GFADAF EP 8 - Interview: Jim Siegelman, Author of "The Book of Tap" (1977)

Gasps From A Dying Art Form

Episode Notes

What do Kurt Vonnegut, Noam Chomsky and Donald Trump have to do with tap dance? You might be surprised...

On a very special episode, host Tristan Bruns interviews Jim Siegelman, who co-authored 1977s "The Book of Tap" with tap dancer Jerry Ames. If you've read other tap dance history books, then you may be familiar with TBoT, which author Constance Vallis-Hill considers one of the big three of tap dance history books. In the late 1970s, ballet-tap was all the rage and the main source of tap dance histories, besides the Stearns' "Jazz Dance," were short, inconsistent ones found in DIY at-home instruction books. But Jim Siegelman set out to change all of that, and now you can find out how with an detailed look at an important stepping stone in how we view the history and philosophy of tap dance today.

Here is a link to the FREE online version of "The Book of Tap".

https://archive.org/details/bookoftaprecover0000ames/mode/2up?q=Jerry+Ames+tap

Become a Patreon member here: Patreon.com/GFADAF 50% of all support goes to the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Tap Academy on Chicago's South Side.

Or, if you liked the episode, leave a one-time tip in the tip jar!

This is a long one, so feel free to skip around (times and topics below).

0:00 Theme song + Introduction of Jim Siegelman.

8:00 The origin of "The Book of Tap".

14:04 Siegelman on Interviewing Famous Dancers.

15:20 Brief discussion of Siegelman's other work—"Snapping," "Holy Terror," "Dark Hero of the Information Age: In Search of Norbert Wiener, the Father of Cybernetics"— w/ partner Flo Conway.

23:58 A little bit about tap dancer and co-author Jerry Ames and who wrote what in "TBoT".

28:26 Siegelman responds to my critique of "TBoT" from episodes 7.1-7.3.

42:25 Some tap dance gossip!

46:14 On learning about shocking U.S. American (Tap) history (references to GFADAF EP 3 "The Structure of Tap Dance Revolutions," a juxtaposition of the work of scientific philosopher Thomas S. Kuhn with tap dance.

52:30 Discussing reoccurring topics found in tap dance history writing.

52:50 Topic #1—The Ballet Tap Movement from 1950-1980

57:09 Topic #2—The Twin Streams Theory

1:05:06 Topic #3—"The Hoofers" and the Tap Messiah, the next generation and tap prophecy.

1:13:52 Topic #4—The Happy Slave Ship Dancers Theory

1:20:05 Topic #5—The Death of Minstrelsy Theory

1:29:30 Topic #6—If tap dance is a "melting pot" of cultures, why is it often boiled down to Ireland and Africa? Also, the White Nationalist origin of the "Irish Were Slaves, Too" trope.

1:36:45 Tap Philosopy: Is tap dance inherently happy and is that happiness tied to U.S. American idealism?

1:39:19 Noam Chomsky and his theory of "Transformational Grammar".

1:48:10 The connection between Kurt Vonnegut and tap dance. I'm a big Vonnegut fan and these anecdotes nearly knocked me out of my tap shoes. And so it goes. . .

Thank you to our Patreon patrons Liz Rancourt-Smith and Junior Lanyan. Your support is what drives this program.

The Gasps From A Dying Art Form Podcast is part of the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Podcast Network. #RespectTheDance

Support Gasps From A Dying Art Form by contributing to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/gasps-from-a-dying-art-form

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.