Leonard Reed
Leonard Reed, a tap dance pioneer who was co-creator of the famous Shim Sham Shimmy dance routine, died here on Monday.
What did the Shim Sham originate as?
They called the dance “Goofus” to the tune of Turkey in the Straw. In the 1930s, legend has it that one of the show dancers was fired, went to New York and started to perform the routine at a club called the Shim Sham. The dance was renamed the Shim Sham Shimmy.
Where was the Shim Sham Shimmy created?
The Three Little Words started to doing the dance at Connie’s Inn in Harlem and they called it Shim Sham (if we trust on Stearns’ Jazz Dance) or they went to the club called Shim Sham where they started to call the dance by name Shim Sham Shimmy (if we trust on Leonard Reed’s own story).
When was the Shim Sham created?
1927
In 1927, two song and dance men, Leonard Reed and Willie Bryant, took four popular steps of the 1920’s, strung them together with a break and created the now legendary “Shim Sham Shimmy.” At the time, Reed & Bryant were touring in the South with The Whitman Sisters show, and the dance was originally called “Gofus.” The …
What is a shim Shammer?
Definition of shim-sham shimmy : a swing step with stamps, heel-beats, and runs.
What is the BS chorus tap?
The “B.S. Chorus” is a classic tap dance routine known to date back to the 1930’s (perhaps even earlier!). It is a basic one chorus, 32 bar chorus, dance comprised of four steps and a repeating break. Anyone who can already do a basic Time Step and Shuffle will find this dance a pure joy.
What does shimmy sham mean?
Wiktionary. shimmy-shammynoun. Secretive, illicit activity or favor trading.
Do people still do the Shim Sham?
In fact, the Shim Sham is so important that the tap community has dubbed it the “international hoofers anthem.” Though it’s decades old, the Shim Sham is still done at all types of tap events, from festivals to memorial services.
What is the purpose of a shim?
Plain and simple, a shim is a tapered wedge used for making slight adjustments to home elements, such as door frames and windows, to make them plumb and level. The most common shims are wood (often cut from cedar or pine) and serve well for almost any interior adjustment.
What is the English meaning of shims?
Definition of shim (Entry 1 of 2) : a thin, often tapered piece of material (such as wood, metal, or stone) used to fill in space between things (as for support, leveling, or adjustment of fit)
Who created the BS chorus?
This two-chorus tap dance was created by Eddie Brown in the 1980s at the urging of his devoted student following.
Who created the shim sham dance?
There is the choreography used by Leonard Reed and Willie Bryant, as well as a number of variations by Leonard Reed and others. Other “shim sham” choreographies include ones by Frankie Manning, Al Minns and Leon James (also called the “Savoy Shim Sham”), and Dean Collins .
What is the shim sham and why should you participate?
Participating in the Shim Sham connects you to tap’s history. “You become part of the legacy,” says tap dancer and dance preservationist Rusty Frank. Like anything passed on from dancer to dancer, the Shim Sham’s history isn’t easy to nail down. Leonard Reed, a tap dancer who performed in the 1920s and ’30s, claimed to have created the Shim Sham.
How many Shim Shams did Leonard Reed do?
The Revenge of the Shim Sham, 2002, a 32-bar chorus dance, Leonard Reed’s final Shim Sham, which builds upon his original four (the name was suggested by Maxwell DeMille at a performance at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles).
How many steps are in a shim sham chorus?
The Leonard Reed Shim Shams: The original Shim Sham from 1927, a 32-bar chorus composed of four steps and a break. The Freeze Chorus, circa 1930s, the original Shim Sham without the breaks.
