- Description
Tap Dance America is a reference work of bibliographic information and does not point to digitized versions of the items described. The Library of Congress may or may not own a copy of a particular film or video. To request additional information Ask a Librarian.
See Also:
From:
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Nicholas Brothers vs. Berry Brothers Challenge 1938 / Berry Brothers [challenge dance]
- Title
- Nicholas Brothers vs. Berry Brothers Challenge 1938 [Challenge Dance]
- Performers
- Berry Brothers
- Nicholas Brothers
- Published/Created
- 1938
- Genre
- Challenge Dance
- Abstract
- For the fifth edition (fall 1938) of the Cotton Club Parade, which the Nicholas Brothers (Fayard and Harold) co-hosted with Cab Calloway, the Nicholas Brothers were scheduled to perform their specialty near the middle of the production. Herman Stark, in charge of programming, scheduled the Berry Brothers (Ananias, Jimmy and Warren) to close the show. In the words of Stark, "You're the Berry Brothers! Let's see what you can really do." Cab Calloway's orchestra was playing on an elevated platform at the rear of the stage. The Berry's performed their dance act as they had been performing. As a challenge to the Nicholas Brothers, in an obvious referencing to their signature slides and splits, the Berrys devised a new and more exciting ending to their routine. Ananias and Jimmy jumped up on the band platform, then sprinted further up a flight of stairs to leap over the heads of the musicians, twelve feet through the air; they landed in a split on both sides of Warren, who at the same time snapped out of a twisting back somersault into a split on the last note of the music.
- Source
- Stearns, Marshall and Jean Stearns: Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance. New York: Macmillan (1968).
Last Updated: 12-16-2015