Reviewing the year 2003 - a look at trends and forecasts in dance world - appreciation of tap dancer Gregory Hines

Dance Magazine, Dec, 2003 by Jane Goldberg

AS YEARS GO, 2003 wasn't a great one for dance--with a few notable exceptions, The states' budget shortfalls, belt-tightening, and conservative spending have progressed nationally and internationally to a wave of layoffs, closures, and cancellations of projects, and of course, war. But announced plans for 2004 are spectacular, so expand your calendar for events you just can't skip. Confidence in economic recovery is reinforced by increased attendance reported at major summer festivals and single performances. Communities in North America display their optimism in the future by major capital building of theaters and performing arts centers.

LESS AND MORE

Between visa denials by embassies and the SARS epidemic, you would think that international travel was inhibited, but except for quarantine-declared regions such as Toronto and parts of Asia, dance-related tourism travel grew rather than diminished. "Yes, the Chinese students were denied visas by the American Embassy in China because of the SARS issue," reported a spokesperson for the Youth America Grand Prix competition. "We lost some really great students from the Beijing Arts Academy and Shin Jen Arts Academy--and also some international students because of the war in Iraq. No visas were granted after the war started, but those who had applied before had no problem. We lost students from Canada, Japan, France, Brazil, and Mexico. Nevertheless, we had a very successful competition." Many dance workshops and competitions that were held during the summer reported record-breaking numbers of applicants.

But: World health officials are now recommending inoculation this year against a particularly virulent flu virus that has already struck Australia and areas of Southeast Asia, the area of the planet where these attacks are often first identified. International tracking of communicable diseases offers the hope of preventing runaway epidemics that close schools and theater box offices.

ART IS PAYING OFF

Choreographers Mark Dendy, Mia Michaels, and Twyla Tharp, who are better known for their work in concert dance, applied their skills to the commercial stage in Taboo!, A New Day, and Movin' On, respectively. And Broadway and Las Vegas audiences responded with ticket sales and applause. Is this a trend? Let's hope so.

POINTING OUT THE BEST

Four members of the dance community were honored with the prestigious Dance Magazine Award in April 2003: recently retired American ballerina Susan Jaffe; choreographer and artistic director of Frankfurt Ballet William Forsythe; New York City Ballet principal Jock Soto; and Charles Reinhart and his wife, Stephanie (awarded postumously), directors of the American Dance Festival. Guests chatted with the recipients following the presentations at Merkin Hall in New York City.

POINTING OUT THE BEST

A building boom of performing arts centers gives new venues to many dance, theater, and music companies. Support for these capital campaigns is coming mostly from private donors these days, rather than public funding--which has been significantly withdrawn. Among the constructions are Kansas City Ballet's new center (right); Pacific Northwest Ballet's McCaw Center; National Ballet of Canada's Four Seasons Center for the Performing Arts in Toronto; Joan Weill Center for Dance for the Alvin Ailey school and company in New York City; Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. University centers haven't been left behind: University of Arizona's new center in Tucson; Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts of Bard College, New York; and London's Laban Centre. "We are going forward," said William Whitener, artistic director of Kansas City Ballet, "but with private contributions."

THE YEAR 2003 was especially hard on the tap community, as a long list of names the public recognizes--and whose skills respired generations of new dancers and audiences--passed into memory: Cholly Atkins, Buddy Ebsen, Al Gilbert, Donald O'Connor, Sandman Sims, and of course, Gregory Hines.

TALKING TAP (ONE LAST TIME) WITH GREGORY HINES

"I want to tap for the people, Jane. I want to bring tap dancing to the people." Gregory Hines said that to me often in Greenwich Village, where we were during the 1980s. He succeeded like nobody else did. Gregory was reintroducing tap dancing into the mainstream on Broadway with shows like Sophisticated Ladies, Eubie, movies like White Nights, Cotton Club, TAP!, and television like his Great Performances PBS special, Johnny Carson, and Letterman. I--and many dancers like me--on the other band, was taking it into much more intimate venues: downtown lofts, Jacob's Pillow, and the American Dance Festival, where tap had been shuffled out of the public eye for years.

From our first meeting--backstage at Black Broadway, a show he ended up emceeing when Honi Coles got sick--we were partners in tap. I was looking for John Bubbles and stumbled over Hines, who was stretched out on the floor in second position. He told me he'd heard from his wife about "some white chick tapping with the old hoofers at DTW" and I told hint I liked that he wore his glasses in Eubie. We both loved talking about tap--its past, present, and future. We were totally addicted. I even brought out my tape recorder at his daughter's wedding and he spouted his take on the Irish roots of tap. We were baby boomers, ex-hippies, and finally part of the big tap revival of 1978, when lap was blossoming in all kinds of venues and Gregory. Hines was our Pied Piper. He carried his shoes everywhere.