own school, I ran the tap programme at the Victorian College of the Arts, in both the Tertiary and Secondary Schools, and also taught at the National Theatre Ballet School and many other schools in Melbourne.
I’m passionate about sharing my love of tap with all of the upcoming and aspiring tap dancers.
Dance.
Art.
Movement.
Rhythm.
Learn.
Progress.
Shine.
Dance. Art. Movement. Rhythm. Learn. Progress. Shine.
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Ready to find your class?
Whether you've never danced a step in your life or you're coming back after a long break, there's a place for you here.
A studio with history.
The Melbourne Tap Studio began life as Isabelle’s Tap Studio, founded by Isabelle Ryan – a professional dancer whose love for tap started in early childhood.
Isabelle trained in ballet, tap, and jazz with the dream of one day dancing professionally. That dream came true in her late teens when she began a long and successful career performing in 8 major musicals produced by J.C.Williamsons, including No No Nanette, Funny Girl, Irene and more. Many of the productions she danced in were choreographed by the legendary Betty Pounder.
During the 1970s, renowned producer Michael Edgley joined forces with J.C. Williamsons during the run of No No Nanette. Michael saw potential in the Sun Room – the rehearsal space for JCW productions – to host classes in tap, jazz, ballet and acting. It was there that Isabelle was asked to begin teaching tap to singers and actors in JCW shows to help them move more confidently on stage.
Isabelle had originally taught jazz, taking classes for Pounder herself while Pounder was working overseas and bringing touring productions back to Australia. Teaching tap hadn’t been on Isabelle’s radar, but the classes quickly gained momentum. Before long, she was dashing upstairs to teach in the Sun Room, then racing back downstairs to get ready for curtain call.
As word spread through the theatre community – and beyond – more and more dancers and adults began seeking Isabelle out to learn from her. After finishing her professional stage career, Isabelle transitioned into a 30+ year career teaching tap to adults, building a vibrant and loyal community of students.
In addition to running her own studio, Isabelle was invited to teach tap at the Victorian College of the Arts Drama School (Tertiary) and Dance School (Tertiary), the VCA Secondary School, the National Theatre Ballet School, and the Council for Adult Education (CAE), a commitment that spanned more than two decades.
Isabelle remains a very active part of our studio, dropping in every week to teach routines in the more advanced classes. Her teaching philosophy – centred around strong technique, correct terminology, learning (not copying), and fitness – is deeply embedded in the studio’s approach, and embraced wholeheartedly by Megan, now principal teacher at The Melbourne Tap Studio.
Isabelle takes great pride in her career on stage, and even greater joy in being able to pass on the craft of tap dancing to others. The Melbourne Tap Studio is a living legacy of her passion, and continues to be a place where adults of all ages and all skill levels can come to learn, move, grow – and most importantly, have fun.