Like Lindy Hop and Charleston, tap dancing is another jazz-era dance style that came into its own in the early 20th century. Vaudeville, showboat and minstrel shows had been displaying early African-American tap dancers since the mid-1800’s, and helped to spread the popularity of the dance style across the nation. Early tap styles included “buck and wing” (performed in wooden clogs) and “soft shoe” (performed with hard leather soles), evolving into the percussive style familiar today, enhanced by the addition of metal plates to leather soled shoes.
By the 1920s, 30s and 40s, tap dancing had permeated the entire entertainment industry, with famous tap dancers the stars of stage and the silver screen. Some of the famous tap dancers of this period that inspire The Killer Dillers are: Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson, John Bubbles, The Nicholas Brothers, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, The Berry Brothers, Dixie Dunbar, Chuck Green, Teddy Hale, Hal Leroy, Eleanor Powell, Bill Bailey, Sammy Davis Jnr, The Four Flash Devils, Cora La Redd, The Clark Brothers, Daniel L. Haynes, The Three Chefs, Patterson & Jackson, Tip Tap & Toe, The Condos Brothers, Cholly Atkins & Honi Coles, James Barton, The Four Step Brothers, The Three Sparks of Rhythm, Jimmy Slyde, Donald O’Connor, The Four Hot Shots, Ann Miller, Stump & Stumpy, Vera Ellen and Leonard Reed…. just to name a few!
A great inspiration to The Killer Diller gents, are the famous flash act trio, The Berry Brothers, who incorporated both acrobatics and cane juggling into their soft shoe tap numbers. Don’t miss the Killer Dillers performing ‘Fascinating Rhythm’, a tribute to this legendary trio.
