The Nicholas Brothers

In a 1998 interview with Constance Valis Hill, known here only through a Portuguese podcast’s reading in translation, Barry says tap was in his life from the start: in 1940s Detroit everyone went to the theatre, and the big band shows at the Paradise Theatre came with comedians, actors and sketches between films.

Interview: tap dance and bebop29:18

Among those shows he remembers the Nicholas Brothers coming down a staircase in splits, jumping one over the other’s head. Tap, he says, was part of the whole thing, and dancers were always on the bill.

Interview: tap dance and bebop29:53

He adds that in those teenage years the music was all played for dancers rather than for concerts, and that everyone at his school wanted to make it as a dancer.

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