The Nicholas Brothers were a brothers team, Fayard (1914-2006) and Harold (1921-2000), who performed a high acrobatic technique known as "flash dance". With a high level of art and bold innovation, they are considered by many to be the best tap dancers of their time. Their performance in the musical number "Jumpin 'Jive" (with Cab Calloway and orchestra) featured in the movie Stormy Weather is considered by many to be the most virtuoso dance performances of all time.
Growing up surrounded by vaudeville acting as children, they became the stars of the jazz circuit during the heyday of the Renaissance Harlem and then had a successful career performing on stage, film, and television until the 1990s.
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Fayard Antonio Nicholas was born October 20, 1914, in Mobile, Alabama. Harold Lloyd Nicholas was born March 17, 1921, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The Nicholas Brothers grew up in Philadelphia, the sons of the highly educated musicians who played in their own bands at the old Standard Theater - their mothers at the piano and father on drums. At the age of three, Fayard will always sit in the front row while his parents work, and by the time he is ten, he has seen most of the African-American vaudeville act - especially the dancers, including famous men of his time as Alice Whitman , Willie Bryant, and Bill Robinson. The brothers are fascinated by the combination of tap and acrobatic dance. Fayard often mimics acrobats and jokes them to the children in his neighborhood.
Neither Fayard nor Harold had any formal dance exercises. Fayard taught himself how to dance, sing, and perform by watching and imitating professional entertainers on stage. She then taught her siblings, first performing with her sister Dorothy as Nicholas Kids, who later joins Harold. Harold idolizes his older brother and learns by imitating his movements and different styles. Dorothy then chooses not to act, and Nicholas Kids is known as Nicholas Brothers.
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Careers
When the news spread from their talents, Nicholas Brothers became famous in Philadelphia. They were first hired for radio programs, The Horn and Hardart Kiddie Hour, and later by other local theaters such as Standard and the Pearl. When they performed at Pearl, the manager of The Lafayette, a famous show in New York vaudeville, saw them and immediately wanted them to perform for the theater.
The brothers moved to Philadelphia in 1926 and gave their first appearance at the Standard a few years later. In 1932, they became the main acting in Harlem's Cotton Club, when Harold was 11 years old and Fayard was 18 years old. They surprised the audience, especially the white ones dancing in the jazz temple "Bugle Call Rag" and they are the only entertainers in African-American actor. allowed to mingle with white customers. They performed at the Cotton Club for two years, working with Lucky Millinder orchestra, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and Jimmy Lunceford. During this time they filmed their first short film, Pie Pie Blackbird , in 1932, with Eubie Blake and his orchestra.
In a combination of dance tap, ballet, and acrobatics - sometimes called acrobatic dance or "flash dancing" - no individual or group goes beyond the influence that Nicholas Brothers has on other audiences and dancers. The brothers associate their success with this unique dance style, which is in great demand during this time.
Producer Samuel Goldwyn saw them at the Cotton Club and, impressed by their entertaining performances, invited them to California to be part of Kid Millions (1934), which was their first role in a Hollywood movie. The brothers made their Broadway debut at Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 and also appeared in the musical of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart Babes in Arms in 1937. They impressed their choreographer, George Balanchine , who invited them to appear at Babes in Arms . With Balanchine training, they learn a lot of new action. Their talents make many people assume that they are trained ballet dancers.
In 1940, they moved to Hollywood and for decades alternated between movies, nightclubs, concerts, Broadway, television, and extensive tours in Latin America, Africa and Europe.
They toured England with the production of Blackbirds, which gave Nicholas Brothers an opportunity to see and appreciate some of Europe's great ballet companies.
In 1991, Nicholas Brothers received the Kennedy Center Honors to recognize their achievements for 60 years. A year later, the documentary We Wealth & amp; We Dance celebrate their careers and include a tribute from Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines, M.C. Hammer and Clarke Peters. In 1994, the cast members of Hot Shoe Shuffle also paid tribute to Nicholas Brothers.
Teach
Nicholas Brothers teaches master classes in tap dance as a teacher-in-residence at Harvard University and Radcliffe as Ruth Page Visiting Artists. Among their known students are Debbie Allen, Janet Jackson, and Michael Jackson. Some of today's tap masters have performed with or taught by the brothers: Dianne Walker, Sam Weber, Alexander Lane, Mark Mendonca, Terry Brock, Colburn Kids Tap/LA, Channing Cook Holmes, Chris Baker, Brienzo Artist, Chester Whitmore, Darlene Gist, Tobius Tak, Carol Zee and Steve Zee.
Personal life
Fayard
Fayard married three times:
- Geraldine Pate (1942-55);
- Barbara January (1967-98) (until her death);
- Katherine Hopkins (2000-24 January 2006) (until her death)
Fayard is a member of the BahÃÆ'¡'ÃÆ' Faith since 1967.
Fayard died on January 24, 2006, due to pneumonia after a stroke. His worship stands alone. Led by Mary Jean Valente from A Ceremony of Heart , this service is a collection of personal collections, music, dance, and one last standing ovation.
Two of Fayard's granddaughters danced as "Sister Nicholas" and have won awards for their performances.
Harold
Harold married three times. She first married singer and actress Dorothy Dandridge from 1942 to 1951. The couple had one child, Harolyn Nicholas, who was born mentally disabled. In Paris, he has a son, Melih Nicholas, with his second wife. Harold lived on the Upper West Side of New York for approximately twenty years (until his death) with his third wife, Swedish-born Rigmor Alfredsson Newman, a producer and former Miss Sweden.
Harold died on July 3, 2000, due to a heart attack after a small operation.
Style and move
One of their signature movements is to jump down the long and wide staircases, finishing each step with disunity. His most famous appearance formed the end of the film Stormy Weather (1943). In the routine, Nicholas Brothers jumped happily across the orchestral music booth and danced on the grand piano in call and response action with the pianist, to the Jumpin 'Jive song . Fred Astaire once told the brothers that this dance number is the order of the greatest musical movie he has ever seen.
In other signature movements, they will rise from division without using their hands. Gregory Hines stated that if their biography was ever filmed, the number of their dances should be computer-generated because no one can imitate them. Ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov once referred to them as the most amazing dancer he had ever seen in his life.
Movieography
According to the Los Angeles Times article about the brothers, "Because of racial prejudice, they appear as guest artists, isolated from the plot, in many of their movies.This is a strategy that allows their scenes to be easily removed for playback at South. "
Awards and honors
- Harold received the DEA Award from Dance Educators of America
- Harold receives Bay Area Criticism Circle Award (Top Headline, Stompin 'at Savoy)
- Harold received the Port of Performing Arts Center Lifetime Achievement Award
- Honorary doctor of Harvard University for both brothers
- Black Filmmaker Hall of Fame (1978)
- Ellie Award (1984), National Film Society for both brothers
- Hall of Fame Apollo Theater (1986), First Class Inductees for both brothers
- Ebony Lifetime Achievement Award (1987) for both brothers
- Fayard received the 1989 Tony Award from Broadway as Best Choreographer for Black and Blue with his collaborators Cholly Atkins, Henry LeTang and Frankie Manning.
- Scripps American Dance Festival Award
- Kennedy Center Honors in 1991 for the two brothers present
- Lifetime National Black Media Coalition Award (1992)
- Flo-Bert Award (1992)
- New York Tap Dance Committee, Gypsy Award (1994)
- Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7083 Hollywood Blvd (1994)
- Professional Dancer Society, Dance Magazine Award of (1995)
- American Dance Festival Award Samuel H. Scripps 1998 for Lifetime Achievement in Modern Dance
- National Dance Museum & amp; Mrs Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame Inductees (2001)
Other important achievements
- In 1948, Nicholas Brothers gave a royal commando performance to King George VI at the London Palladium.
- The retrospection of their work in the film appeared at the 1981 Academy Awards ceremony.
- During their lifetime, the brothers danced for nine different United States Presidents.
- Your home movies are selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry in 2011.
See also
- Kalamazoo, Michigan
References
Further reading
- Constance Valis Hill, Brotherhood in Rhythm: The Jazz Dancing of the Nicholas Brothers . ISBN: 0-19-513166-5
External links
- Nicholas Brothers on IMDb
- Nicholas Brothers on Broadway Internet Database
- Interview Jitterbuzz Lindy Week Review with Fayard Nicholas
- Performing Arts Glide from Dance Floor: Fayard Nicholas by Terry Gross
- Remembrances Dancer-Choreographer Fayard Nicholas
- Remind Inspiration to Astaire, Dancer Fayard Nicholas by Joel Rose
- Harold Nicholas obituary
- The Story of Nicholas Brothers in Italian Electro Swing
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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