Jane Goldberg Essay, Research Paper

Dance 100 Asgmt. # 2 JANE GOLDBERG Goldberg is a tap dancer who performs for different audiences since the nineteen- seventies. She is also a well-known teacher. When she teaches, she is always trying to deliver the material in a way that will make the students feel a part of tap dance too. Some of her students like to hear her stories about her boyfriend, others would rather listen to her funny stories like her affiliation to the Weight Watchers, or even different issues related to her life. Jane Goldberg’s most recent job is as a teacher, of course, at New York University. For most of her students, the only knowledge of tap dance seems to circle around Fred Astaire. Goldberg, Gregory Hines, the Nicholas Brothers, and others, consider themselves as part of a distinct tradition, where Astaire is not considered central nor vital. Jane Goldberg is a good friend of Hines and as a sign of friendship, she sent him a “Tap-A-Gram.” This Tap-A-Gram consists on a singing telegram with tap dancing. Goldberg used to do some of those tap telegrams herself. There are some polemic issues for women in tap dancing. One of these issues is the clothing for performance, like men’s oxfords which are flat, and clunky shoes. These shoes have such a style that when you wear them your feet look like pontoon boats. The men’s oxford shoes are also the easiest kind for tap sounds. Goldberg says that you are always selling two things in tap, “your image and your sound.” She likes to tap in swingy dresses with decollage and nipped-in waists. She also has a dozen of handmade pair of shoes in different colors and heels’ heights. Jane Goldberg’s ideals in clothes are from the thirties. Those clothes consisted in low necklines, fitted bodice, and a skirt cut on the bias. The outfit does not actually come from the thirties, but as Goldberg says, “this is new: it’s an attitude.”

Jane Goldberg is well talented, but we cannot leave her mentors aside. She was taught by influential “hoofers”(traditional tap dancers) like Charles (Cookie) Cook, Chuck Green, Honi Coles, and Sandman Sims from New York, and John Bubbles from California. John Bubbles was paralyzed when he taught Goldberg. In order for him to show Goldberg some moves, he had to use the first two fingers of one hand. Jane Goldberg’s role model is a well- known dancer, Ginger Rogers. She states that Ginger’s character was “always an equal to Fred Astaire’s.” Women were always treated differently and were never the center of the show. Tapping in the thirties and forties was a man’s game. Tap was born in a time where “a black boy growing up had limited options”- says Stanley Brown, a tap teacher. Jane Goldberg proudly said and I quote, “Sandman Sims once said I danced like a little black boy.” The hard work and discipline of Jane Goldberg amazed me. There were a lot of limitations for women tap dancers in a men formed society. The clothes, like shoes, were designed for men, or were manly looking. Goldberg broke barriers and innovated the style of women tap dancers. But after all the innovations made by her, she is still considered to be a traditional tap dancer, or a “hoofer.” As I understood, being a hoofer means more than only a title. These people take tap dance to a second level where is not only a dance but also an expression of all good things in life. She made brilliant contributions and I believe that her students now have more to remember in tap dancing than only Fred Astaire. Even I consider myself to be influenced by the Fred Astaire “fever”. But now I understand that there is more to it than only the dance itself.