Preserving and Advancing the Art of Tap Dance.
By Tap Legacy
The Cotton Club 1984, Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and Choreographed by Dr. Henry LeTang starring Gregory Hines and Maurice Hines among others.
It is the story of what was a famous night club in Harlem. The story follows the people that visited the club, those that ran it, and is peppered with the Jazz music that made it so famous.
By Tap Legacy
Roberta an RKO 1935 musical film starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers among others.
The film was adapted from a 1933 Broadway musical based on Gowns by Roberta by Alice Duer Miller, a solid hit.
The film Roberta kept the famed songs Yesterdays, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and I’ll Be Hard to Handle.
It also added Jerome Kern’s I Won’t Dance and Lovely to Look At both were Number One hits in 1935, the latter being nominated for the Best Song Oscar.
The clip is from Roberta with Fred and Ginger dancing to I’ll Be Hard To Handle.
By Tap Legacy
To all dancers, dance enthusiasts and tap dancers join us in celebrating the Birthday of Will Gaines today 4/4/1928.
An Honorary Board member of Tap Legacy™.
Will was raised in Detroit, USA, but made the move back in 1960’s swapping NY for Rotherham, England where he lived till his passing in 2014.
The move was after a successful US career that had included seasons at the Cotton Club with swing stars Lionel Hampton and Cab Calloway.
The clip is of Will Gaines in My Home Is My Shoe one of a series of short films directed and produced by Deborah Anzalone/Century Films, this was broadcasted by Channel 4 UK, on January 19th, 2009.
By Tap Legacy
Yes Sir, That’s My Baby, 1949 Starring Donald O’Connor, Gloria DeHaven, Charles Coburn among others.
Directed by George Sherman, written by Oscar Brodney, filmed on location at Universal Studios.
The story of a group of ex-GIs at a college, and their clash with their wives about them over playing football.
By Tap Legacy
To all dancers, dance enthusiasts and tap dancers, Join us in celebrating the Birthday of Charles Honi Coles today 04/02/1911.
A Tap Master and National Treasure.
His 1st NYC debut was with The Three Millers.
His 2nd debut, 1934 in NYC Honi opened at the Apollo Theater to a reputation of The fastest feet in the business.
In 1940 he paired with Charles Cholly Atkins as Coles and Atkins, for almost 20 years they entertained and brought audiences to their feet all over the world. The Act stopped in 1959 when the Big Band era was over, and Broadway lost interest in tap dancing.
Honi was a major factor in the resurgence of tap in the 80’s, he was teaching and educating audiences and students at Yale and Cornell among others.
The clip is from Class Act of Tap with Honi performing the B.S. Chorus.
By Tap Legacy
Lady Be Good an MGM musical film released in 1941 with Eleanor Powell receiving top billing.
Powell was dubbed the world’s greatest tap dancer due to her machine-gun footwork.
One favorite quote of her’s What we are is God’s gift to us, what we become is our gift to God.
The film takes its title and the theme song Oh, Lady be Good! from the 1924 George and Ira Gershwin Broadway musical Lady Be Good.
The clip is from from the 1941 MGM Musical film Lady Be Good, with Eleanor Powell tap dancing to George and Ira Gershwin’s Fascinating Rhythms.