LaMont Johnson March 18, 2003 African-American Dance History Pref 162 Nicholas Brothers Flash Act, or just flashy American Americans?

During the Minstrel Era there was many people that made a name for themselves through the use of all the racist stereotypes. During the Minstrel Era,

African-Americans were portrayed less than human. The general eye particularly found this funny. In the beginning, white actors would put on crushed charcoal on their face, to give them this overly, “black look.” After this blackface was applied they highlight their lips wit red or white lipsticks giving them this “big-lipped” look. Their attire was made up of rags; this portrayal of a black man was fed to white audiences. As African-Americans entered the dance industry these racist stereotypes began to hurt the pride of being black. Some performers responded by taking off the blackface, or the mask of hate, and shedding the rags for clothes and donning zoot suits. Many artists followed this and the new defiance was not accepted among the audience, but as the audience began to realize the reality of the dance, the racist stereotypes began to fade away. Thus did the Minstrel Era too. A pair of tap dancers entered the industry in the prime of the Minstrel Era, their name were, the Nicholas Brothers. The Nicholas Brothers are arguably two of best tap dancers of all time.

They were a group of brothers that refuse to play to the Minstrel’s image. They did not wear the blackface, rather yet they dressed up elegantly and presented themselves and high class. They also didn’t play to the Jim Crow stereotype of one tells the jokes and the other dances and using racist commenting to make an audience laugh. Instead they made the audience applaud their routines on stage.

Next to Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, who did wear blackface, and other great tappers, the Nicholas Brother were the first group to have such a flash act combined with flips and their trademark painful splits. When they did these splits they would do the splits and shoot right back up using inner thigh muscles back on tune. Fayard Nicholas was known for his hands and that he had beautiful hand to comment dancing. Harold always had made the performance look a lot easier than what it was. Even while the Nicholas Brothers always looks elegant, they looked elegant even in props; they never wore rags. They performed in props such as a bellhop outfit, turbans and also made use of other gifts such as playing instruments while performing. Harold was also a natural comedian, impersonator, and singer.

He did a couple of shows by himself.

Fayard Nicholas was born in 1914 and his younger brother Harold was born in 1921. Offspring to famous musicians the children grew up in Philadelphia and were naturally heavily influenced by music. Fayard the oldest brother had seen famous performers. As he saw more and more performers he began to imitate them around the neighborhood to friends and family. Harold would soon follow in his footsteps and added his own acrobatic tactics and created new dance routines.

The Nicholas Brother were discovered by an early Vaudeville showcase is

Lafayette. In 1932 they opened up at the Cotton Club and made their first film,

“Pie, Pie, Blackbird.” They could only enter and leave through the back and was not allowed to sit in the crowd amongst the whites. They would work here at the

“Cotton Club” for two more years. In 1934 they took their first trip to Hollywood to take a part in Kid Millions, then it was a foreign film “Blackbird” with

Josephine Baker next in 1936. They then went on to take parts of even star in more than thirty movies over the 1930’s and 1940’s. In 1943, they created

“Stormy Weather,” which is said to be their personal favorite. It also contained one of the hardest dance routines with splits after splits on the staircase and a fury of fast feet and a lot of tap. The last movie to have them appear on film together as a team was MGM’s 1985 movie, “That’s Dancing.”

Paul Corr commented on the Nicholas Brothers as, “Their artistry, choreographic brilliance, and unique style, a smooth mix of tap, jazz, ballet and acrobatic moves, have excited and astonished vaudeville, theatre, film and television audiences all over the world.” Often in encores Harold would sing a song and Fayard would dance and use his hands to seem as he his playing the orchestra. Over their lifetimes, the Nicholas Brothers took tours in Europe, South

America, and African, they also performed for the King of England at the London

Palladium, and they also danced for nine different Presidents of the United States.

And in 1965 danced for the troops of Vietnam. They even greatly influenced today’s star, and also taught them tap dance. Debbie Allen, Michael and Janet

Jackson are a few to name which the Nicholas Brothers taught tap to.

Their career spanned over six decades and they are now considered classical dance artists. The younger brother Harold Nicholas died of heart failure on July 3, 2000. He lived to be 79 years old. His older brother Fayard Nicholas is current still living at the age of 88 years of age today. Fayard married a much younger white lady during the prime of his career; they are still together today.

She attends most of his appearances and awards acceptances with him. The

Nicholas Brother received many awards over the course of their lives. Probably the most important award that they won was the Samuel H. Scripps American

Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement in Modern Dance, in 1998, which was present by President Bill Clinton. They received a Hollywood star with their names on it. They also received the Kennedy Center Honors which was presented by another President, George Bush Sr. Finally they received an honorary doctorate degree from Harvard University. The Nicholas Brothers received more awards but these where of course noteworthy awards.

As far as how the Nicholas Brother influenced modern dance, they influenced it a lot. Not only where they first to incorporate spin, flips, and splits into their routine, but they did it so well that that is what they became known for.

Not tapping but as a flash act. There was of course other flash acts but what put the Nicholas Brothers on top was there love for the tap and they choices of music and they flexibility, they was often called rubber legged brothers due to their trademark splits. Not a lot of people could achieve the splits it is just as hard as a military push-up, because you use muscles in your thigh area that you never knew you had. And to see them do countless back-to-back splits made them that more popular. Also another reason that might have helped their rise to stardom was the fact that they didn’t play to the Minstrel’s stereotype, and they gave the audience something new and exciting to look at. The Nicholas Brothers paved the way for

African-Americans in being viewed other than the expected Jim Crow look, in fact they showed the audience how much class they could have and the audience loved them for that.

Bio Corr, Paul. Fayard and Harold Nicholas. 2001. March 19, 2003 http://www.tapdance.org/tap/people/nichbros.htm

The Offical Fayard Nicholas Site. 2002. March 19, 2003 http://www.nicholasbrothers.com/