New York City Tap Extravaganza 1991 Original Hoofers performer Browne, Harriet performer Walker, Dianne performer glover, Savion performer Porter, Van performer Levy, Ted performer Bufalino, Brenda performer Concert 1991-05-25 May 25, 1991 The New York City Tap Extravaganza, produced by the New York Committee to Celebrate National Tap Dance Day, Norman Thomas High School, New York City. Honorary Chairman Charles "Honi" Coles; co-chairmen and co-producers Al Heywood and Carl Schlesinger. Master of Ceremonies, Harold Nicholas. Performers include Jane Goldberg and Topical Tap (Sarah Safford, Dorothy Wasserman), Jackie Shue, Charles "Cookie" Cook, Harriet Browne, Peggy Spina and Theresa McCleary, DancEllington, Tina Pratt, Brenda Bufalino and the American Tap Dance Orchestra (Neil Applebaum, Barbara Duffy, Russell Halley, Margaret Morrison, Robin Tribble, Tony Waag), Swing N' Taps (Jamie Cuneen and Mike Mayou), Savion Glover, Van Porter and Ted Levy, Buster Brown, The Original Hoofers, Dianne Walker, Lon Chaney, George Hillman, Chuck Green, Jimmy Slyde, Peg Leg Bates. Musicians Ron Mathews (piano), Clarence "Tootsie" Bean (drums), and Reggie Workman (bass). 1991 Flo-Bert Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Clayton "Peg Leg" Bates and The Original Hoofers (Lon Chaney, Chuck Green, George Hillman, Bernard Manners, Jimmy Slyde). Harold Nicholas of the famed Nicholas Brothers hosted the evening and presented the 1991 Flo-Bert Award to members of the Original Hoofers and the one-legged dancer "Peg Leg" Bates. The Original Hoofers did not accept their award sitting down. They strolled on, stomping and clapping out a ring-shot (Chaney's invention call The Track) that sent each of them to the center of the half circle for a solo: Each off their individual styles-- Chaney's sturdy paddle and rolls, Hillman's leggy Charleston, Green's heel-syncopated rhythm tapping and Slyde's swinging slides and glides, Harriet Brown's fast and slippery sand dance, done in a box to her in a gallop pace "Little Pony" glittered like the spangles on her blouse and silver shoes, while Tina Pratt's sassy, high-heeled tapping cooed with sighs of delight. Buster Brown's unusually corny jokes about Cadillacs and light bulbs known by anyone who's seen him perform, succeeded in bringing more laughs. The truly virtuosic dancing came from some members of the younger generation and Savion Glover-- the youngest at 19-- was the fastest and the best of the bunch. Long-limbed and lanky, Glover laid out a steady stream of non-stop sounds that chattered like a typewriter. Dancing free-form, he used every part of the foot, from the sides of his heels to the tips of his toes, to extract sound. Ted Levy and Van Porter were a pair of young bucks as they traded measures of eight with handstands and rolling dive-splits, while Jamie Cunneen and Mike Mayou of Swing 'N Taps chose to croon and stroll their taps away. Brenda Bufalino, neither a kid nor a vet, is in a class of her own. The most provocatively fluent of all the rhythm tappers, she gives a nuanced phrases of sound in her feet, and then expresses them up and through her body so that every little gesture sings. Hers is a true integration of body, sound and soul. Dianne Walker is also an individualist, though more delicate in touch and intricate in her phrasing of the only dance of the evening done in three--quarter time. "Don't let anything or anyone stop you from what you want to do in life" said the 83-year-old Peg Leg Bates in accepting his 1991 Flo-Bert. I wanted to stay a dancer after my accident. And I did. Dancing is an act of joy." (Constance Valis Hill, "On new Annual Tap Day, Hoofers Rattle Out Joy." Albany Times Union PREVIEW May 30, 1991.p. 10.) Performing Arts Encyclopedia http://www.loc.gov/performingarts Tap Dance America http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/tda/tda-home.html Dianne "Lady Di" Walker (biography) loc.music.tdabio.183 Brenda Bufalino (biography) loc.music.tdabio.42 Ted Levy (biography) loc.music.tdabio.129 Savion Glover (biography) loc.music.tdabio.98 Harriet "Quicksand" Browne (biography) loc.music.tdabio.29 tda IHAS 151216 loc.music.tda.752