Crunk tapper goes classical at the Touhill Oct. 20-21
By Bill Beene
Of the St. Louis American
“This is Savion,” says the best tap dancer on the planet, Savion Glover, as he answers his cellphone – no middleman or PR darling involved.
The 32-year-old family man is his own PR person, books his own shows and works off his cellphone.
Now the former “tap dance kid,” who used to “bring in da noize, bring in the funk,” is executive producer of his own production.
“It comes with maturity and growth,” Glover said of doing his own thing.
With it, he’s tapping into classical music.
Along with his mainstay accompanying four-piece band, The Others – a 10-piece chamber orchestra, composed of recent conservatory grads – make up Glover’s Classical Savion tour.
It’s all music – Vivaldi, Bach, Bartok, Mendelssohn and Piazzolla – and dance, immaculate, improvisational Glover. “No special props and curtains,” Glover said, aside from a photo of late tap great Gregory Hines.
The show isn’t necessarily dedicated Hines. Glover said he’s had so many inspirations and role models that he can’t just connect with one.
The same diversity applies to his going classical.
“Hip-hop is me and will come out,” he says of his Classical Savion performances, “like gospel and jazz – whatever comes, that’s what it is, but music is music once the tempo is set.”
Glover explained the difference between jamming with his band on, say, a John Coltane-inspired melody vs. the chamber orchestra as the difference of talking to your best friend vs. talking to your principal.
As for the classical genre, Glover said he’s been listening to classical music since his mother introduced him to it.
Classical Savion is not a departure for Glover, in one sense. He always has regarded his art as highbrow. He once told talk show host Charlie Rose, “Tap should be respected – like opera at Carnegie Hall.”
Though Glover obviously respects classical music, his performance finds him mocking its pretension and snobbery by donning a tux with the shirt unbuttoned at the collar and cuff with his bowtie hanging loose.
Glover says being simply percussive lets him be free and go all over the place. A Three Penny Review of this show by Brian Seibert found Glover spontaneous but sticking to his jazz tradition: “more aural than visual, grounded, relaxed, a little ungainly.”
How will hip-hoppers who align themselves with Glover respond to his classical beat?
“I don’t know,” Glover said nonchalantly. “I don’t pay attention to one segment – my audience is wide.”
The acclaimed dancer began collecting fans when he first tapped Broadway at age 12. The show was The Tap Dance Kid, followed by Black and Blue, which garnered him a Tony Award nomination.
He joined his predecessor Gregory Hines in Jelly’s Last Jam and again in the feature film Tap, which also starred late, great entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. The hit Broadway musical Bring in da Noize, Bring in the Funk earned the crunk hoofer a Tony.
Michael Utoff, artistic and executive director of Dance St. Louis, which is bringing Glover in, said the first time he saw Glover dance he recognized him as “one of the greatest dancers of any kind.”
“I had the same experience as the first time I saw Nureyev and Baryshnikov,” Utoff said.
BOX:
Classical Savion
Presented by Dance St. Louis
8 p.m., Oct. 20-21
Blanche M. Touhill
$30-$65
Call (314) 534-6622
Speaking of Dance
With Dance St. Louis Dir. Michael Uthoff
7:15 p.m. before both performances
