Savion Glover is a revolutionary figure in tap and modern dance. In his two-night run in October, Glover will present two different programs. PROJECT 9 features Glover performing with a live band. SoUNDz.SaCRoSaNCt is a complete dance theater production. These are rare and unprecedented opportunities to experience this amazing talent.
SAVION GLOVER PRESENTS: PROJECT 9
OCT 10 • 6:30 & 8:30PM
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“Savion is to tap what Charlie Parker is to jazz” – Herb Alpert
Savion Glover began as a prodigious student of the great Honi Coles and the late Gregory Hines. It was Hines who called him “possibly the best tap dancer that ever lived.” Glover has been boldly breaking new ground for over a quarter century.
Glover was only eleven when he made his Broadway debut. There, he played the title character in 1984’s The Tap Dance Kid. Then, he received his first Tony nomination at fifteen for 1989’s Black and Blue. Also that year, he appeared alongside Hines and Sammy Davis Jr. in Tap.
The film is an inspiring love letter to the artform featuring one of Davis’s final screen appearances. It paired Hines and the young Glover’s explosive rhythmic power with cameos by veteran hoofers. Here, Bunny Briggs, Arthur Duncan, Howard “Sandman” Sims, Jimmy Slyde, and Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers all appear.
By the turn of the 1990s Glover was moving freely between stage and screen. He appeared in Hines’ PBS special Gregory Hines’ Tap Dance in America. Also, he was featured in over forty episodes of the iconic children’s series Sesame Street. Furthermore, he received a 1992 Drama Desk nomination for Jelly’s Last Jam on Broadway.
Glover built on the momentum from this award-winning celebration of Jelly Roll Morton. Then, he became a cultural phenomenon at twenty-three when he co-conceived and starred in the wildly successful 1996 musical Bring in ‘Da Noise/Bring in ‘Da Funk. This was a landmark production tracing the history of Black life in America through tap. The show earned Glover a Tony Award for Best Choreography. Bring in ‘Da Noise/Bring in ‘Da Funk ran for three years at Broadway’s historic Ambassador Theatre, totaling 1,130 performances.
SAVION GLOVER PRESENTS: SoUNDz.SaCRoSaNCt
OCT 11 • 6:30 & 8:30PM
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“Glover has developed a sound unlike anyone else’s… his power, speed and articulation are unsurpassed” – New York Times
Savion Glover’s performance honors the legends of tap who mentored him and showcases his mastery. Additionally, it explores the intersection of self-expression and mental health. Glover stages the action in an asylum to emphasize the show’s mental health theme. There, he receives treatment for the transgressions that put him there.
In the asylum, Mr. Glover meets a doctor who encourages him to moderate his behavior to fit within societal norms. Unfortunately for the doctor, Mr. Glover knows that his need for self-expression outweighs any need to fit in. Furthermore, it is this precious self- expression that defines his identity. The doctor and Mr. Glover both realize that the more time we spend trying to become what others expect and avoid chaos and discomfort, the less time we have to express what is innate and live a full life. Then, Glover knows “harmony only comes as a result of embracing and honoring the chaos that contributes to who we are.”
This is not your conventional tap show. In fact, Savion Glover has disposed with the word “tap” as too limiting when describing this performance. Instead, he prefers to think of it as a journey to find “The Dance.” What is “The Dance”? “The Dance” is something that he and his mentors have been doing all along. Here, it goes beyond the technical precision and choreography of “tap.” “The Dance” is human movement that is the vocabulary for self-expression and a sophisticated approach to thought and reflection. Mr. Glover wants to promote and honor his mentors as “thinkers” rather than simply performers. As Oscar Wilde reminds us, “Be yourself, everyone else is taken.”