Savion Glover was just 12 when he made his Broadway debut in 1985’s “The Tap Dance Kid.”
Three years later, he tapped his way to a Tony nom for “Black and Blue.”
Since then, there’ve been other shows, on Broadway and off, and even movies, like 2006’s “Happy Feet” (the animators modeled Mumble the Penguin’s moves on Glover’s own tap-happy hoofs).
Now, he’s 40 — still dancing and choreographing, and also a father and founder of a dance school in Newark, NJ, his hometown.
His new show, “OM: The Offeringz, the Prayers, the Resolutionz,” runs through July 12 at the Joyce Theater. This is his dancing New York.
Professional Children’s School
“I was there for just one year. It was mainly for children who had a career in the arts. [‘Cosby Show’ stars] Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Tempestt Bledsoe were there. It was my first six months in show business, and I was more into wanting to come home and play basketball and hang out with my friends. I hadn’t been bit yet by the showbiz bug.”
On 132 W. 60th St., between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues.
His former loft on Lafayette Street, between Houston and Prince streets
“My first home away from my mother’s house. I was doing Broadway’s ‘Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk.’ I was partying hard in those days — I was a single young man. I was attracted to the loft because of [Glover’s mentor] Gregory Hines. His was the first I’d seen. It was on 10th Street, right off the West Side Highway, and it was ornate, grand, cool and hip. I said to myself, ‘If I’m ever to go live in New York, I’ll model my living after him!’”
The 475 Park Ave. penthouse of the late tobacco heiress Doris Duke, once dubbed “the richest girl in the world”
“It was like a castle! I was going there way before my career started. My grandmother, Madame Anna Lundy Lewis, was the minister of music [at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, NJ.] She used to play with Cissy Houston and taught Whitney Houstonhow to sing [in the choir]. I’m not sure what her relationship with Doris Duke was — they’d go to Hawaii, and Duke would send things to her home. I think my grandmother was teaching her how to play piano. [Duke] had a huge lion skin rug with the head still on it.”
The Minskoff Theatre
“The Minskoff was my birthplace as far as Broadway is concerned — that’s where we did ‘The Tap Dance Kid.’ I met the Minskoff family — ‘Mr. and Mrs. Minskoff’ is how I was introduced to them. Every now and then they’d come around. The theater was right across from where they’d drop the ball on New Year’s Eve — I was able to bring my family over and we’d have a ball…standing on the rooftop.”
On 1515 Broadway.
The Blue Note
“I’ve been performing there for the past five or six years, maybe longer. They’ve invited me down to collaborate with people like McCoy Tyner. It’s an honor to bring tap-dancing to a place like the Blue Note — allowing the dance to be recognized as an instrument and a form of music is a huge step up for the dance. And they have great sorbets. I get two or three servings every night I’m there: raspberry, lemon, passion fruit…”
On 131 W. 3rd St., between Macdougal Street and Sixth Avenue.
Flight Club
“Things have changed in the quality of tap shoes made in America, so I’ve been getting my tap shoes from Japan. But as far as Air Jordans go, I go to Flight Club. Anything with a Michael Jordan emblem on it, I wear, because I love Michael Jordan. I met him briefly, many years ago — I chased him down at an NAACP awards show. I stalked him all evening, saw him go backstage and shook his hand. I said, ‘Hello,’ and that was it. I was too nervous to say anything else!”
On 812 Broadway, between E. 11th and 12th streets.
The home of Frank Hatchett
“Frank Hatchett was one of the greatest jazz dancers and instructors — he recently passed away. He owned, in association with Gregory and Maurice [Hines], the Hines and Hatchett Dance Studio, where I went when I started dancing. Frank was the one who arranged for me to audition for ‘The Tap Dance Kid.’ Everyone went to his school — Brooke Shields, all these early-1980s boomers you’d see on TV the next day. They all came to take [lessons] from Frank. Later on, when I went to the East Harlem Performing Arts School, I’d stay at Frank’s home, because my folks lived in Newark.”
On E. 93rd St. and First Avenue.