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Chapter 1
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    influential tap dancers by Stephanie moore.

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    First up, we have Bill Bojangles. Robinson years active 1900 to 1943.

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    He was a dancer. Actor and activist.

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    Bill Robinson also known as the great Bojangles.

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    He was the first black star to tap dance solo on the stage.

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    He brought tap dancing up onto his toes rather than flat footed.

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    Robinson was the first african american head to headline a broadway musical.

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    Bill Bojangles broke racial boundaries and tap dancing.

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    Robinson was light,

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    graceful and an exquisite tap dancer of delicate and clear sounds

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    Fred Astaire years active in 1904 to 1981,

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    he was an actor, dancer, singer, presenter, choreographer and percussionist

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    because of segregation and different budgets.

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    Black dancers were denied access to the white film industry.

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    As a result, the distinction and top styles began to develop

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    black dance artists continued the tradition of rhythm, tap on stage and screen.

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    Artists like Gene kelly and fred Astaire evolved a balletic

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    broadway style of tap dancing and film

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    where jazz rhythms were less important,

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    fred Astaire, who was considered the greatest answer in film history.

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    Astaire was inspired greatly by Bill Bojangles. Robinson.

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    His greatest traits were an uncanny sense of rhythm,

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    perfectionism and innovation.

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    Astaire would rehearse his stance for his movie for two months before filming.

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    His style reflected heavy into Syncopation and lines,

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    not particularly fast steps.

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    He was a virtuoso dancer and when called for,

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    he was able to convey lighthearted or deep emotion.

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    His technical control. Since the rhythm were astonishing.

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    You would find a stair incorporating jazz and ballet and theatrical tap dances.

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    Eleanor Powell Years Active 1928 - 1953.

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    Dancer actress

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    Eleanor Powell, one of the top dancing stars during the golden age of Hollywood

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    pal was versatile and known as a powerful female dancer of the Hollywood studio air.

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    She developed this dance style that fused her ballet,

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    acrobatic abilities with her grounded taps

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    pal enjoyed smooth, effortlessly fast, complex footwork,

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    barely leaving the floor

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    even to perform tap steps that take place airborne such as double Pullbacks.

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    This was contracted with energetic term sequences,

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    high fly and buoyant leaps which further showed her technique and ability.

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    Gregory Hines years active 1951,.

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    He was a dancer, actor, choreographer and singer.

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    Next we have the most celebrated dancer of all time.

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    Gregory hinds Hinds was an avid improviser of tap steps, tap sounds and tap rhythms.

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    His improvisation was like that of a drummer.

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    He was a laid back dancer usually wore loose fitting pants and a tighter shirt.

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    Heinz purposely obliterated the tempos in his dance.

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    He aligned tap with freeform experiments and jazz and postmodern dance.

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    Savion Glover years active 1985 - 2001, he was a dancer. Actor and choreographer.

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    Gregory Hines hugely influenced our next chapter Savion glover

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    Save Ian styles quoted by him. Young and funk.

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    One of his teachers being Gregory Hines Hines stated that

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    seven is probably the best tap dancer who ever lived.

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    Safavian revitalized tap dancing for the millennium generation,

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    blunt and driven by an internal duty.

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    He was funky and had a flat heeled style with a demeanor that was cool and aloof.

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    His body style was hunkered over and crouching with

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    no attention to the carriage of the arms,

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    glover has a sharp pounding into the floor technique,

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    a rhythm tapper making music with his feet compared to

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    a theatrical tapper like fred Astaire for whole body tappers.