Ciaran Plummer and Zach Klingenberg, the men of TapTronic, rehearse in the dance studio. Photo by Brian Doherty Photography. |
The men of TapTronic stomped onto the Internet scene about a year ago, and the fast-footed duo shows no signs of stopping the stepping.
Since posting viral video "Crave You" to YouTube in April 2012, Irish dancers Ciaran Plummer and Zach Klingenberg toured the world with "Lord of the Dance" and managed to choreograph and shoot two more high-quality music videos featuring percussive dancing to the sounds of electronic tracks -- all while living on the road.
The latest remix music video, "Hold Your Breath," shows the guys' evolution of style and showmanship. There's a noticeable focus on hip-hop, and the addition of world-class Irish dancer Colin Fleck contributes to TapTronic's evolving identity.
"It’s still a fusion of Irish dance and electronic music, but we’re trying to see how we can get involved in other styles of music," Klingenberg said during a recent interview by Skype. "For me, it's cool to start to bridge the gap to move into hip-hop."
Plummer said the transition into different musical genres isn't one that will be abrupt, so fans of their electronic remixes need not fret.
"We wouldn’t go from electronic to old shcool rock-and-roll. It would evolve, but it wouldn’t jump," Plummer said. "Next video you’ll see it evolve even more as we keep trying to grow."
Adding another dancer to the mix for "Hold Your Breath" presented a new, exciting and necessary challenge for TapTronic.
Klingenberg trained with Fleck, the third dancer to appear in "Hold Your Breath," as a kid. Then they toured together with Plummer for "Lord of the Dance."
"He’s going to be pretty regular," Plummer said of Fleck. "From the beginning, as soon as we wanted to expand, he was on the top of our list."
The TapTronic founders do admit that they've had a formula and purpose all along, but they're pretty allusive when it comes to revealing details. They won't fully disclose the "grand plan," but they do admit to seeing TapTronic expand, and eventually, they'll need a more dancers on board to accomplish the goals they've set. Plummer and Klingenberg said that they plan to continue bringing other dancers into the mix, building what will likely become a TapTronic troupe.
Aside from the promise of growing the group to include more dancers, the guys also announced that they were invited to dance at the North American National Irish Dance Championships next week in Anaheim, Calif -- much to the delight of many dancers, undoubtedly.
With three Internet hits, TapTronic has a solid track record of giving their audience members -- many of whom are young female Irish dancers -- what they want. They guys have been so well received, in fact, that Klingenberg was named Irish Dancing Magazine's Man of the Year for 2012 -- a title annually bestowed upon one young man in the Irish dance world.
"It went right to his head," Plummer joked.
"It’s been pretty tough being this ridiculously good looking," Klingenberg retorted, laughing.
For more information about what's in store for TapTronic, visit the official TapTronic Facebook page.
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