In 'Bare Soundz,' the dancers are the musicians

By Steve Parks

Newsday

SAVION GLOVER usually lets his feet do the talking - never more so than in "Bare Soundz," the touring show he's bringing to the Ferguson Center for the Arts this weekend.

Accompanied by fellow tap artists Marshall Davis Jr. and Maurice Chestnut, the concert-style performance showcases tap dance as an acoustical instrument.

At 34, Glover is observing his 27th year as a show-biz hoofer. His Broadway and film credits include "Black & Blue," "Jelly's Last Jam," "Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk," "Tap," "Bamboozled" and "Happy Feet."

We asked him about his career.

Q. You made your Broadway debut in "The Tap Dance Kid" at age 10. For other fourth-grade boys, their hero might have been Michael Jordan. Who was yours?

A. My hero was my mother. She signed me up for all my tap lessons.

Q. For people who know you mostly through your Broadway roles, what's the difference in the Savion Glover they'll see in "Bare Soundz"?

A. The dance is the music, and the dancers are the musicians. The difference is in the imagination of the audience. Pianos, harpsichords, trumpets - every type of instrument is suggested. We allow the audience to hear the dance as music. I guess it's a mental thing.

Q. So the show is sort of dance a cappella?

A. Exactly. Tap dancing has become this visual thing. But my introduction to it was through sound. I learned from Jimmy Slyde how cool it is to recognize who the dancer is just by hearing him dance.

Q. You've compared your dance to song - that you're more composer than choreographer. Do you hear lyrics in your head as you're tapping out the beat with your feet?

A. Yeah, man. Lyrics, melodies, everything you have in a song. It just comes to me walking down the street or whenever. I get a tune or a step in my head. I work it out by dancing or laying down a melody on the piano.

Q. What do we learn about the history of tap dance from your show?

A. You learn what I've learned from cats before me - Gregory Hines, Jimmy Slyde, Buster Brown, Lon Chaney (not the actor), Chuck Green, Dianne Walker - people I acknowledge through my dance. I call it edu-tainment.