Tap Legacy Foundation, Inc.

Preserving and Advancing the Art of Tap Dance.

1989

[Daily Post] Clayton Peg Leg Bates

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Working the cotton fields of SC as a young boy wasn’t 9 to 5, it was can to can’t.

1918 he lost his leg in a cottonseed mill accident, his uncle built him his first Peg Leg.

1920 Peg Leg began dancing in amateur shows in Greenville, SC, in 1926 he joined Eddie Leonard’s Dashing Dinah company.

1928 he joined Blackbirds of 1928 touring revue, from the 1930 – 1940 he toured the United States and Europe.

1950 -1970 appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show over 22 times.

1951 he opened the Peg Leg Bates Country Club in Kerhonkson NY,  sold it in 1989 and retired, except for Special appearances.

[Daily Post] LaVaughn Robinson HAPPY BIRTHDAY

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To all dancers, dance enthusiasts and tap dancers, join us in celebrating the Birthday of LaVaughn Robinson today 02/09/1927.

A tap Master and National Treasure. with a career span of over 70 years, Robinson began dancing on the streets of Philly, to nightclubs and National and Int’l. tap festivals.

The NEA Awarded him Living National Treasure a National Heritage Fellowship in 1989, a lifetime honor and a 1992 Pew Fellowship in the Arts.

The clip is of LaVaughn Robinson and Tap dance partner Jermaine Ingram performing in Denver CO at the Paramount Theater to Tap Do Wop.

New Emage  singers are; Ricardo Rose, Anwar Rose, Tony Williams, Al Williams, Darryl Campbell

[Daily Post] Neil Applebaum HAPPY BIRTHDAY

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To all dancers, dance enthusiasts and tap dancers, join us in celebrating the Birthday of Neil Applebaum today 02/01/??.

Neil was a dance-trained wrestler, of NYC Tapworks trio with Jackie Raven & Clara Hetherington.

The trio performed a varied repertory of traditional tap steps, Latin and jump-rope numbers.

Neil was in the cast as a tap dancer of the Great Performances – TV Series Documentary Tap Dance In America 1989.

[Daily Post] Leon Collins

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Leon Collins, a Tap Master and National Treasure.

Began dancing at an early age and went on professionally until the 60s when tap dancing demand began to fade.

In the 70’s revival, and at the urging of friends like Tina Pratt and Stanley Brown, Leon came back teaching, opening a studio in 1976 with Mae Arnette Star Steps Studio. Leon was best known for his work with jazz, bebop and classical music.

Flight of the Bumblebee – see clip – became his signature tune.

This clip is from the documentary Songs Unwritten: A Tap Dancer Remembered 1989

[Daily Post] Charles Cholly Atkins HAPPY BIRTHDAY

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to all dancers, dance enthusiasts and tap dancers. Join us in celebrating the Birthday of Charles Cholly Atkins today 09/30/1913, born Charles Sylvan Atkinson in Alabama. A Tap Master and National Treasure.

Atkins, a tap dancer and vaudeville performer, would later become the house choreographer for the various artists on the Motown music label.

Atkins’ first found fame was in one of the top vaudeville class acts with partner Charles Honi Coles. Billed as Coles & Atkins, they toured nationally and internationally performing with the bands of Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, and Count Basie, among others.

In 1964, following many years as a freelance choreographer for vocal groups, Atkins was hired by Berry Gordy to work with the artists on his newly formed Motown label. Atkins’ new style of vocal choreography would define an entirely new kind of choreographic style and supply the trademark moves of many quintessential Motown acts such as Gladys Knight and The Pips, The Supremes, The Temptations, and The Four Tops, among others.

Atkins continued working with Motown artists well into the 1980s, however, over the years Atkins’ own choreography may also be seen in groups outside of the Motown family, such as The Cadillacs and the O’Jays. All totaled Atkins worked with more that 75 vocal groups and 20 solo acts over the course of his choreographic career.

Atkins received a Tony Award in 1989 for choreography of the Broadway show Black and Blue, which he shared with Henry LeTang, Frankie Manning and Fayard Nicholas. In 1993, The National Endowment for the Arts awarded Atkins its most prestigious dance honor: a three-year choreographers fellowship.

Other awards and honors include induction in the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, the first recipient of the Elder Mentors Award from the Smithsonian Institution’s Center for African American History and Culture, an Honorary Doctorate in Dance from Oklahoma City University. Atkins was also a founding member of the Copasetics and a member of the Tap Legacy Foundation’s Honorary Board.

Sit back and enjoy this clip of Coles and Atkins, Cholly is on screen left when the clip starts.

Class… Rhythm and Musicality like no other, WOW!!!

 

 

[Daily Post] Arthur Duncan HAPPY BIRTHDAY

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Dr. Arthur Duncan was born in Pasadena, California, September 25, 1933. Pursuing his college education, he entered the Pasadena City College to study pharmacy, but left school soon after to pursue a career in show business, at which he garnered success as a tap dancer and singer. He toured with the Jimmy Rodgers Show.

After several years of appearances in Europe, Duncan was discovered by Lawrence Welk’s personal manager, Sam Lutz. After appearing as a guest on the show, Lawrence Welk offered Duncan a permanent spot as a member of his musical family.

Arthur Duncan gained fame as the first African American performer on the popular Lawrence Welk Show. Duncan danced and sang on the show from 1964 to the show’s finale in 1982.

Besides his solo number on the show, he teamed up with Bobby Burgess and Jack Imel in performing popular dance routines.

After the Lawrence Welk Show finale in 1982, Duncan has appeared in several television shows such as Diagnosis Murder, Columbo, The Betty White Show and many more. He also appeared with Red Skelton, Sammy Davis Jr., Gregory Hines, Jerry Lewis, Dick Van Dyke, Tommy Tune, Lionel Hampton and much more.

He was featured in the Challenge scene in the 1989 movie TAP with Harold Nicholas, Jimmy Slyde, Steve Condos, Bunny Briggs, Sandman Sims, Pat Rico, Henry LeTang On Piano, Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis Jr.

He continues to be a major force as a Tap Master on the Tap Festival scene Nationally and Internationally, among an enormous busy schedule.

Duncan has received the 2004 Flo-Bert Award of Lifetime Achievement of Tap Artistry, in New York City, and the 2005 Living Treasure in American Dance Award from the Oklahoma City University and an honorary doctorate was presented to him in Spring 2008. Also receiving the Gregory Hines Humanitarian Award from the Gabriella Axelrad Education Foundation for his work with the Inner City Kids’ Non-Profit Dance Program.

The clip is from the 1965 Lawrence Welk Show, with Duncan tap dancing on the piano to Cute played by Doug Scherer!!!