How Tap Got Its Day - May 25th National Tap Dance Day - Brief Article

Dance Magazine, May, 2001 by Jane Goldberg

THREE DANCE DIEHARDS GAVE `BOJANGLES' AND HIS ARTISTIC HEIRS THEIR DUE

May 25 used to mean little more than outdoor barbecues and the beginning of summer holidays. But that was before November 1989, when Representative John Conyers of Michigan and then-Senator Al D'Amato of New York won congressional passage of Resolution 131 declaring May 25 National Tap Dance Day. As Conyers said, "By golly, there ought to be a law to make everyone love tap dancing."

There's no law to say everybody has to love tap dancing, but enough people do to keep late May's tap festivals, shows, parties, and events humming. National Tap Dance Day has caught on and is celebrated as far away as Japan, Australia, India, and Iceland.

Celebrated on the agreed-upon birthday of legendary tap pioneer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (Robinson had no birth certificate), National Tap Dance Day was the brainstorm of Carol Vaughn, Nicola Daval, and Linda Christensen, who talked and breathed tap and came up with the idea in the Metro subway in Washington, D.C. Vaughn was one of tap's great impresarios from the get-go in the 1970s tap revival. She usually made a big splash in her marketing. Once, she tapped up and down the steps of the Washington Monument in an attention-getting "I Ain't A'Fred A'staires." Some might have thought her gimmicky, but Vaughn's tap pranks always made news and she was a serious student and teacher of tap. But, a bill in Congress? Vaughn, Christensen, and Daval knew no limits.

In the late 1980s, Christensen, then a graduate student, had discovered legislation had already been passed to declare jazz a national treasure. She and the other two Tap Day instigators worded that tap might be considered too trivial for Congress, especially since Conyers had already gotten jazz legislation passed. But the three women hadn't counted on Conyers hearing (the late) Honi Coles describe tap's deep relationship to jazz on National Public Radio. Conyers was sold on Tap Day legislation.

Both houses of Congress had to endorse enactment of National Tap Dance Day. Luckily for the determined trio, Al D'Amato, a Republican senator from New York, was a tap fan. With the two lawmakers in place, the three women rallied tap teachers and dancers the world over to sign petitions and write letters. After much discussion, the three picked Bill Robinson's birthday because he was a tap dancer known and loved worldwide for his work onstage and in movies. They also felt it was important that the symbol for tap be African American because many people still did not know of blacks' contribution to tap. To tap insiders, Robinson was renowned for dancing on the ball of the foot, in split wooden soles, and in perfect time.

In a 1994 article for the International Tap Dance Association's newsletter, Vaughn and Daval wrote, "Even though tap dance was experiencing renewed popularity, there was still little public aware ness of tap beyond a few Broadway shows, old Fred Astaire movies, and the occasional concert or TV special featuring several of the great master tappers. There had to be a way to increase recognition of tap's contribution to our cultural and artistic heritage and to bring its special appeal to everyone."

The outcome was the Tap America Project (TAP), a nonprofit advocacy organization, and the nationwide campaign to establish National Tap Dance Day.

When Conyers introduced the bill declaring National Tap Dance Day in the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., in September, 1988, I remember hearing Gregory Hines address the Congressional Black Caucus in one of the capital's classy old hotels. How much excitement was generated by the presence of Hines, Sandman Sims, Harold Nicholas, and the then-teenage Savion Glover!

To build momentum for his bill, Conyers held a press conference and the Tap America Project invited some of the stars of the not-yet-released film, Tap. There was a standing ovation from many members of Congress in response to the film clip they saw. An odd mixture--tap dancers and politicians, seemingly in great spirits, rubbing elbows on the steps of the Capitol.

In New York City, that special day is celebrated with entertainment and music at Town Hall, where the New York Committee to Celebrate National Tap Dance Day present the Flo-Bert Awards (named after black entertainers Florence Mills and Bert Williams). This year, on May 27, 2001, awards go to Jeni LeGon and Delilah Jackson. LeGon, who danced alongside "Bojangles" Robinson in the film Hooray for Love, was his only black partner in movies. (Little Shirley Temple partnered him in four movies.) LeGon was unique in her day because most female dancers danced in the chorus and there were very few female solo performers. Her trademark was a tailored pants suit. Delilah Jackson is a historian, researcher, and founder of the Black Patti Project, a nonprofit organization that collects and maintains archives of Afro-American arts, music, dance, and theater. In addition, a new award, The Honi, named after the late Honi Coles, will be presented to the legendary Jimmy Slyde by Marion Coles, Honi Coles's widow.