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Ted Levy [biography]
Dates: 1960-
Birth Date: Apr 25, 1960
Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois
Ted Levy, tap dancer and Broadway performer and choreographer, was born Ted Lewis Levy in Chicago, Illinois. His mother was a chorus dancer at the famed black-owned Club DeLisa, and he was trained at an early age in the rhythm-tap tradition of the renowned Sammy Dyer (who choreographed the 1939 Broadway musical The Swing Mikado). Levy was "discovered" by Dianne Walker and members of the Copasetics when they performed in the 1985 Chicago production Shoot Me While I'm Happy . He made his Broadway debut in the musical Black and Blue (1989), in which he was a featured dancer in "Butter and Egg Man," choreographed by Fayard Nicholas. The musical megahit won a number of Tony Awards, including one for its four choreographers-- Cholly Atkins, Henry LeTang, Frankie Manning, and Nicholas. On television, Levy was awarded an Emmy for his television debut performance in the PBS Special Precious Memories, and he made his film debut in Spike Malcolm X (1992). That same year saw the production of Ted Levy and Friends; directed by Gregory Hines, it was a celebration of Levy's tap artistry. Influenced by Hines, Levy made his directorial debut in 1994 as director of Savion Glover's Dancing Under the Stars at the New York Shakespeare Festival's Delacorte Theater. In 1993, Levy collaborated with George C. Wolfe and Gregory Hines on the choreography for the Broadway production of Jelly's Last Jam, for which he received a Tony nomination, Drama Desk Award nomination, and Outer Critics Circle Award.
A versatile theater artist skilled in acting, sing, and tap dancing, Levy directed the workshop production of Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk. When that show, directed by George C. Wolfe, became a smash hit, with a planned move to Broadway in 1996, Levy was charged with recruiting and training young dancers in Savion Glover's hard-hitting rhythm-tap style. In February 1997, eight male students were enrolled in the first three-month course in which Levy taught them the rhythm-tapping styles of such masters as Lon Chaney, Chuck Green, and Jimmy Slyde, who had described the tradition as "the art of sound."
In 2001, Levy appeared with Gregory Hines in the television movie Bojangles. That same year, he returned to Broadway as Papa Jack in Susan Stroman and Harry Conick Jr.'s Thou Shalt Not. In 2010, Levy performed in A Night at the Cotton Club with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra.
[Source: Constance Valis Hill, Tap Dancing America, A Cultural History (2010)]