Bach, Hines and Spina Tap into New York Flo-Bert Awards
The 19th Edition of the New York Tap Extravaganza will honor Jean Bach, Maurice Hines and Peggy Spina, three of New York’s most talented contributors to tap. The event will open on Sunday, May 25 at the Haft Auditorium at the Fashion Institute of Technology, 227 West 27th Street, at 7:00 p.m. The honorees will be presented the prestigious Flo-Bert Awards, which were named for historic 1920’s vaudeville performers Florence Mills and Bert Williams.
Jean Bach, producer and editor of the famous jazz documentary movie, “Great Day in Harlem,” was an early supporter of a National Tap Dance Day celebration. Historian Delilah Jackson, who produced the first Flo-Bert Awards ceremony, recalls that Bach opened her home for many meetings. “She helped me personally and financially,” Jackson recalled. “She introduced me to many people and helped with the organization. She produced a radio show, ‘The Arlene Francis Show’ for 24 years, and her husband, Bob Bach, produced ‘What’s My Line.’ She knew how to get things done and knew everyone.” Jean hob-knobbed with a number of tap stars: the Condos Brothers, Taps Miller and George Gershwin’s favorite, John W. Bubbles. Gershwin chose him to play Sportin’ Life in the original Broadway production of “Porgy and Bess.”
Bach was inspired by the famous Art Kane photo of jazz musicians in Harlem taken in 1958. Hearing that jazz bassist Milt Hinton had 11 minutes of film (taken by his wife on a camera he stuck in her hands when the famous still photo was taken) inspired Bach to make a movie interviewing those in the photo. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1995. She knew all the musicians because she loved jazz. As a teenager, she lived in Chicago where her father often took her to jazz events. Her parents loved all music, and were guarantors to the symphony. When Bach attended Vassar she often rode the train into the city to hear the jazz greats.
She knew that many of the older musicians and dancers were passing with age each year. She was the right person in the right place at the right time. Her original video has now been expanded to a two-disc DVD with new footage added. “It is all over the world,” Bach exclaimed. “People in many cities are copying the photo with their own people…‘Great Day in London’ etc. There is one taken in front of the same building in Harlem with Harlem businessmen with Bill Clinton in the middle.”
“Several musicians in the Great Day photo were dancer’s manqué,” Bach recalled. “Eddie Lock, the gifted drummer, tells of coming to New York with a partner, hoping for a career as a hoofer. Appearing as the opening act at the Apollo, the two were surprised to see “Honi” Coles sitting in the audience and even more surprised when he stayed for the second show. Why had he remained? Coles explained to him, ‘Your dancing was so sad I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had to come back.’ It was then that Eddie embarked on a different career.”
Peggy Spina has danced in New York for over 40 years Photo: StanPatz
Bach concluded that the tap dancers said they danced better when the great musicians played and the musicians said they were inspired when the tap dancers were there.
Maurice Hines has spent most of his life dancing. “I am thrilled over the Flo-Bert Award because it represents my family,” Hines exclaimed. “My Mom and Dad nurtured Greg and me and were a force in our lives, and my Mom found us a great teacher, Henry LeTang.”
Maurice made his Broadway debut in “The Girl in Pink Tights” in 1954. The brothers began as an opening act for headlines and developed an act with their Dad. Hines, Hines, & Dad performed in New York, Las Vegas, and on many television shows and in many theatres. Maurice pursued a solo career as Nathan Detroit in “Guys and Dolls,” returning to Broadway with Greg in “Eubie” in 1978.” Broadway shows that followed included “Sophisticated Ladies,” “Bring Back Birdie,” “Uptown…It’s Hot!” (nominated for Best Actor in a Musical), and “Hot Feet” in 2006 that Hines conceived, choreographed and directed. He has also directed and choreographed music videos including one for Quincy Jones and the Radio City Spectacular. He toured with “Jelly’s Last Jam” in 1994-1995. Other credits are: “Satchmo,” “Harlem Night” in Cuba, and a Latin version of “The Red Shoes” in the Dominican Republic.
More recently he choreographed and directed “Blues in the Night,” (a musical with a tap dancer and three females, presenting stories of the Ellington, Goodman and Bessie Smith times) that opened in San Francisco in June of 2007. He had almost stopped tapping after Greg’s death when a cousin, Richard Nurse, asked him to put a show together about Greg’s life. The result, “Coming Home,” opened at the Pasadena Playhouse. Maurice Hines is currently working on “Shining Star” with Maurice White of “Earth, Wind, and Fire.” As artistic director for a theater in Columbus, Ohio he is also busy creating and planning musicals for them. This year he will produce a pilot for a talk show, “Something Extra,” possibly at the Apollo Theatre that will include performers, not just actors. He is well remembered for the movie “Cotton Club.”
Peggy Spina has danced in New York for over forty years. “It pleases me that I am acknowledged for all the hard work,” Spina said. “I am pretty much a loner and to become a member of this group who has been celebrated over the years is very nice.”
Spina studied tap as a child in Southern California and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Modern Dance from UCLA. Spina moved to New York in 1962 and danced modern dance for twenty years. Her love for tap was renewed through her mentors, “Baby” Lawrence, Charles “Honi” Coles, Chuck Green and Buster Brown. Her great tap floor in her SoHo Loft is well-known, and was installed by Spina and a friend. She established her tap company in 1980 and works with Joel Forrester, a pianist and composer. Forrester writes most of the music for the company and the music is performed live.
Spina has choreographed over 100 dances and received grants from the New York Council on the Arts. One of her favorite memories was seeing “Honi” Coles and Buster Brown sitting together at a performance in her loft. She taught at the New School for Social Research from 1977-2004 and currently teaches at Marymount Manhattan College and at her SoHo loft. She is also a practitioner of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine.
Some of the scheduled performers for this year’s Tap Extravaganza include: Michela Lerman, Rod Ferrone, Michelle Dorrance, the OCU Alumni Dancers, Mable Lee and her Dancing Ladies, and The Peggy Spina Tap Company.
Tickets can be obtained from Ruth Cohen 1864 64th St. #2R, Brooklyn NY 11204. E-mail strikel@aol.com. Website: nytap.org or tapextravaganza.org.
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