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Brotherhood In Rhythm
Tap dancing legends Fayard (b. 1914) and Harold (1918-2000) Nicholas amazed crowds with their performances in musicals and films from the 30s to the 80s. They performed with Gene Kelly in The Pirate , with Cab Calloway in Stormy Weather , with Dorothy Dandridge (Harold's wife) in Sun Valley Serenade , and with a number of other stars on the stage and on the screen. Author Hill not only guides readers through the brothers' showstopping successes and the repressive times in which their dancing won them universal acclaim, she also offers extensive insight into the history and choreography of tap dancing, bringing readers up to speed on the art form in which the Nicholas Brothers excelled.
349 pages, Paperback
First published March 30, 2000
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July 19, 2019
‘When they came on, a roar went up, like a bullfighter made a great pass. ... It was a very dramatic introduction, they both came in from opposite sides of the stage and did a great step, and my heart was beating so fast, just to see them in person. I remember the ease with which they did the act, which is what I was really looking for cause on film you can take a whole lot of takes. But live, they just were so relaxed, and seemed to do everything effortlessly. I realized then that, er, nobody was gonna be the next Nicholas Brothers, least of all my brother and me.’—Gregory Hines
‘(They were) the most amazing dancers I have ever seen in my life . . . ever. What is extraordinary about them is that you recognize their style in break dancing. You recognize their style in rap. . . . They have opened doors for so many people. They are the chain, that’s why they are so important.’ —Mikhail Baryshnikov
Last school term, I was asked to prepare a presentation for my graduating junior high school students about human rights. Trying to choose something that would expose them to something they rarely encounter, I chose the topic of the African American experience (Japan is one of the most homogenous countries in the world where approximately 3% of the population is not “Japanese”).
With the success of tennis star Naomi Osaka as well as basketball player Rui Hachimura (both born in Japan to Black and Japanese parents), it seemed like a good opportunity to build a deeper and more complex understanding of what it means to be Black not only in Japan but in America as well. While searching for media that might illustrate some of the past and present stereotypes attached to Black Americans, in particular ‘blackface’, which despite a small but vocal campaign against it is still something astoundingly that can be found on Japanese television, I found this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_swt...
As offensive as that video is, and it is deeply offensive, I also stumbled upon an entirely different kind of dance sequence from the 1940’s film “Stormy Weather”, performed by the Nicholas Brothers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBb9h...
Then I found this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecBAe...
And this one with Dorothy Dandridge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTwy8...
Oh my....
How had these guys escaped my attention all these years? How had I never heard of them or seen their routines which seemingly defied the laws of physics? I was in awe of what I was watching and wanted to know more about these men and their times.
Sadly there is not much in the way of biographies about them, however Constance Valis Hill’s “Brotherhood in Rhythm” is a great place to start.
While she primarily focuses on the mechanics of their technique (If you know what a “Tack Annie, “Heel drop”, or “Shim Sham Shammy” is, this is the book for you), there is enough background on the brothers to be informative for those without a background in jazz dance.
In short, the Nicholas Brothers were for a time one of the most well known dance teams around the world. They worked with a long list of luminaries that included Dizzy Gillespie, Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington, Etta James, Dorothy Dandridge (who Harold Nicholas would go on to marry), Glenn Dorsey and countless others from the time they were pre-teens all the way into their 70’s. They starred in Hollywood films, played packed theaters, and toured around the world. While most Black American dance at this time consisted of large portions of minstrely and buffoonery, the Nicholas Brothers with their impeccable suits and and complex choreography, brought a dignity and respect to a dance form that it had not previously had. For Black Americans watching the Nicholas Brothers, this was no small thing:
‘The Nicholas Brothers were household names in the black community when I was growing up during the 1930s’said drummer Max Roach. ‘They were the heroes of young people.’ Jazz singer Bobby Short confessed: ‘I wanted to be like the Nicholas Brothers. I wanted their success, I wanted to look like them, act like them, and make that kind of money.’ Roach believes the Nicholas Brothers were role models: ‘We couldn’t afford to dress like them because this was coming out of the Depression. but they were big stars. They were the ones who inspired us, and who we looked up to in those hard days in this country. They went outside of the art for us, they were symbols, and they meant a great deal to our community’ Dorothy Nicholas confirms simply: ‘They were asked to sing and to dance. So they sang and danced as best they knew how, which was their way of bringing dignity to their race.’
In spite of their grace, talent, and magnetism however, the brothers were not immune from the rules of Jim Crow America, particularly in the 1930’s and 40’s. While they appeared in a number of Hollywood films, their dance sequences were never connected to the main plot so that they could be easily excised when the film would be screened in the South. They also rarely danced with other white dancers of the day and certainly not white females. Take the humorous example of a time when the brothers were on tour with Carmen Miranda in 1940:
“Harold remembered, white Southerners in the audience expressed their displeasure at seeing a white woman touch the brothers onstage. ‘She’d just grab us, grab us both and tickle us.’, said Harold. And once during a performance, a man in the audience hollered, ‘Hey, what are you doing ?’ She shouted back jokingly, ‘What’s the matter, are you jealous, yeah?’ Miranda had been able to quell with humor the sparks of hostility that were ignited in the audience over seeing a white woman playfully touch a pair of black teenage boys.”
Or a more serious incident involving Glenn Dorsey and his orchestra:
“ ‘There was always a huge audience, about fifteen hundred people, and they heard the Nicholas Brothers were outside. The doors opened and everybody rushed. When all that died down, the band was about to start playing and we wanted to go in and the men who were standing at the door said we couldn’t come in because they didn’t allow black people’. Someone apparently informed Dorsey, who stopped the band, walked through the house and into the lobby, and ordered the management either to let the Nicholas Brothers enter the theatre or give the audience its money back and send them home. The Nicholases were finally ushered to front row seats, and Frank Sinatra, who was the soloist with the band, invited Fayard and Harold to sing with him.’ ”
First, credit and much respect to Glenn Dorsey and Frank Sinatra for standing up for a colleague and friend that way. Second, this was seemingly the norm for these ultra talented brothers and yet according to most, they rarely complained. They were happy to be dancing with each other for a living, making good money (at least in the early days), and entertaining:
‘They took advantage of the Nicholas Brothers’, says Geri Pate Nicholas about the agency, which got fees for white acts like the Williams Brothers that were triple what they could get for the Nicholases. Fayard’s wife said:’They put them on one of those slave contracts, where you have to do anything at their will.’ Fayard, she added, never complained about the pay; instead, ‘he would finish the day and go in, turn the records on and start improvising. It was just his life. You’ve never seen such dedication. He had no bitterness about what was not done. He just went on.’
Eventually however, this would drive the Nicholas Brothers, along with so many other Black artists of the day, to Europe in search of better paying work and respect for their art. It would not be until later in life and long after a return to America that they would begin to receive the appreciation and notice they deserved however.
While I enjoyed this book, I did wish at times that Hill would have spent more time on the atmosphere surrounding race during the height of the brothers fame. Outside of the last 30-40 pages, she mainly focuses on biographical information and the reasons (many of them technical) why they mattered to modern jazz and dance. When the book gets too dry, I would highly recommend putting it down for a moment and watching the brothers perform the dances she describes. Watching Fayard Nicholas doing splits up and down a flight of stairs and raising himself up without hands, or watching Harold run up a wall, do a backflip and land in a split, is life affirming stuff. Seeing the sheer joy on their faces as they do things you didn’t think possible, will make you gasp, cheer, and simply feel happy to be alive.
‘(They were) the most amazing dancers I have ever seen in my life . . . ever. What is extraordinary about them is that you recognize their style in break dancing. You recognize their style in rap. . . . They have opened doors for so many people. They are the chain, that’s why they are so important.’ —Mikhail Baryshnikov
Last school term, I was asked to prepare a presentation for my graduating junior high school students about human rights. Trying to choose something that would expose them to something they rarely encounter, I chose the topic of the African American experience (Japan is one of the most homogenous countries in the world where approximately 3% of the population is not “Japanese”).
With the success of tennis star Naomi Osaka as well as basketball player Rui Hachimura (both born in Japan to Black and Japanese parents), it seemed like a good opportunity to build a deeper and more complex understanding of what it means to be Black not only in Japan but in America as well. While searching for media that might illustrate some of the past and present stereotypes attached to Black Americans, in particular ‘blackface’, which despite a small but vocal campaign against it is still something astoundingly that can be found on Japanese television, I found this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_swt...
As offensive as that video is, and it is deeply offensive, I also stumbled upon an entirely different kind of dance sequence from the 1940’s film “Stormy Weather”, performed by the Nicholas Brothers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBb9h...
Then I found this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecBAe...
And this one with Dorothy Dandridge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTwy8...
Oh my....
How had these guys escaped my attention all these years? How had I never heard of them or seen their routines which seemingly defied the laws of physics? I was in awe of what I was watching and wanted to know more about these men and their times.
Sadly there is not much in the way of biographies about them, however Constance Valis Hill’s “Brotherhood in Rhythm” is a great place to start.
While she primarily focuses on the mechanics of their technique (If you know what a “Tack Annie, “Heel drop”, or “Shim Sham Shammy” is, this is the book for you), there is enough background on the brothers to be informative for those without a background in jazz dance.
In short, the Nicholas Brothers were for a time one of the most well known dance teams around the world. They worked with a long list of luminaries that included Dizzy Gillespie, Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington, Etta James, Dorothy Dandridge (who Harold Nicholas would go on to marry), Glenn Dorsey and countless others from the time they were pre-teens all the way into their 70’s. They starred in Hollywood films, played packed theaters, and toured around the world. While most Black American dance at this time consisted of large portions of minstrely and buffoonery, the Nicholas Brothers with their impeccable suits and and complex choreography, brought a dignity and respect to a dance form that it had not previously had. For Black Americans watching the Nicholas Brothers, this was no small thing:
‘The Nicholas Brothers were household names in the black community when I was growing up during the 1930s’said drummer Max Roach. ‘They were the heroes of young people.’ Jazz singer Bobby Short confessed: ‘I wanted to be like the Nicholas Brothers. I wanted their success, I wanted to look like them, act like them, and make that kind of money.’ Roach believes the Nicholas Brothers were role models: ‘We couldn’t afford to dress like them because this was coming out of the Depression. but they were big stars. They were the ones who inspired us, and who we looked up to in those hard days in this country. They went outside of the art for us, they were symbols, and they meant a great deal to our community’ Dorothy Nicholas confirms simply: ‘They were asked to sing and to dance. So they sang and danced as best they knew how, which was their way of bringing dignity to their race.’
In spite of their grace, talent, and magnetism however, the brothers were not immune from the rules of Jim Crow America, particularly in the 1930’s and 40’s. While they appeared in a number of Hollywood films, their dance sequences were never connected to the main plot so that they could be easily excised when the film would be screened in the South. They also rarely danced with other white dancers of the day and certainly not white females. Take the humorous example of a time when the brothers were on tour with Carmen Miranda in 1940:
“Harold remembered, white Southerners in the audience expressed their displeasure at seeing a white woman touch the brothers onstage. ‘She’d just grab us, grab us both and tickle us.’, said Harold. And once during a performance, a man in the audience hollered, ‘Hey, what are you doing ?’ She shouted back jokingly, ‘What’s the matter, are you jealous, yeah?’ Miranda had been able to quell with humor the sparks of hostility that were ignited in the audience over seeing a white woman playfully touch a pair of black teenage boys.”
Or a more serious incident involving Glenn Dorsey and his orchestra:
“ ‘There was always a huge audience, about fifteen hundred people, and they heard the Nicholas Brothers were outside. The doors opened and everybody rushed. When all that died down, the band was about to start playing and we wanted to go in and the men who were standing at the door said we couldn’t come in because they didn’t allow black people’. Someone apparently informed Dorsey, who stopped the band, walked through the house and into the lobby, and ordered the management either to let the Nicholas Brothers enter the theatre or give the audience its money back and send them home. The Nicholases were finally ushered to front row seats, and Frank Sinatra, who was the soloist with the band, invited Fayard and Harold to sing with him.’ ”
First, credit and much respect to Glenn Dorsey and Frank Sinatra for standing up for a colleague and friend that way. Second, this was seemingly the norm for these ultra talented brothers and yet according to most, they rarely complained. They were happy to be dancing with each other for a living, making good money (at least in the early days), and entertaining:
‘They took advantage of the Nicholas Brothers’, says Geri Pate Nicholas about the agency, which got fees for white acts like the Williams Brothers that were triple what they could get for the Nicholases. Fayard’s wife said:’They put them on one of those slave contracts, where you have to do anything at their will.’ Fayard, she added, never complained about the pay; instead, ‘he would finish the day and go in, turn the records on and start improvising. It was just his life. You’ve never seen such dedication. He had no bitterness about what was not done. He just went on.’
Eventually however, this would drive the Nicholas Brothers, along with so many other Black artists of the day, to Europe in search of better paying work and respect for their art. It would not be until later in life and long after a return to America that they would begin to receive the appreciation and notice they deserved however.
While I enjoyed this book, I did wish at times that Hill would have spent more time on the atmosphere surrounding race during the height of the brothers fame. Outside of the last 30-40 pages, she mainly focuses on biographical information and the reasons (many of them technical) why they mattered to modern jazz and dance. When the book gets too dry, I would highly recommend putting it down for a moment and watching the brothers perform the dances she describes. Watching Fayard Nicholas doing splits up and down a flight of stairs and raising himself up without hands, or watching Harold run up a wall, do a backflip and land in a split, is life affirming stuff. Seeing the sheer joy on their faces as they do things you didn’t think possible, will make you gasp, cheer, and simply feel happy to be alive.
April 13, 2008
The Nicholas Brothers were amazing tap dancers, and it was interesting to learn all about them, but I really didn't enjoy how the book was written. The author would go off on tangents that I found boring and they weren't really about the Nicholas Brothers.
March 31, 2021
Admittedly based on the author's dissertation, it was almost too thorough. The author goes off on numerous tangents, over-describes choreography & occasionally revisits the tangents. It started feeling like filler, everything but the kitchen sink. Enjoyed the parts about the brothers' lives & careers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews