New York Tap Extravaganza’s 20th Anniversary Flo-Bert Awards
Honoring Dr. Prince Spencer and Mercedes Ellington
For 20 years, New York’s Tap Extravaganza has honored tap dance legends, showcased the tap artists of earlier years, and produced new artists by preserving and building on the history of the American art form: tap dancing. Last sentence of first para should be changed to this: This year’s event took place on a Sunday close to May 25, the birthday of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson as well as National Tap Dance Day.
This year’s show honored Dr. Prince Spencer of the Four Step Brothers, and Mercedes Ellington, granddaughter of Duke Ellington, at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Haft Auditorium, 227 West 27th Street at 7th Avenue, New York, NY, on Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
Carl Schlesinger, Al Heyward and Traci Mann have served on the planning committee for the event’s entire 20 years. Traci Mann and Dewitt Fleming serve as co-chairs this year. This year’s board members are: Helen Benson, Ruth Cohen, Michelle Dorrance, Rod Ferrone, Laraine Goodman, Michela Marino Lerman and Michael Shannon. Al Heyward, Carl Schlesinger and Barbara Shenton serve on the advisory board.
Dr. Prince Spencer
2009 Honoree Dr. Prince Spencer began dancing with the Four Step Brothers over 50 years ago, following a successful career as a solo tap artist. The Four Step Brothers presented fast rhythm tap, acrobatic style and flash tap dancing that electrified audiences all over the world. The Four Step Brothers left a legacy to dance called “The Challenge,” which had no music, just clapping. “The Challenge was a dance where we could do anything we wanted,” explains Spencer. “Each member came forward and did his specialty steps while the others clapped rhythm patterns. The audience loved this dance and it also kept the act fresh because ‘The Challenge’ was different at every performance with dancers trying to out dance each other.” Spencer usually performed last as no one wanted to follow him.
Duke Ellington introduced the Four Step Brothers to the famous Cotton Club in Harlem and they were the first black attraction to play at Radio City Music Hall, Chicago's Chez Paree, Miami's Copa Beach, Paris' Lido and London's Cafe de Paree. They performed for world leaders such as General Franco, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Rainer III, Princess Grace of Monaco, Emperor Hirohito, King Farouk, and Presidents Eisenhower, Truman, Kennedy and Reagan.
The Dance Masters of America recognized the group with a Life Achievement Award in 1960 and they received their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1988. The Four Step Brothers appeared in over 40 movies including “The Patsy” with Jerry Lewis, “Here Comes the Girls” with Bob Hope, “It Ain't Hay” with Abbott and Costello, and many others. Dr. Spencer also appeared in “Harlem Nights” with Eddie Murphy, “Ghost of a Chance” with Dick Van Dyke, and in Redd Foxx's “Sanford and Son.”
Oklahoma City University awarded Dr. Prince Spencer a Living Treasure Award and an Honorary Doctorate of Performing Arts Degree in 2002. “In my 70 years of dancing, this was the most gratifying and so many of us [honorees] cried. I was the last one and cried through all the others. When I got to my turn, my heart was full, though I didn’t cry out loud. It was the most exciting moment of my career. I wish I could describe how it felt. It was like opening night with Frank Sinatra and the Dean Martin Show. It was the best feeling. Nothing I have ever done would surpass that moment. It was the highlight in my dancing career,” Dr. Spencer recalls.
Prince Spencer receives OCU Doctorate Photo by Melba Huber
Mercedes Ellington
Mercedes Ellington is a graduate of The Juilliard School. She has choreographed 10 companies of “Play On” that included PBS’s “Great Performances,” “Ambassador Satch,” “Story T’Ellington” and “Yankee Doodle Boys.”†Other major choreography credits include “George M,” Queen Esther Morrow’s “Walk Tall” with the Harlem Gospel Singers, “Talk of the†Town” and “Crowns.”
As a director/choreographer she worked on “Mood Ellington,” “Cotton Club Rhapsody,” “Mahalia’s Light,” as director worked with “Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids,” “The Spirit of Harlem,” and “Four Women,” and has served as artistic director of “BalleTap, USA” aka “Dance Ellington, Inc.” (1982-1992) and “In a Miller/Basie Mood.”
Ellington hosted the Swedish Jazz Festival in Sweden and at Carnegie Hall. She appeared in several segments of Ken Burn’s television documentary on jazz and was profiled by Dr. Billy Taylor on CBS Sunday Morning. Ellington has produced, directed and staged for the Society of Singers – East, and the bestowing of the “Louis Armstrong Award” on Bobby Short at the Pierre Hotel in New York City.
Ms. Ellington is currently serving on different boards of ATDF and New Jersey Tap Dance Ensemble as well as Career Transition for Dancers, and is on the committee that initiates TONY nominations. She has received prestigious awards from Actor’s Equity (which honored her with the 2007 Paul Robeson Citation Award) and from The Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia with the Barrymore Award 2007 for choreography of “Dreamgirls.” She was named Woman of the Year from the Boys’ and Girls’ Town of Italy for maintaining Duke Ellington’s work and his legacy. Among others, she has also received the 2004 Virtuoso Award, the Presidents Award from the Society of Singers, the Garland Award and Black Theater Alliance Award for “Play On,” The Greater Cincinnati Jazz Society Award, and the Generations Award for choreographing “Sophisticated Ladies.”�
20 YEARS OF FLO-BERT HONOREES:
1990 The Copasetics: Honi Coles, Bubba Gaines, Buster Brown, Baby Phace Roberts, Cookie Cook, Brownie Brown and Company Manager, Leroy Myers
1991 Peg Leg Bates, The Original Hoofers(R): Lon Chaney “King of the Paddle and Roll,” Chuck Green “Godfather of Tap,” George Hillman and Jimmy Slyde
1992 Cab Calloway, Harold and Fayard Nicholas, Cotton Club Girls and Silver Belles
1993 Cholly Atkins and Paul Draper
1994 Ann Miller, Maceo Anderson and Gene Kelly
1995 Lionel Hampton and Henry LeTang
1996 Phil Black, Melba Huber, Ruth Williams, Radio City Rockettes and Bross Townsend
1997 Donald O'Connor, Milt Hinton and Sali Ann Kriegsman
1998† Gregory Hines and Barry Harris
1999 Bunny Briggs and Brenda Bufalino
2000 Buster Brown, Savion Glover and Leonard Reed
2001 Delilah Jackson (Founder of the Flo-Bert Awards) and Jeni LeGon
2002 Jane Goldberg and Frank Owens
2003 Ernest Brownie Brown, Stanly Donen, Tommy Tune and Diane Walker
2004 Arthur Duncan, Mable Lee, Frankie Manning, Leroy Myers and George Wein
2005 Harold “Stumpy” Cromer, Cobi Narito and LaVaughn Robinson
2006 Jerry Ames, Ralph Guild, John Bedford and Jo Rowan
2007 Bob Audy, Deborah Mitchell and Yvette Glover
2008 Maurice Hines, Peggy Spina and Jean Bach
2009 Prince Spencer and Mercedes Ellington
For information on upcoming events, be sure to check www.NYTap.org.