March 9, 2007 — Arguably the greatest tap dancer in the world, Savion Glover will be appearing on stage at the Reichhold Center for the Arts this Saturday evening for what will be his only performance in the Caribbean.
It's also one of a very few scheduled appearances anywhere in the world in the coming months.
This is Glover’s first visit to the islands, and he will appear with The Otherz, his fluent musical combo that plays jazz, Latin, reggae and pop. All band members are virtuosic players — as they would have to be in order to keep up with Glover’s dazzling footwork. He has developed a new type of dance, a style that he has christened “free-form hardcore.”
The Reichhold performance is entitled "Savion Glover: Live For St. Thomas.” In a phone interview with The Source, he said, “It is the only thing I am working on, and I promise some surprises.”
The surprises may include the appearance of one of his protégés, an up-and-coming tap dancer named Cartier Williams, who has been getting rave reviews.
The Encyclopedia Britannica defines Savion Glover this way: “An American dancer and choreographer who became known for his unique pounding style of tap dancing, called 'hitting.' He brought renewed interest in dance, particularly among youths and minorities.”
For such a young performer, Glover, only 36, has had a long and storied career already. He debuted on Broadway at age 10 in "The Tap Dance Kid" and is known by millions of young children for his many appearances on Sesame Street from 1990 through1995.
His film debut was in "Tap," in which he co-starred with tap dance greats Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis Jr.
In 1996 Glover won the Tony Award for his dancing and choreography in the Broadway smash hit, "Bring In Da Noize, Bring In Da Funk."
Demonstrating both dance and dramatic abilities, Glover in 2000 portrayed a tap-dancing phenomenon in Spike Lee’s "Bamboozled," a powerful movie, based in part upon the film classic, "Network."
His most recent project is as the motion-capture dancer for Mumble, the penguin in the Warner Bros. animated release "Happy Feet," which won the 2007 Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year.
George Miller, the film's director, reportedly refused to make the movie until Glover agreed to work on it.
Saturday's performance starts at 8 p.m.
For further information and tickets call the Reichhold Center at 340-693-1559.
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