Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Hill, Constance Valis.
2. National Initiative to Preserve American Dance.

Description

1. 2 sound cassettes (ca. 120 min.) +

Summary

1. Cassette 1. Recorded Feb. 3, 1996. Ms. Browne discusses her childhood; learning tap dancing from her father; the importance of music and dance in her family's home; seeing tap dancing in vaudeville houses; the origin of tap dancing; rhythm; jazz; the South Side of Chicago in the 1930's; her favorite musicians; Nat King Cole; auditioning for the NRA Theater in Chicago; the childhood tap act with her sister Marquita called the Jordan sisters; origin of the dance shim sham; performing as a child; studying dance with the Bruce Sisters; attending social dances at the Pershing Hotel's Savoy Ballroom in Chicago; her educational background; working as a chorus girl at the Chicago's Club DeLisa; her first exposure to sand dancing; Sandman Sims; training her ear; working with musicians; listening while improvising; her improvisational process; touring; the various types of chorus line dancers; coming to New York City and performing at the Savannah Club; the decline in popularity of tap dancing in the 1950's and 1960's; teaching at the Bronx Dance Theater; her tap dance syllabus; the Aristaccato Tap Company; and Tina Pratt.
2. Cassette 2. Recorded Feb. 12, 1996. Ms. Browne discusses resuming sand dancing as an adult; her childhood memories of sand dancing; how to produce particular sounds; the comparison between tap and sand dancing; discrimination against women in dance; the difference between choreographing for tap and sand; tempo; dancing to various musical styles; her participation in the tap dance revue called Sole Sisters; her ensemble of dancers and musicians called Jazzing women; and passing on the tradition of sand dancing to the next generation.

Alternative title

1. Dance Oral History Project.
2. Dance Audio Archive.

Subject

1. Sole sisters (Tap dance revue)
2. Bronx Dance Theater
3. Shim sham (Dance)
4. Pratt, Tina
5. Cole, Nat King, 1919-1965
6. Tap dancing
7. Discrimination in the performing arts
8. Sims, Sandman

Call number

1. *MGZMT 3-1878

Note

1. Interviewed by Constance Valis-Hill at the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in New York City.
2. For transcript, see *MGZMT 3-1878.

Access (note)

1. Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Author

1. Browne, Harriet. Interviewee

Title

1. Interview with Harriet Browne [sound recording]

Imprint

1. 1996.

Local note

1. Interview funded by the National Initiative to Preserve American Dance (NIPAD).
2. Preservation master cassette in: *MGZTCO 3-1878.
3. Archival transcript in: *MGZMTO 3-1878.
4. Master dubbing tape in: *MGZTD 10-1878. 2 reels.

Restricted access

1. Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Local subject

1. Discrimination in the performing arts.

Added author

1. Hill, Constance Valis. Interviewer
2. National Initiative to Preserve American Dance.

Research call number

1. *MGZMT 3-1878 [Transcript]
2. *MGZTC 3-1878 [Cassette]