Vaudeville, Tap and Fun

Yesterday was the end of 2014 NJ Tap Festival, where I presented some tap related videos this past Thursday and Friday.  I talked about vaudeville and the performers from that time who did everything when it came to performing.  It was sort of a continuation of something I did at the American Tap Dance Foundation back in April.  At heart, I am a song and dance and comedy man when comes to being on stage and like it when performers bring all kinds of skills to the stage when they do their thing.  I wanted to show the students (most of them were rather young) some performers the may not know of and also inspire them to be creative in what they do.  Part of my focus was showing examples of how props and sets can be used in performance.  I also tried to show connections and relationships between different performers, like Sammy Davis Jr., James Brown, Burns & Allen, Fred Astaire, The Nicholas Brothers, Bob Hope, James Cagney, Gene Kelly, and Donald O'Connor, to name a few.  So here are some examples of what I showed.  The first is with two of my favorite performers, who actually have influenced my work.

  Hardest Working Men in Show Business

Three guys with top hats and canes...The Berry Brothers

Hope and Cagney from "The Seven Little Foys"

More to come......keep dancing!!!!!

    Hank