Tuesday, March 23, 2010

A tap moment.

So, I'm waiting for the Light Rail in Jersey City.  The weather is rather gloomy and I'm feeling not 100% after staying at home all day yesterday feeling down and sick.  An announcement is made on the intercom that the next train coming in will be the "West Side Avenue" train.  A gray haired couple walks by me and as the woman of the couple hears the announcement she quietly says "East side, west side all around the town" to the man she is with.  I softly start whistling the rest of "Sidewalks of New York", which is the song she is talk/singing.  She turns to me and we both sing the next lyrics to the tune.  As the train pulls in, I do a little waltz clog step with an air heel kick and go into the train.  I smile back at her as she and her partner smile beamingly back at me.   Moments like this I live for.

If you do not know the song "Sidewalks of New York" and/or do not know what a waltz clog is, below are examples of both.  To do a nice waltz clog to "Sidewalks" the tune needs to go a little slower than this rendition.  The waltz clog example is done to one of my favorite tunes taken from the film "Hans Christian Anderson", as sung by Danny Kaye.  You'll see the dancer do an air heel kick toward the end.



2 comments:

  1. Sweet story, Hank. Who is the dancer in the clip doing the waltz clog?

    ReplyDelete
  2. His name is Richard Kuller and teaches at Pasadena Community College. I found him on YouTube after looking up "waltz clog".

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