Yesterday, I got to see Savion Glover’s last sold-out matinee of “Solo In Time” at the Joyce Theater in New York City. The name is sort of misleading because the brother is never really alone. He is accompanied by two other hoofers, Marshall Davis and Cartier Williams, for about 50% of the numbers. I think the former “Tap Dance Kid” and force behind “Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk” comes alive when he directly interacts with the musicians Andy McCloud on bass, Arturo Martinez on guitar, Carmen Estevez on cajon (which sort of an acoustical wooden box) and the astounding flamenco singer La Conga. When La Conga and Glover are in the throes of their duets the rhythms of Africa and Spain synergistically collide with tremendous acoustic power and depth. Awesome.
In such an intimate venue it is easy to see the joy radiating from Glover as he hoofs. He is not only paying homage to those who came before him by taking improvisation to new heights, he is also exploring these subtle nuances of rhythm with a tremendous amount of grace. Glover is keeping this art form alive and continuing to make it relevant for younger generations.
But during intermission and after the performance I couldn’t help but wonder why there aren’t any prominent tap dancing sisters. Can you think of one who has the name recognition to fill a theater in NYC? Neither can I.
Well, back in the day (around when Bojangles was big) there was one sister who could hang with the boys. Her name is Jeni LeGon and she was inducted into the Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2002—the same year as the Nicholas Brothers, Fred Astaire, and Bojangles. Impressive, huh? LeGon stood out because she did her thing in low heels and pants (no frou frou and flowing gowns for her). But she was also the only black woman hoofer who got to perform with Bojangles in the movies with equal billing (not in the chorus backing him up).
A few years back, The Philadelphia Folklore Project did an exhibition called “Plenty of Good Women Dancers” on African American Woman Tap Dancers which is still viewable online. It is certainly worth checking out to see the role sisters played in this art form. What makes it great is that those who assembled the exhibit found some of the sisters who had their tap shoes on back in the heyday. And some of their observations explain why sisters weren’t seen as much.
“It’s not that women couldn’t tap dance better, it’s just that they weren’t gonna get the opportunity… to over-dance the man. They didn’t want to give them the chance to show a man up, y’know….” –Libby Spencer, a former Apollo dancer
“In them days, there was a lot of female tap dancers that never got that recognition…. When they wanted a tap dancer, they never asked for no woman… and a lot of time they never asked if it was man or a woman, they just asked for a tap dancer and automatically it was a man….” –LaVaughn Robinson
This exhibit helped me understand what happened in the past but I still hope that some sister will find her own unique way to express her art through tap and connect with audiences in a big way like Glover does. There is certainly some room at the top.
Here’s Jeni LeGon dancing with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson:
And vintage footage of a young Savion Glover dancing with his mentor, the late Gregory Hines
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