By Walter Rutledge
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Category: Tap Dance
8/22/25 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project’s Artists Speak
By Walter Rutledge
The Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project (CBDLP) 2025 presentation, Unbound: Shattered Frames, Endless Visions will grace the stage of the Harris Theater for Music and Dance this Saturday, August 23, 6pm. This unprecedented dance/theatre event showcases ten of Chicago’s most dynamic and diverse dance companies. The event is more than a dance concert. The production is a collective of Chicago-based artists celebrating the continued historic contributions of the Black dance community on the city’s cultural landscape. Continue reading
7/18/25 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: Harold Nicholas – Mister BeeBe from Carolina Blues (1944)
An amazing song and tap routine from Carolina Blues (1944) – with a huge cast of dancers and singers, and headed up by the wonderful Harold Nicholas. Continue reading
11/1/24 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: Hinton Battle/Alfonso Ribeiro -Tap Dance Kid (Tony Awards 1984)
Fabulous Feet from the Broadway musical The Tap Dance Kid choreographed by Danny Daniels and featuring Alfonso Ribeiro, Hinton Battle and Company. This performance is from the 1984 Tony Awards. Continue reading
9/8/24 O&A NYC SUNDAY AFTERNOON JAZZ CONCERT: Bunny Briggs and Duke Ellington- David Danced Before the Lord
Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concert of Music featured guest artist, famed tap dancer Bunny Briggs. Briggs known as Duke’s Dancer had a smooth effortless style perfect for Ellington’s Come Sunday. Continue reading
11/30/21 O&A NYC HOLLYWOOD MONDAY: Harlem On Parade (1944)| Louis Armstrong and Dorothy Dandridge
Harlem On Parade is a musical number from the 1944 American musical romance film Atlantic City. The supporting cast features Louis Armstrong, Buck & Bubbles and Dorothy Dandridge who recreated Vaudeville acts. The film was reissued in 1950 under the title Atlantic City Honeymoon. Continue reading
5/7/21 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: The Harlem Sandman (1943) Count Basie and Dorothy Dandridge,
Count Basie and his Orchestra play Harlem Sandman, an extended number in Hit Parade of 1943. It features Dorothy Dandridge and Jack Williams singing plus dance act Pops and Louis (Albert Whitman & Louis Williams) along with dancers Dorothea Durham, Neva Peoples & Ruth Scott.
Continue reading
11/27/20 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: The First Moonwalk- Bill Bailey At The Apollo Theatre (1955)
Bill Bailey, brother of singer Pearl Bailey, is frequently credited with inventing the moonwalk because of a tap dancing move called backslide; making this one of the first ever moonwalks on film Continue reading
8/31/20 O&A NYC HOLLYWOOD MONDAY: Pie Pie Blackbird (1932) | Eubie Blake Nina Mae McKinney Nicholas Brothers
Pie Pie Blackbird, like a lot of classic shorts from the time is nothing more than an excuse to spotlight some great music from the period. Continue reading
8/24/20 O&A NYC DANCE… AND MORE: Peace One Love- Bringing Brooklyn Together
By Walter Rutledge
Dance has always been a catalyst for change. In 1936 Martha Graham created her masterwork Chronicles as a weapon against the rising menace of fascism in Germany. In 1959 Donald McKayle’s Rainbow Round My Shoulder evoked the hopelessness and inequality of Black men on a southern prison chain gang. On Saturday August 29 Jamel Gaines Creative Outlet Dance Theatre of Brooklyn (also known as Creative Outlet or just C.O.) will also use the power of dance to heal a community with Peace One Love, an afternoon of the arts celebrating the spirit of the now internationally recognized Black Lives Matter movement. Continue reading
