I just attended Tap Talk at the Vancouver Public Library. It was an hour presentation on three Canadian tap dance legends: Heather Cornell, Dr Jeni LeGon and William Orlowski. The fantastic thing is that all three are still alive. I hate when we only honour people after they’ve passed.
Heather Cornell was born in Canada and went on to train in New York and start Manhattan Tap. She is a phenomenal dancer and I admire her because she works to be a member of the band rather than a solo artist with a back up band. We saw several video clips of her choreography and I’m astounded by the sounds that people can make with their feet and hands.
Dr Jeni LeGon is one of my favourite tap dancers, and she lives in Vancouver. She is the epitome of cheery. I love talking to Jeni and hearing her stories about dancing with the Count Basie band and with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. Jeni is cute now but my word was she ever a beauty. If you haven’t seen it, rent Hooray for Love to see Bojangles dancing and singing with Miss Jeni.
William is a true Canadian, born in Canada, trained in Canada and stayed in Canada to co-found the National Tap Dance Company. He’s renowned for bringing narrative to tap dancing. We watched a video clip of a tap/theatre performance about two spat-prone lovers having a telephone conversation. The whole conversation is in tap.
Tomorrow is the big show, Tap To It, at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. 2 pm or 7 pm. Tickets at Ticketmaster. It will be a tap ball for sure.
In other tap dance news, my friend Carmelle, who is a great Vancouver tapper, had a baby girl on Tap Dance Day, the 25th. And Brock Jellison, whose tap show 77 Minutes I previously blogged about, will be performing on June 1 at the SYNC.
the SYNC @ Nettwerk – Vancouver
June, 1 2006 at 77 MINUTES Featuring NEW Unreleased Music by BROCK JELLISON LIVE @ the SYNC
1648 West 2nd Ave, Vancouver, V6J 4R3
Cost: $10.00
77 Minutes imagines a desperate vision of a possible future where a despotic government imposes extreme censorship on individual expression. Join us at the SYNC @ Nettwerk to be a part of a special encore musical concert from the theatre/dance production. Tickets can be purchased at the SYNC on tues-sat 10am-4pm. Please email questions to karen@nettwerk.com
That’s all for now. Snap your fingers. Keep a beat. Think about tap dancing.