"I just dance."

This dance is one of the most important in the history of film. How often do I get to say that? It marked the first on-screen interracial dance. "The Little Colonel" was the first movie in a line of films that featured both Shirley Temple and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. Yup. That Bojangles, like the song (not the restaurant... I don't think? That would be weird).  "Bojangles" is one of the most famous American dancers ever and completely revolutionized the art of tap dancing. but first some... Dance Background: There are several different forms of tap. They all basically spring from the original form which is now dubbed "Rhythm Tap." Rhythm Tap came primarily from older African-American dance forms and was an almost entirely black dance style. It is highly rhythmic (as the name implies) and was a big part of the development of the swing music style. I will get into that in a separate post. Rhythm tap became a popular form o...

When you do musical theatre, you hear about Fred and Ginger. I was first introduced to them as a teenager and basically, all I knew was that they were old, did movies in black and white (at the time a scary concept for me) and that they danced. My family and I used to be a part of this film club that was run by our local paper's film critic. He decided that Top Hat was a worthwhile film to show on the big screen and somehow I ended up sitting in the audience. When I figured out which one was Fred Astaire I was underwhelmed. That's it? That odd-looking man? He looks a bit like a stick bug... Even when he did his first dance ("Fancy Free" the sand dance) I didn't get it. Then he danced with Ginger. That's when it clicked. Thus began my love of dance films, old films, and of course, Fred Astaire. About the Dance: This is hands-down my favorite Fred and Ginger dance, maybe because it is the one that made me fall in love with Fred. One of the th...