Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, born May 25, 1878, changed America after the first televised interracial dance with Shirley Temple in the 1935 film The Little Colonel. In his honor, National Tap Dance Day is May 25th.
Shim-sham into the 21st century, and the Hot Foot Honeys (HFH) tap dance company is not only living up to the mission of the preservation, promotion, and performance of rhythm tap; the Honeys are embracing innovation.
“Katie [McIntyre] saw the Dorrance Dance company perform with electronic tapboards, and decided that not only was she going to do it, she was going to make the boards herself,” says Hot Foot Honeys’ artistic director Marianne Bell about her fellow company member.
McIntyre collaborated with Nicholas Van Young of Dorrance Dance and contacted Ableton, the German software company that creates the sounds of maracas, sitars, percussion, chimes, and other instruments emitted from the boards. The platforms were built and, when tapped, make a sound in unison: tap — rattle, tap — brrring, tap — pop. Bell says that the boards can even be programmed to make animal sounds. Tap — quack might get a laugh, but the Honeys say it’s a great teaching tool for kids.
Videographer Eric Swartz filmed the Honeys’ first foray into musical composition while dancing at various Memphis locations, including the Levitt Shell, Brooks Museum, Black Lodge, and the Mississippi River.
Bell, McIntyre, and fellow company members Danielle Pierce, Sara Sims, Brooke Jerome, Amber Dawson, and Emily Voogd will each do a piece using choreography by Nico Rubio and in collaboration with experimental pop musician Ben Ricketts.
Off the Scuff, online from Hot Foot Honeys, hotfoothoneys.com, Thursday, May 27-Sunday, May 30, $10-$20