So, the last thing that might come to mind when you think about an institution like a museum is that it might actually come to you rather than you going to it. Well, that is exactly what the Traveling Tap Museum will be doing August 22 and 23.
The museum is the brainchild of Jane Goldberg, a tap pioneer in the mid 1970s who became a phenomenon. The New York Times wrote of one of her early performances, “Break down the doors to see this show.”
How, you might wonder, do you get a museum to travel to its audience instead of vice versa? You create a folding kiosk on wheels with a rare photo collection of old-time tap dancers that hangs on a beautiful handmade curtain that serves as a proscenium background. And like the triptychs of Renaissance art, there are folding panels, but instead of paintings of Madonnas and accompanying saints, Goldberg’s panels open out to display her rare posters, articles, tap shoes, taps, and costumes.
This roving museum is unusual in another way. Goldberg will be rolling out a 4-by-4 foot custom-made bamboo tap floor mat on which to perform. You’ll be treated to traditional song and dance numbers, her Jewish Roots of Tap routine, stories about favorite hoofers and demonstrations of their steps (audience participation is encouraged in this part), and guest appearances by Carol Magee, a long-time Vineyard tapper, and by members of the Silver Fringe Chorus Line, and any other tap enthusiasts who show up and want to show off their stuff.
I asked Goldberg what inspired her to begin the Traveling Tap Museum. “A good friend knew I was working with the old-time hoofers (tap dancers in their 70s ) and most of them had passed away by the 1980s.” Not wanting to lose this dance history, Goldberg said, “I like working with all age groups, but seniors really know tap since it was popular in the 1940s, their age group. So, I was inspired to travel with some of my memorabilia.”
Goldberg first got involved in tap dancing in 1973, when she was a dance critic/writer and reading a book about Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
“Then their movies began to trickle into old independent movie houses,” Goldberg explained. “I loved their dancing. I was looking for romance myself, and Fred and Ginger’s dancing together captured what I wanted — a partner like Fred Astaire.” She said she figured tap was the most obvious way to meet a guy like Fred Astaire, so she took lessons. “At the time, I lived with a guy who owned a used clothing store [where] I began buying dresses I thought captured Ginger,’ I became obsessed with tap dancing.”
Goldberg is dedicated to keeping tap alive and well, and she shared her perspective on its trajectory. In the 1970s, Goldberg said she was ahead of the curve, “riding the crest of a wave. I liked the combination of old/young, black/white, male/female. Now tap has gone completely global and is popular in Europe and Japan. There are pockets of tap everywhere, and international festivals all over the States.
She began the ‘festival circuit’ herself in 1980. At the time, the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities didn’t think tap could be passed on because it was often self-taught on the streets of cities such as Philadelphia, Boston, and New York City. Also, there were “challenges” where dancers competed with each other. Goldberg says, “It became more popular on the concert stage in the 1980s, and now you have people like David White of The Yard, for example, and many other presenters sponsoring tap shows.”
Luckily for us, Goldberg is bringing her moving museum both up and down-Island this summer. So grab your dancing shoes or just come ready to tap your toes while sitting in your seat for a journey through the magnificent history of tap.
The Traveling Tap Museum will come to the Tisbury Council on Aging at 1 pm on August 22, and Howes House/Up-Island Council on Aging in West Tisbury on August 23 at 10 am. Both performances are free and welcome all ages.