Page 13 - MISER

From Europe came English clog-dancing and Irish jigs and reels – popular dances which made percussive ‘shoe music’, where the upper body was held almost entirely still so that attention focused solely on the feet. From Africa came a variety of steps from both religious and secular dance which used the whole of the body. The beginning of the slave trade in America was largely responsible for bringing the two traditions – African and European – together. European footwork and African timing together produced something uniquely of the New World.
In the 1820s, a white performer, Thomas ‘Daddy’ Rice, blacked up and, in a parody of an old slave’s contorted dance, created the character and dance known as Jump Jack Crow. Rice did much to popularise minstrelsy in America, and a couple of decades later the most famous black minstrel, William Henry Lane, billed as ‘Juba: King of All Dancers’, challenged white dancers to tap matches. A tradition of one-upmanship, of trying to outdo other dancers in challenges, has played
a significant part in tap’s evolution.
The American vaudeville circuit, which developed later in the 19th century, produced a host of innovative hoofers, including Bill Robinson (America’s
most famous black tap dancer), John Bubbles and ‘Baby’ Laurence. Dancer and choreographer Ned Wayburn is credited with being the first to attach metal plates to dance shoes in the first decade of
the 20th century, although dancers like Bill Robinson, Eleanor Powell and Ann Miller used ‘split clog’ tap shoes with hardwood soles.
Tap’s progress from popular to mass appeal was boosted in the 1920s when choreographers incorporated jazz rhythms into Broadway shows, and then, in the 1930s, when tap was incorporated into Hollywood musicals, particularly those starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. In the 1940s, the baton passed to Gene Kelly, who brought a new energy and athleticism to tap. But rather than a new dawn for tap, Kelly represented a glorious sunset. As the 40s progressed, popular taste changed in
favour of new shows like Oklahoma! (1943), with its ingenious ballet numbers that helped to drive the plot, and the trend accelerated in West Side Story (1956), with its bold, earthy, punchy choreographic style.
By the beginning of the 1970s, a tap revival had begun, helped in 1974 by the surprise success of That’s Entertainment, an MGM ‘compilation movie’ of nearly 100 scenes from the studio’s musicals. A sequel, That’s Entertainment, Part II (1976), was hosted by Kelly and Astaire. But if these compilations harked back nostalgically to a golden age, another generation of dancer/director/ choreographers were bringing tap into their shows and remaking it for the modern world – Gower Champion (who directed and choreographed the famous 1980 David Merrick stage production of 42nd Street), Bob Fosse and Michael Bennett.
No one has done more, however, for the renaissance of tap than Gregory Hines. In 1981, he starred in Sophisticated Ladies, a celebration of the music of Duke Ellington. The difficult-to-please New York Times critic Frank Rich – nicknamed the ‘Butcher of Broadway’ – called him ‘the best tap dancer of our day’. Hines’s sensational Bill Robinson-inspired stair dance brought the house down. In 1992, he scored another great success when he starred as Jelly Roll Morton in Jelly’s Last Jam.
However, the major player of today’s
tap scene is Savion Glover, who has brought a fresh voice to tap by mixing
in contemporary influences of funk and hip-hop. His 1996 show Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk wowed Broadway audiences and won him a Tony Award for his choreography, and he has continued to have huge success. In 2006, he provided the motion capture choreography for Happy Feet, the Oscar-winning animated film about a troupe of tap-dancing penguins, and reteamed with director George Miller for the 2011 sequel Happy Feet Two, ensuring the popularity of tap dance will continue to flourish.
Stuart Leeks © John Good
Ann Miller setting a record for the most taps per minute, circa 1940 Getty Images