:00:09. > :00:12.Hey Mars, Janes getting kind -- jeans getting kind of tight,
:00:13. > :00:25.brother. Savion Glover is no ordinary tap
:00:26. > :00:30.dancer. He's been described as the greatest of all time, the Michael
:00:31. > :00:36.juror don of his -- Michael Jordan of his art form.
:00:37. > :00:43.From child prodigy to global star, Glover's George Bush yip has been a
:00:44. > :00:49.re-- journey has been a remarkable one. Striving to make tap dance
:00:50. > :00:54.relevant to new generations. In a career full of surprises, he's
:00:55. > :00:59.brought a revolutionary hip-hop presence to Broadway and was the
:01:00. > :01:05.inspiration for Mumble, the dancing penguin in the award winning film,
:01:06. > :01:09.Happy Feet. Glover's tap dance style is rooted
:01:10. > :01:16.in African-American history and he's a passionate torchbearer for the
:01:17. > :01:19.great tap innovators of the past. With performances at Sadler's Wells
:01:20. > :01:23.in London next month, this film explores his art, life and the black
:01:24. > :01:39.tap dance tradition he's a vital part of.
:01:40. > :01:46.A few miles west of glitzy Manhattan sits the city of Newark, New Jersey,
:01:47. > :01:58.a completely different world and home to Glover's tap dance studio
:01:59. > :02:10.The Hooferz Club. Ready. Today he's busy rehearsing some
:02:11. > :02:23.intricate rhythms with long time friend and collaborator Marshall
:02:24. > :02:27.Davis Junior. It was really complex. I heard you say gang, gang there. I
:02:28. > :02:33.couldn't place it in what you were doing. Could you... Could you kind
:02:34. > :02:38.of break it down for me, for an amateur what was happening there.
:02:39. > :02:45.There t was a series of sounds, if you will, that we've been toying
:02:46. > :02:54.around with for now, maybe two years maybe, two or three years, going on
:02:55. > :03:01.three years. And hour fun and goal here is to see
:03:02. > :03:05.how you, the audience, how many different ways you can hear the same
:03:06. > :03:23.step. Right. It has to do with sometimes where we place the
:03:24. > :03:31.accents, but it's basically the same step. Basically it sounds like
:03:32. > :03:35.you're giving me a clue at the beginning and the end, which is
:03:36. > :03:40.quite nice. I keep getting lost. Let me count it off for you. One, two,
:03:41. > :03:53.three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
:03:54. > :04:07.Once you get past the steps in the combination there's something more
:04:08. > :04:11.to deal with, that's the musicality and the dance.
:04:12. > :04:24.You run out of steps before you run out of sounds. I'm 40 years old,
:04:25. > :04:35.man. No! No way! I say that in reference to tap dancers. When I was
:04:36. > :04:42.like 18 and 21, I had a lot of steps. My challenge was to cut you
:04:43. > :04:48.down. I was going to win. That was my intentions, my goal. I was
:04:49. > :05:00.writing on the bottom of my shoes like "Your momma! Cut' em. Get' em"
:05:01. > :05:04.Crazy stuff. I grew up here in Newark. It was like, oh, I'm going
:05:05. > :05:09.to get you. I'm going to get you through tap dancing. When I leave,
:05:10. > :05:14.you're going to remember me. Growing up in this notorious Newark
:05:15. > :05:17.neighbourhood seems to have really shaped Glover and his approach to
:05:18. > :05:25.dance. I'm keen to find out more about the early days.
:05:26. > :05:32.I was born and raised here, this is any neighbourhood right here. Where
:05:33. > :05:36.you see nothing, this is where my home was, right across the street
:05:37. > :05:42.from little bricks, these little projects here. An empty lot, but
:05:43. > :05:47.your house... Was right here. To it? It's not here any more. I guess the
:05:48. > :05:52.government is doing another project. I don't know what is going to be
:05:53. > :05:57.here. But this is where it all started. We weren't really allowed
:05:58. > :06:02.to go over here. This was one of the most dangerous little projects in
:06:03. > :06:08.Newark, one of the most. So my mom wouldn't allow us to go over here
:06:09. > :06:12.but once I got like maybe 16 or 17, I started to go over there because I
:06:13. > :06:18.wanted to play basketball with those kids. They were good. So we would
:06:19. > :06:22.sneak over there, then come back. Miss Sugar would tell my mother that
:06:23. > :06:26.we would go across the street. We'd get in in trouble. You tell people
:06:27. > :06:33.that you were a tap dancer? Did everyone know? I didn't really talk
:06:34. > :06:38.too much. Why was that? I mean, that just wasn't my style. What we did in
:06:39. > :06:42.New York or stuff like that, we did over there. When we came back here,
:06:43. > :06:45.it was about what's happening here. Ly speaking, what were some of the
:06:46. > :06:50.things you and your friends were into? It was hip-hop, man. It was
:06:51. > :06:58.rap. When I came out of the house, I was B-boy. I grew up in the B boy
:06:59. > :07:03.era. I won trophies breakdancing. Newark helped you forge your own tap
:07:04. > :07:08.style? Definitely. My energy wouldn't have been as it was had it
:07:09. > :07:14.not been for me being from Newark. I can guarantee you that. Newark is a
:07:15. > :07:18.chocolate city. It's unlike any other city, it's unlike any other
:07:19. > :07:24.place. You just got to know how to survive. I got Jacked one time, over
:07:25. > :07:28.here, right over here on 12th Street or whatever. We walking back from
:07:29. > :07:33.one of the restaurants and the cat pulls up around the corner. Open the
:07:34. > :07:39.door, double pump shot gun, like, yo, give me your money and take off
:07:40. > :07:42.that link. I must have had over $200 in my pocket. I was performing at
:07:43. > :07:47.the time. I said, "I don't have no money. I can give you my gold
:07:48. > :07:54.chain." I gave him the chain and get it moving. Man, that's intense.
:07:55. > :07:59.Yeah, man. It's like something out a movie. Yes, man, it is, you know it
:08:00. > :08:01.can happen. You grow up with that mentality at the same time. I think
:08:02. > :08:25.that is also what makes us strong. You're list tong his feet, but then
:08:26. > :08:30.you're looking at the fantasm. There's a kind of other-worldly
:08:31. > :08:35.quality to the way he moves. He moves for the purpose of the rhythm
:08:36. > :08:40.he's trying to make, like if there's -- there's nothing contried about
:08:41. > :08:46.what he's doing -- coftrived about what he's doing. He's a master of
:08:47. > :08:52.rhythm, so his movement is so varied and unpredictable.
:08:53. > :08:57.Savion can tap on anything that was tapable. There was just no stopping
:08:58. > :09:08.him. I put him in tap school. He took it and ran with it. He had
:09:09. > :09:13.rhythm throughout his entire body. Others were quick to notice Savion's
:09:14. > :09:22.precocious gifts and in 1984, aged just ten, he was cast as a lead in a
:09:23. > :09:28.hit Broadway musical, the Tap dance Kid. The dance was just
:09:29. > :09:37.choreography. It wasn't expression, as I know it now, to be. The roots
:09:38. > :09:41.of this epiphany came the following year in Paris for a show called
:09:42. > :09:49.Black and Blue. He appeared alongside the legends known as The
:09:50. > :09:54.Hooferz Club -- the Hoofers. I walk into this studio and you know, there
:09:55. > :09:58.are dancers there, they have on leg warmers. They're stretching and all
:09:59. > :10:03.of this. Then there's some cats up in the corners like smoking and
:10:04. > :10:08.just, you know, kicking it. They still have their clothes on and what
:10:09. > :10:16.not. I'm like, oh, wow, I kind of gravitate to them. Come to find out,
:10:17. > :10:19.these are the cats, it's Jimmy Sly, it's Buster, it's raffle Brown, it's
:10:20. > :10:32.the great tap dancers. -- Ralph. They were a group of
:10:33. > :10:43.ageing tap dancers who specialised in a per ussive -- percussive and
:10:44. > :10:46.expressive type of tap dance. Like Louis Arm strong always said, you
:10:47. > :10:50.don't have to plap the notes as written, play them as you feel.
:10:51. > :11:00.Dancing is similar, because you have to feel it to really execute. The
:11:01. > :11:05.group's members had stayed true to their heart -- art, keeping it alive
:11:06. > :11:13.when public interest tailed off in the 60s and 70s.
:11:14. > :11:27.Tap dance is a form of communication. It is a language that
:11:28. > :11:31.speaks to the soul. The Cheney approach to tap dancing is about an
:11:32. > :11:42.experience as a people in this country. It's about pain. It's about
:11:43. > :11:47.joy. It's about so many different emotions versus just tap dancing for
:11:48. > :11:50.the sake of, I'm going to do this dance routine and think nothing of.
:11:51. > :11:57.It -- Of it.
:11:58. > :12:02.The origins of the Hoofers approach can be traced back to slavery. Drums
:12:03. > :12:07.were banned on American plantations, so slaves came up with other forms
:12:08. > :12:12.of rhythmic release. They could not take away our sense of expression.
:12:13. > :12:18.Now, some of it came through body, you know, doing things here. Some of
:12:19. > :12:20.them came through vocal. But then we're talking about it, a lot of it
:12:21. > :12:40.came through dance. These ancient rhythms were passed on
:12:41. > :12:50.and developed through generations of African Americans.
:12:51. > :12:55.What really inspired him is Chuck inspired him. And we need more
:12:56. > :13:00.people to join in to keep it alive. When we came up under these cats,
:13:01. > :13:07.there were not many young people interested in tap dancing any more.
:13:08. > :13:14.It was only the old cats. I would see what they were doing. And I
:13:15. > :13:24.would just want to be around that. I'd want to try and try and try to
:13:25. > :13:28.get it. If I couldn't get it, I'd come up with my own version of what
:13:29. > :13:47.that could be. I'm you, for instance, and I come in
:13:48. > :13:52.and I'm like, hey, how's it going? What you got. Show me that thing
:13:53. > :13:57.that you do. No, it wouldn't be me saying, show you. What you working
:13:58. > :14:03.on lately? I say, I'm working on this. Oh, yeah, let me see you do it
:14:04. > :14:07.like this. OK yeah, work on that. Then they go over here and have a
:14:08. > :14:11.cigarette. An hour later or whatever, I'd go to them, I've been
:14:12. > :14:17.working on it. Oh, yeah, oh, that's nice. Man, look he think he got
:14:18. > :14:20.something. Then he shows this cat and the next cat over here thinking
:14:21. > :14:24.about something else. You never know what you was learning. You never
:14:25. > :14:29.know what you were learning or who you were learning from, you just
:14:30. > :14:33.knew you were learning something. I didn't necessarily have a father
:14:34. > :14:38.figure around. I had uncles and older brothers. But these cats just
:14:39. > :14:42.filled that void. They filled that gap. I just owe it to them, you know
:14:43. > :15:10.what I mean? That's it. Savion's enviable dance education
:15:11. > :15:15.took another huge leap fwhord he appeared in -- forward when he
:15:16. > :15:19.appeared in Tap, the 1989 film that brought together an array of tap
:15:20. > :15:28.dance stars in a unique challenge scene.
:15:29. > :15:39.They all had their own different styles, man. That is what made them
:15:40. > :15:50.the individuals that they are. Like nobody wanted to copy anybody. Yeah.
:15:51. > :16:04.Here's the King of them or! Yeah! -- of them all! Back-up, back-up! That
:16:05. > :16:13.is the only seemed a shot that day. When they were shooting this,
:16:14. > :16:18.everybody came. -- the only scene. Building something. Everybody came
:16:19. > :16:23.to see this. Everybody was just so amazed. First of all that Sammy
:16:24. > :16:30.Davis Junior was tap dancing. We were like, wow! Dancing opposite
:16:31. > :16:33.Sammy Davis Junior was Gregory Hines, a sleek moderniser who took
:16:34. > :16:46.Savion under his wing. Gregory was the first tap dancer
:16:47. > :16:53.ever, I can say, to do anything like this.
:16:54. > :17:27.Now, what idea it was... -- what idea was -- what I'd do -- did.
:17:28. > :17:35.You know what I'm mean. But Gregory...
:17:36. > :17:44.It was different. Master and apprentice would soon go
:17:45. > :17:53.toe to toe in Broadway show Jelly's Last Jam.
:17:54. > :18:03.You could see that Gregory really motivated Savion. Savion didn't take
:18:04. > :18:12.it for granted being one stage with Gregory. He was applying everything
:18:13. > :18:16.that he had been learning and was still learning.
:18:17. > :18:22.But Savion wasn't just learning about a style and approach to
:18:23. > :18:24.tap-dancing. Many of his mentors had been young performers during
:18:25. > :18:26.Hollywood's so-called Golden Age of the '30s and '40s, when tap dance
:18:27. > :18:35.was all over the silver screen. But pioneering African-American
:18:36. > :18:38.dancers barely featured, and those that did, like Bill "Bojangles"
:18:39. > :18:49.Robinson, had to endure servile, racially stereotyped roles.
:18:50. > :19:01.The more I found out about... This, these clips. The more upset I got.
:19:02. > :19:10.It's strange to see such an incredible innovator almost becoming
:19:11. > :19:15.like a child. A parody. Of what African-American culture was. First
:19:16. > :19:21.of all, he taught this girl, Shirley Temple.
:19:22. > :19:26.I don't want to go up there! Everything wish she would go on to
:19:27. > :19:32.know about dancing. -- everything she would. If it were not for him,
:19:33. > :19:39.there would really be no Shirley Temple. Maybe because I'm a little
:19:40. > :19:41.prejudice to the tap dancing, I don't know any movies that Shirley
:19:42. > :20:00.Temple... Was in without Bojangles! And these days... I want to do that,
:20:01. > :20:09.too! Talk about typecast! They only did one role! Bojangles, he was the
:20:10. > :20:15.butler in this movie, he was the Butler... That is what they were and
:20:16. > :20:21.it gave people, I would imagine, the sense that when you saw them often
:20:22. > :20:25.in the scene, well, if there was a white man around, you had better
:20:26. > :20:27.believe, Bojangles, you had better open my car door and get the
:20:28. > :20:39.luggage! But in order for you to be in film,
:20:40. > :20:46.you have to accept some of these misrepresentations in order that
:20:47. > :20:54.there be at least a representation. Yes, I agree with that. These showed
:20:55. > :20:59.a sense of grievance, a sense of integrity. They wanted to break the
:21:00. > :21:04.barriers. -- a sense of courage. They wanted to let the world know,
:21:05. > :21:09.Hollywood know that it was OK they were paving the way. For black
:21:10. > :21:12.entertainers today. Throughout his career, Savion has
:21:13. > :21:21.lent his own energy and invention to stair dancing.
:21:22. > :21:24.But Bill "Bojangles" Robinson isn't the only artist he's paying tribute
:21:25. > :21:31.to. The 1940s saw the super-suave
:21:32. > :21:42.Nicholas Brothers take the concept to gravity-defying extremes in the
:21:43. > :21:53.film Stormy Weather. The best dance sequence ever created in the history
:21:54. > :22:00.of film-making. And one shot! That's how perfect and fabulous this
:22:01. > :22:06.was. Watch this guy! Watch this! He thinks... Watch what Harold does
:22:07. > :22:16.now. He thinks Harold's going to hit him, so watch what Harold does.
:22:17. > :22:25.Watch what he does! Oh! So that's like... He was watching this guy and
:22:26. > :22:32.thinking, how about this? Notice also, in all of these films, they
:22:33. > :22:41.don't have tap shoes on. So they had to over dog these taps. These are
:22:42. > :22:45.soft shoes. There are no taps. In some clips where you might see a
:22:46. > :22:49.white tap dancer, those were overdubbed by a black tap dancer. My
:22:50. > :23:14.favourite. Ow! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ow! Ow! I
:23:15. > :23:18.mean, but look at the conditions. These guys 30 years later have to
:23:19. > :23:22.have hip replacement and whatnot. Why? Because they are forced to
:23:23. > :23:29.dance on this concrete. It's not wood, there, there's no bounce to
:23:30. > :23:30.the surface. Again, they are pulling off this fabulous act under the
:23:31. > :23:40.worst conditions. With a smile. Drawing both inspiration and ire
:23:41. > :23:43.from the past, in the mid-90s Savion and director George C Wolfe began
:23:44. > :23:54.working together on a revolutionary new show, Bring In Da Noise, Bring
:23:55. > :23:56.In Da Funk. You know, we did a show that was about the history of
:23:57. > :24:02.America, the history of black people in America. And what we had to deal
:24:03. > :24:17.with in our lives. Bring it!
:24:18. > :24:25.Every single moment of the show was rhythmically controlled. It was both
:24:26. > :24:30.raw and sophisticated. Sarid will and the Broadway audience was seeing
:24:31. > :24:36.the world from a point of view that they had rarely seen before. -- it
:24:37. > :24:51.was sophisticated and Sarid -- cerebral. Funky!
:24:52. > :24:55.The scene "Taxi" saw Glover satirise trying to hail a cab in NYC as a
:24:56. > :25:16.young black man. Because I used to be thinking that I
:25:17. > :25:23.was, like, boxing and stuff. Just to see a young guy above the hip-hop
:25:24. > :25:27.era and with very hip-hop persona and presence bring that to tap was
:25:28. > :25:34.just astounding. It was a revelation. What was interesting
:25:35. > :25:37.about Bring In Da Noise, Bring In Da Funk was that you were able to
:25:38. > :25:41.inject some of that anger, all of that anger that perhaps earlier
:25:42. > :25:52.generations weren't allowed to do. Yes, there's a line in the show
:25:53. > :25:58.where the character Little Darling, and the uncle was there, uncle
:25:59. > :26:08.Huckle Buck, and we all knew it was about Bojangles and Shirley Temple.
:26:09. > :26:14.Basically, you are just tearing down stereotypes. Yeah, and allowing the
:26:15. > :26:17.next generation to know. Bring In Da Noise, Bring In da Funk
:26:18. > :26:25.electrified Broadway, winning a clutch of Tony Awards. And the Tony
:26:26. > :26:37.Award for best choreography goes to... Savion Glover!
:26:38. > :26:41.What we experienced as black dancers, people were no longer
:26:42. > :26:46.interested in hiring white tap dancers for a long time. And it was
:26:47. > :26:52.just an opposite thing. The white tap dancers couldn't get a gig
:26:53. > :26:58.unless you came in like this! And doing this hip-hop kind of tap!
:26:59. > :27:02.Over the years, Savion's approach has shifted and developed,
:27:03. > :27:04.performing to a wide range of music, while remaining a trail-blazing
:27:05. > :27:39.virtuoso. Whatever I am at what ever point in
:27:40. > :27:51.my life I'm at, that is what is going to be produced through dance.
:27:52. > :27:56.It means something. It all means something. I don't just tap dance
:27:57. > :28:04.for the sake of tap dancing. I tap dance because I want to communicate
:28:05. > :28:12.something. What do you hope will be the legacy that you... I don't want
:28:13. > :28:19.to say leave because you're only 40! Is not even about me, you know?
:28:20. > :28:24.There hasn't been enough recognition given to these men and women
:28:25. > :28:32.responsible for what I am. I'm nothing without them. So we have to
:28:33. > :28:37.acknowledge Gregory Hines, Cheney, all of these great tap dancers and
:28:38. > :28:47.contributors. Who have come before me. My legacy should be, like, I'd
:28:48. > :28:49.know, what was that with Savion? He was in and he was out! -- I don't
:28:50. > :28:55.know.