Savion Glover

Published Monday 18 June 2007 at 09:35 by Lyndsey Winship

It’s fairly safe to say that Savion Glover is the best tap dancer in the world. Most recently the dancing feet of Mumble the penguin in kids’ movie Happy Feet, 33-year-old Glover has been a star for over 20 years, on Broadway, in film, pop videos and on TV. He won a Tony Award for the musical Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk and he’s credited with bringing a whole new, hip audience to tap in the States. This show finally marks his UK debut and it was well worth waiting for. Glover harks back to tap’s original hoofers rather than Astaire, Kelly and 42nd Street. For him there’s no chorus line of jazz hands; it’s all about rhythm. At heart he’s a musician, and for this show he jams as an equal member of a jazz quintet who strike up a groove while Glover catches the accents and fills in the beats. Glover’s technique is astounding. He crams an unfeasible amount of beats into every bar, scattering like nail bombs or simmering so gently you can barely see his feet move. He goes head to head with each member of the band, plunging into extended improvisations, layering rhythms, changing musical colours and pulling out unexpected syncopations. He works up a climax, pulls it back, then crescendos again, pushing himself and his band with endless surging energy. And while Glover himself is lost in the music, head down, arms and dreadlocks swinging, listening hard, the audience’s eyes are pinned to his feet. It’s a hypnotic display. Glover might not do razzle-dazzle but there’s no mistaking his star status.