Ruth Leon recommends… Stormy Weather – The Nicholas Brothers

Stormy Weather – The Nicholas Brothers

 Lovers of tap dancing, and I count myself in their number, know that the ability to make those clear, sharp sounds with musicality, form, technique and freedom is at least as demanding as the most complex of ballet movements but tap has historically been downgraded as a ‘pop’ or ‘street’ form.

I hate even to whisper this but could it be that this lack of respect for one of the greatest art forms is that it originated among Black artists  and only later was ‘discovered’ by the Fred Astaires and Gene Kellys who then popularised it for for mass audiences?

I once asked the great singer Lena Horne what she thought of Astaire and, without any disrespect, she said, “I didn’t need Fred Astaire because I had Honi.” She was referring to Honi Coles, one of the Copasetics, that extraordinary group of 1940s/50s Black tappers who, following in the footsteps of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, almost invented the form. This is not to say that there weren’t some fantastic White tappers who followed them, the aforementioned Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire among them.

Last week I challenged you to identify the greatest dance numbers ever filmed and I promised that, if I could find them online, I’d share them with you. Suggestions have arrived from all over the world and I’ll be sharing them here whenever there’s space. There is considerable consensus about the Nicholas Brothers, perhaps the greatest of them all but almost forgotten now except by a coterie of devoted fans, who are all mad about tap.

The 1943 movie “Stormy Weather”, starring Lena Horne, was, of course, in black and white but my friend Martin has discovered this miraculously high quality colourised version of the Nicholas Brothers tap dance scene with Cab Calloway and his orchestra performing “Jumpin’ Jive”.

​It was Fred Astaire, no less, who said this was the best dance scene ever filmed and who am I to argue?

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