The More Your Know…
Dance History is Black History
In alignment with our our commitments to , Stage Presence is also committed to sharing the contributions of Black artists and pioneers throughout history, as well as other marginalized folks who have left their mark on dance for future generations. This page not only highlights the historical significance made by BIPOC creators, but also Women, the LGBTQIA+ community, and Disabled artists.
We use this page and our social media to uplift creators sharing these histories. Please take a few moments to follow the accounts linked below to help start to diversify your feed. This is not an exhaustive list.
@danceeducationequityassociation
Sharing diverse histories is embedded within the Stage Presence Dance Collective curriculum. Please see below for a snapshot of the histories that are shared within our Tap program.
Dulé Hill has been tap dancing since the age of three, and launched his career shortly after when he was cast in the national tour of the Broadway show, The Tap Dance Kid. Dulé explores his love of tap, and the history of this American dance form. Tap historian Chester Whitmore explains, “Tap is an American form of dance, but the rhythms come from the West African djembe drum.” Djembe dance and drumming traces its roots back to the 12th century Mandinka people and was later brought to America by enslaved West Africans. But when early slaveholders banned the traditional drums, enslaved people found other ways to preserve their rhythms, using rocks, sticks, bottles and their feet. While enslaved Africans defiantly held onto and preserved their drum patterns and syncopated rhythms, European immigrants also arrived in the American colonies, bringing Irish, Scottish and Dutch folk dancing with them. This blend gave birth to the American tap dance. By the 1840s, tap evolved from a tool of communication to a controversial American comedy act known as minstrelsy, in which mostly white performers would paint their skin black to imitate African-American dancers. Since then, tap has seen over a century's worth of transformations, each bringing its own unique style, like that of Bill Bojangles Robinson and his famous stair dance in the vaudeville era, the trailblazing Nicholas Brothers who fused jazz, ballet and acrobatics during the Harlem Renaissance, and silver screen giants like Gene Kelly, who brought tap to forties and fifties-era Hollywood.
No Maps on My Taps
“The golden age of tap dancing spanned the first half of the twentieth century and featured extraordinary artists, including Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, John Bubbles, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and Eleanor Powell. But by the 1950s, many fans were staying home to watch television and the nightclubs that supported tap dancers were starting to close. As the popularity of rock n’ roll grew, audiences moved away from the jazz and Broadway music that tappers relied on. At the same time, young choreographers like Bob Fosse were creating a new form of dance for musical theater — less tap oriented and more related to modern dance. Increasingly, tap was performed by only the old hoofers and was considered nostalgic, even comedic. Fittingly, the last chapter of Marshall and Jean Stearns’ 1968 seminal history Jazz Dance was titled “The Dying Breed.”
Two events re-energized the art form. In 1978, 33-year-old Gregory Hines became an “overnight” sensation with his Tony-nominated performance in the Broadway musical, Eubie! Gregory — along with his brother Maurice — created a brilliant, energetic, and powerful tap style that exuded a new kind of cool. Then, in 1979 came the release of Nierenberg’s exhilarating landmark film, No Maps on My Taps, featuring music by Lionel Hampton and the dance artistry of Bunny Briggs, Chuck Green, and Harold “Sandman” Sims. Nierenberg’s real love for the dancers and their art made this joyous documentary a hit with audiences and critics. The thrilling talent and ebullient charisma of the three dancers shines through in every fame. No Maps on My Taps showed on multiple television outlets in the US and abroad and screened in theaters and college campuses. The three veteran tap dancers performed live with the film all over the world (sometimes leading tap dance parades throughout the towns). Tap dancing gained a huge multitude of new fans and inspired thousands of young dancers to put on tap shoes.”
In 1989, Gregory Hines created "Gregory Hines' Tap Dance in America," which he also hosted. The PBS "Guest Performances" special featured the most seasoned tap dancers of the time, and showed a rare insight into the "Masters" of tap dance, who helped shape tap dance into the art form that it has become.
Plenty of Good Women Dancers features exceptional Philadelphia African American women tap dancers whose active careers spanned the 1920s-1950s. Restricted to few roles, often unnamed and uncredited, these women have largely remained anonymous within (and outside) of the entertainment industry and sometimes even within the communities in which they reside. Historic film clips, photographs, and dancers' own vivid recollections provide a dynamic portrait of veteran women hoofers prominent during the golden age of swing and rhythm tap. "Plenty" features 1995 performances by Edith "Baby Edwards" Hunt, Libby Spencer and Hortense Allen Jordan, with LaVaughn Robinson, Germaine Ingram, Delores and Dave McHarris, Kitty DeChavis, Isabelle Fambro and the cast of "Stepping in Time," and historic footage of these and other artists.
American Tap traces tap dancing from its origins, through its evolution to the current form. It is a uniquely American story that illustrates the vibrant and powerful nature of our cultural melting pot. The examination reveals and informs many of the very basic concepts and current themes of American cultural consciousness.
