Event

Rhythm and Blues and Shoes

Rhythm and Blues and Shoes is about the swing shifts that evolved in jazz music and tap dance from 1945-1955. We embody the evolution of jazz blues from bebop to hard bop and observe the impact that these shifts had on American tap dance. By the time Marshall and Jean Stearns published their seminal book, Jazz Dance, in 1968, the final "Requiem" chapter about master tap dancers of the 1930s and 1940s became a self-fulfilling prophecy for jazz tap.

Bebop jazz drummers like Kenny Clarke, Max Roach and Art Blakey took inspiration for many of their complex licks and riffs from tap dancers. As the jazz music evolved and got more complicated, (and fast), the tap dancers of the era found ways to evolve the art form to a place where the shoes fit into the hard-swinging compositions. Even in this post-post bebop-era of dance and music, the idea is still compelling us to return to this music and find new ways to layer the tap instrument into the groove. This concert features the music of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Bobby Timmons, Art Blakey, Wayne Shorter and original compositions by Pamela Hetherington.

Choreography and direction: Pamela Hetherington
Music director: Jon Katz
Performed by: Take It Away Dance
Accompaniment by the Jon Katz Quartet (Jon Katz-saxophone, James Santangelo-piano, Nick Krolak-bass, Gusten Rudolph-drums).

Saturday, May 20 5 pm
Saturday, May 20 8 pm*

*Featuring a special performance by The Philadelphia Community Tap Project