Two street experiences with Tap dance and one quotation from a great Tap dancer, Savion Glover.

Tap dancer at Powel Station, San Francisco. 2009.

I’ve seen people dancing Tap in many occasions in my life, most of them in films, some, live, as spectator and as part of musicals I was working in, never dancing myself though, but enjoying watching it and in some occasions, very especial occasions (I’ll talk about them later), feeling the freedom coming from the dancer with that remarkable sound and that trembling in the floor those foot movements provoke when are very well performed, and on the street.

With the time and studying about acting techniques, and different ways of body speaking on stage, when Tap appeared again in my life I had to stop a little bit more than enjoying it, and thinking more about that strange feeling it has always given to me when is performed amazingly, a Jazz-like feeling of freedom and beauty.

You can speak, have a dialogue or singing in a group only by dancing Tap, and that is absolutely amazing.

But, how do they do it? I accept it, have no idea. It remains a mystery for me.

An flamenco aficionado performing at Teatro La Zaranda, Jeréz de la Frontera, Spain. 1993.

As Flamenco or Irish traditional dance do Tap dancers move spectators making hearts beat at their foot's rhythm. Strangely, the places I have experienced this feeling were not on a theatrical stage but on the street. That doesn’t mean nothing, only a coincidence; what I’m looking for is how to explain better my experience, how to share it with more than “my feeling” of it.

I remember two moments as spectator of a Tap dance performance on the street:

My first experience was when visiting London in 2007, on the Thames riverside (not far of Shakespeare’s The Globe) I found I guy dancing Tap on the street; he was performing on a simple piece of wood, with a colleague musician accompanying him drumming with a box as his instrument... Not talking about the quality of his technique (I guess he was a good dancer) I can only referrer to its dancing as the same unmistakable feeling of freedom and touch-sensitive experience I talked before; its sound of his steps echoed everywhere, including my body. I was seeing a man in ecstasy, impossible to know if was caused by the dance or because some drugs in him; anyway, his feeling was contagious. You can see him in the video I posted here.

Video of Tap dancer performing on Thames riverside, London. 2007.

My second experience, 2 years later, was in San Francisco. A group of street Tap dancers where performing for tourists at the corner of Market street and Powel Streetcars Station. They were happy performing there, having fun while dancing, and we tourists were happy with them. In this occasion dance dialogue and chorus was what I enjoyed most.

Video of Tap dancers performing at Market street. San Francisco, 2009.

For sure many of you have had many great experiences with different kind of dances (street dances or very high professional), having those impressions I’ve been talking here, but do any of us can talk with knowledge about the reasons, about how they work and how they provoke on us this feeling?

Reading some dance anecdotes compiled by Mindy Aloff (1) I found a passage where Savion Glover talks about Tap, its rules and how they usually perform. It doesn’t explain everything but it is a word coming from whom is considered one of the most important Tap dancers in history and heir of a long American tradition of Tap dancers not exactly educated in a school but on the street :

“Honi (Coles) and Buster Brown and Lon Chaney and Jimmy Slyde and Ralph Brown and Chuck Green -they thought me the rules. And you have to know about the rules, because that’s respecting the tradition. Take the hoofer’s line for instance (2). That’s where everybody’s doing a paddle and roll and one dancer at a time takes a solo turn. There are rules, but the rules are unspoken, almost secret. The main thing is, you got to finish the phrase of the man before you, finish it and then add something of your own. And if you don’t, you’ll be cut by the next man, embarrassed, you’ll have your own step flipped back on you. You can spit on someone through the dance. You can murder someone through the dance. Dancers do that all the time. It’s part of our ritual to be competitive. And you know when you’ve been cut. It’s terrible, especially if a lot of people recognize it. If it’s like that, you’ll get everybody going: “Oooooooooo...”

So, as Jazz does, Tap "hoofers" got its own secrets rules, maybe I was not mistaken my perception coming from I was feeling about this kind of freedom while performing tap on the street, they are in a dramatic dialogue, taking risks and having fun. After these words I can watch again those videos I posted, and see one more showing Glover dancing with a fantastic group of dancers at the White House in 1998, and then having new approaches to this amazing art.

Video of Savion Glover at The White House in 1998

(1) Dance Anecdotes. Compiled by Mindy Aloff. Page 77 “The Rules”

(2) It is not an academic forum but it is a forum where people interested in Tap think about the meaning of "hoofer": http://www.dance.net/topic/8387682/1/Tap/What-is-a-hoofer.html&replies=6

Music and Dance while I was walking on the streets of London

London is a cultural city; there are on the streets or inside the subway stations performance spaces for those artists who can't pay for a rent of an usual commercial space. Listening and watching those musicians and dancers was a real moment of resting in my journey to anywhere.

I recorded several of them (here 5). The best way to enjoy them (if you don't care where they are performing) I think is watching every video in different moment, a little bit as I caught them.

It is a "playlist" on Youtbe, so you must chose which of them you want to see inside the window player.

- Hightown Crows at Portobello Market, one of the most colorful places in London.

- A street drummer playing with plastic drums (paint cubes), near the Thames riverside.

- A street Tap dancer, near the Thames riverside as well, but at night.

- An african origin musician, Mein-Gad-Sidjo, performing inside the "tube" (Subway) .

- Army Band performing outside the "Britain at War Museum".

Neil Latchman and Alessandro Belotto in an intimate concert at St. Mary's Church in Ealing.

I met Alessandro Belotto when I was living in Beirut. Since the mid 90's Alessandro has visited Lebanon almost every year, giving organ concerts for the Maronite community of that country. This Italian pianist currently lives in London, and he was one of the reasons my travel was not a total disaster; his friendship and the concert I am writing about were part of my best moments during my stay in London.

Alessandro invited me to what he called "a very short concert at the hall of St. Mary's Church in Ealing.". He would play the piano and Neil Latchman, the tenor, would sing, it would be only 5 songs.

Ealing is situated West, almost outside London; it is a quiet place, with beautiful streets and kind people; once I arrived to the city, after the train station, I started to feel the taste of a village in the province; walking through those streets on my way to the Church was a real pleasure.

St. Mary's Church is a historical sight; its site on the internet says: 'There has been a church building on this site for nearly a thousand years; excavations during the 19th century unearthed solid blocks of stone and ornamental work suggesting that a Norman building stood here.' But the current church was rebuilt and almost built anew in the 19th century, even if it now keeps the basic structure of a 17th century one. Its tower bell looks impressive in the middle of the village and from its balcony it is possible to have a wonderful view over London.

This concert was part of the schedule of some regular cultural activities the church organizes every weekend and that Saturday 29th there were more musical events in the program. There is no more interest than bringing to the community a little bit of high quality classical music; publicity lies only in the priest's voice during mass and on the church's blackboard. Neither Belotto nor Latchman charged for it.

You will notice in the videos that people walked around, some children were playing or even crying; but you must remember that it was just a Saturday afternoon (the concert was at 2 pm), whoever passed by was invited and if they were interested, then they would take a seat and would listen. It is interesting watching (and listening) how Belotto and Latchman dealt musically with that noise.

It was an unforgettable afternoon, many factors joined to make that time seem unforgettable, but the mere opportunity to listen to the voice of Latchman and Belotto's interpretation is worth for its own artistic quality.

This was the program:

St. Mary's Church, Ealing, London.
Open Day, Saturday 29th, September 2007.
14:00 hrs


Neil Latchman - Tenor

Alessandro Belotto - Piano


- Son Tutta duolo (Aria)
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)

- Non t'amo piu
Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846-1916)

- 'A Vucchela
Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846-1916)

- I'll Walk Beside You
Alan Murray (1890-1922)

- Somebody Bigger than You and I
Johnny lange (1905-2006)

Neil Latchman, Alessandro Belotto. St. Mary's church concert 1. from Gustavo Thomas on Vimeo.


Neil Latchman, Alessandro Belotto. St. Mary's Church Concert 2. from Gustavo Thomas on Vimeo.


Neil Latchman, Alessandro Belotto. St. Mary's Church Concert 3 from Gustavo Thomas on Vimeo.


Neil Latchman, Alessandro Belotto. St. Mary's Church Concert 4. from Gustavo Thomas on Vimeo.


Neil Latchman, Alessandro Belotto. St. Mary's Church Concert 5. from Gustavo Thomas on Vimeo.

Note:
- You may have noticed that these videos were not posted in Youtube, and that is because the Chinese government blocked the site many days ago. Vimeo has been a good option till now.

- There is a mistake inside the videos, it is not Alessandro Benotto, it is Alessandro "Belotto". Sorry about that.

Coming back from London…

Milennium bridge and St. Paul seen from The Globe

My long trip has finished. London was my home for one month and Amsterdam was it only for a few days.

The quality of life in such an important and big city is difficult and I come back to Beijing exhausted.

London absorbed a huge amount of energy I wasn’t used to spending: it was wasted simply because by living there. A demanding city in all senses.

I saw lots of Artistic manifestations, classic Art and contemporary Art. I saw and I learnt. My English has improved but my life and my body have suffered and I have to recover my balance; one way to do it is writing about what lived there.

In London I suffered from fear of violence, but also from fear of ‘legality’. This city has one of the fastest levels of growth in criminality in the world. People are scared of being robbed or attacked; they fear the other, because of race or origin, because of their difference. London is a ‘brutal’ city to its immigrants and ‘brutal’ to young people with dark skin too.

It is a city afraid of terrorism, and it has fallen into paranoia. I saw unjust acts of justice, violence over its own citizen only on the premise of prevention. Twice the police stopped me, I say that with sadness, only because of my appearance and nothing else.

Stopped by the police on my way to the tube station, I could see the fear on the face of the policewoman who was holding with a trembling hand a piece of paper showing those exact points under which the ‘law’ permits stopping me in any case they (the police) think it necessary. I was in a “vulnerable” zone and I had the profile of a terrorist going to do his job. The policewoman was trembling because of the fear I was a terrorist and I could detonate my bombs in that very instant, finishing with her dreams and life; I was trembling because of fear from their excessive nervousness and fear they would react the same as with a Brazilian youth a year ago, killing me. Their colleagues (all policemen) asked me, with my hands held high up: ‘do you have anything in your pockets or on your body that could harm me or my colleagues?’… They were asking me, Gustavo, a person who has really tried during the last years not to harm absolutely anyone, but they didn’t know that, they thought I was ‘suspect of being a terrorist’ who could harm not only them, but myself and dozens or hundreds of others.

It was a shock, even more so because it was the second similar situation I lived (the first one had been at the airport), only because of ‘my appearance’… Yes, it didn’t matter dressing well, showing documents, cash or credit cards; it was something beyond the idea of having a social position. It was the fear of another race and culture that my “aspect” provoked in them.

With that fear I kept living and walking day and night. I observed ‘Stops and Searches’ of black skinned people, Arabs, immigrants from Eastern Europe. I saw people fainting, one suicide attempt in the waters of the Thames, police violence over common burglars, and that horrible behavior by the common Englishman over the ‘others’. Little by little I got used to living with that, at first I thought it was infernal and then one day I started noticing the sun and the blue sky (literally, no clouds), a strange thing in London, its wonderful views and faces smiling at the pubs (English people only smile ‘naturally’ at the pubs). I met nice people, friendly, from different origins, I exchanged ideas or simple words; I spoke different languages as well practiced my English (of course), French and Italian, I spoke Chinese! … I started to live as anyone does. I visited those amazing museums and exhibition halls. I went to the theatre and I saw many high quality spectacles and performances. I enjoyed architecture and the huge possibilities for having fun. I found some new friends too.

So far, I have uploaded only two posts showing my visit to The Globe and one Korean drums performance at the Thames Festival. I have lots of videos and ideas for writing several more (about sculpture and pieces of Greek theatre inside the British Museum, concerts, three plays in performance, an exhibition, one special silent film, street theatre, etc.), we’ll see how many become reality.

Amsterdam will be another chapter.

My visit to Shakespeare's Globe.

From Shakespeare's The Globe (2007)

My travel in London couldn't be complete without one visit to The Globe, the theatre where Shakespeare used to work in 16th Century. The theatre is a reconstruction of the original one, thanks to an American actor who was obsessed with seeing it rebuilt. He passed away years before the new Globe was finished but at least could know his dream was going to have a good end.

Many words should be written about it, in a while just images...

Video: Shakespeare's The Globe (2007)

Slideshow of my visit to Shakespeare's The Globe (2007)

Korean Drums in Thames Festival 2007

Thames Festival 2007 is the only cultural festival in London in September. It lasts only for two days (September 15th and 16th), one weekend, but is full of artistic and cultural events from all over the world and from people living in London but with very different cultural origin.

Walking on the riverside of the Thames you could find a sea of people enjoying food, dancing, buying artcrafts, and seeing performances.

This Korean Drums were performing with that particular energetic way on the stage of a theatrical square close to the Tower of London. Enjoy them!