Renowned tap dancer LaVaughn Robinson is South
Philadelphia born and bred. "Hoofing" since he was seven, Robinson calls
himself the last of the "street dancers." He learned his first time step from
his mother in the shed kitchen of the family home, and South Philly street
corners served as the academy where he developed his style and technique. With
Henry Meadows and others (Howard Blow, Eddie Sledge), Robinson performed in
acts with names like the “Dancing Dictators”, and the “Dancing Jets”, gaining
respect for his close rhythms, and touring widely as a "class act." During the
1940-50s he shared stages with such artists as Cab Calloway, Ruth Brown, Tommy
Dorsey and his Orchestra, Maynard Ferguson, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday,
Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. Robinson actively pursued his dance career
through the early 1970s. By then, many of the theaters and nightclubs that
kept tap dancers employed were closing as the economics of the entertainment
industry and audiences’ tastes changed. In the early 1980s, Robinson returned
to Philadelphia after a stint in Boston and began performing for contemporary
dance and folk music audiences who were awakening to jazz tap. Robinson began
teaching at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he was a faculty
member for 25 years and was conferred the title of Distinguished Professor in
2005. He perpetuated the “Philadelphia style” of tap through the generations
of dancers that he taught at UArts and at universities, dance festivals and
artist residencies across the globe. From the mid-1980 thru 2003 he performed
widely, both as a solo artist and with Germaine Ingram, his dance partner of
two decades. Robinson has received many prestigious awards, including the
National Heritage Award from the Folk Arts Program of the National Endowment
for the Arts, choreographers' fellowships from the Dance Program of the
National Endowment for the Arts, a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, and
Pennsylvania Artist of the Year, an award conferred by then-Governor Tom
Ridge. His wisdom and experience helped to guide oral histories and
documentation of local tap dancers by the Philadelphia Folklore Project and
the Dance Collection at Temple University. He was featured in the documentary
videotape "Plenty of Good Women Dancers: African American Women Hoofers in
Philadelphia," and collaborated with Carole Boughter and Barry Dornfeld on
“Dancing History”, a biographical documentary on Robinson’s career as an
artists and teacher.

Bio

Dr. Fayard and Harold Nicholas

Singers/Dancers/Actors/Comedians

The Legendary Nicholas Brothers are two of the greatest Tap Dancers that ever
lived, certainly the most beloved dance team in the history of entertainment.
Fayard was born in 1914 and passed in 2006; Harold was born in 1921 and passed
in 2000.

The Nicholas Brothers grew up in Philadelphia, the sons of musicians who
played in their own band at the Standard Theater, their mother at the piano
and father on drums. At the age of 3 (three), Fayard was always seated in the
front row while his parents worked and by the time he was10 (ten) he had seen
most of the great black Vaudeville acts, particularly the dancers, including
such notables of the time as Alice Whitman, Willie Bryant and Bill Robinson.

He was completely fascinated by them and imitated their acrobatics and
clowning for kids in his neighborhood.

Harold watched and imitated Fayard until he was able to dance too, then
apparently, he worked his own ideas into mimicry.

The Nicholas Brothers' career spans performances in the Cotton Club in the
1930's to receiving the Kennedy Center Honors in 1991.

In 2003, he received the Soul to Sole Lifetime Achievement Award from the
Tapestry.
In 2002 Fayard received his Doctor of Performing Arts in American Dance from
the University of Oklahoma. He also received their Living Treasure Award.

In 2001 the Nicholas Brothers were inducted into Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius
Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame of the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga
Springs, New York. In 2007 Fayard and Harold posthumously received the Philly
Master of Tap Award and a Proclamation from the city where their careers
began, Philadelphia.

Fayard also has a Tony Award for his choreography for the Broadway musical,
Black and Blue and the Nicholas Brothers have their own star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame.
The Nicholas Brothers have performed at Carnegie Hall and headlined all over
the world and have been inducted into the New York City Tap Dance Hall of Fame.

Their Broadway debut was the Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 starring Bob Hope, Fanny
Brice, Eve Arden and Josephine Baker choreographed by George Balanchine.

They also did Babes in Arms in 1937 with Mitzi Green, also choreographed by
George Balanchine.

Then in 1946 they starred in St. Louis Women with Pearl Bailey.

In 1948 they did Royal Command Performance for the King and Queen of England.
In 1965 The Nicholas Brothers performed in Bob Hope's USO Tour for the King of
Thailand and toured Vietnam for our American Soldiers.

They have done everything in show business except Opera.

They have toured with Sammy Davis Jr. as well.

They have appeared on the Ed Sullivan, Sammy Davis, Bob Hope, Mike Douglas and
Merv Griffin shows as well as the Colgate Palmolive Hours and special shows
filmed at the Hollywood Palace.

In between they made films like Sun Valley Serenade, in 1941 with Dorothy
Dandridge performing with them in the famous Chattanooga Choo Choo accompanied
by the Glen Miller Orchestra.

They appeared in 1942 Orchestra Wives, and with Gene Kelly in The Pirate.

Of their 30 films, Stormy Weather, 1943, features their now classic staircase
routine. In 1969 Fayard had a dramatic role in Liberation of L.B. Jones as
well as the 2002 release of Night at the Golden Eagle which he did a dramatic
role. It is available on video and DVD.

Fayard is also featured in a film documentary, Broadway the Golden Age.