Hot Shoe Shuffle’s Tap Brothers – Morgan Junor-Larwood

Hot Shoe Shuffle opens this weekend in Brisbane, just in time for us to feature the final Tap Brother from this 21st Anniversary revival cast!

We chat with Morgan Junor-Larwood (playing the role of Slap) about his life in the entertainment industry and his love of the stage!

Hot Shoe Shuffle is the tale of Spring, Slap, Buck, Wing, Tip, Tap and Slide and their long lost sister April in a 1940s inspired musical theatre setting with choreography by Dein Perry and David Atkins.

What is it that excites you most about joining the cast of Hot Shoe Shuffle?

I always wanted to be in a tap show, and to be able to combine my three loves – dancing, singing and acting, is such a bonus.

When did you discover your love of tap?

At the age of 3 I started tap, but it wasn’t until I was 13 or 14 that I really started to take it seriously. And then I fell in love with all the greats, such as Nicholas Ruthos and Sammy Davis and then I was hooked.

You have trained in dance and theatre for many years – do you have a favourite discipline (Singing/Acting/Dancing) or do you prefer to combine all three, as you will be doing in Hot Shoe Shuffle?

I love to combine all singing, acting and dancing but my favourite, and my goal is to act. But to be able to do all three is the triple threat, and I think you can’t really have one without the other.

Describe your character – Slap

Slap is the big lovely guy. He is a beat behind but he has a big heart, and is ‘a spanner short of a tool kit’, but loved.

Do you have any pre-show or post-show rituals or superstitions?

No, not really. I like to listen to music to get me pumped

What is the best piece of advice you have been given?

Make your passion your profession and you’ll never work a day in your life.

Dancing is a very physically exerting exercise – how do you maintain your health and stamina to make sure you are always at your peak?

I train a lot at the gym. I enjoy working on my cardio, which helps with all the dancing. But I am a physically active person anyway.

What do you think is the best thing about the performing arts community in Australia?

I love the work ethic in Australia. Australians get a lot of work overseas because we are well known for our culture of hard workers. It is also a close knit community, everyone I have met so far has been so helpful and it just feels like a big family.

Dein Perry and David Atkins (co-choreographers) are legends in the performing arts world – are you looking forward to working with them on this production?

Definitely. David has been around forever, and to work on a show that he created and co-choreographed is very exciting stuff.

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Morgan trained at the Australian Institute of Music (Musical theatre) and studied acting at the Actors Centre Australia in Surry Hills.

Having danced from a very young age, and even studied under none other than the original Dexter Tap himself, Jack Webster.

Hot Shoe Shuffle opens at Lyric Theatre QPAC on May 4.

Visit hotshoeshuffle.com.au for tickets and more information