GREGORY
By Carol
Fondiller
Gregory Hines, tap dancer
supreme and former Venice resident died on August 10.
He and his brother, Maurice, took up tap to
escape the ghetto.
Gregory was born on
February 14, 1947 in New York
City.
Gregory and his brother were
celebrated as tap dancers and performers since Gregory was five and danced with
his family.
Hines broke with his
brother in the 1960s. The act broke up in 1973, when Gregory wanted to perform
rock music and write his own music. He moved to
Venice.
“I am shocked and
saddened at Gregory’s death,” said Linda Lucks, Venice resident,
community activist, and former Beachhead collectivite. “Thinking of
Gregory brings back memories of a happier and much more innocent time. It was a
time of new beginnings and possibilities for so many in Venice who came from
everywhere and converged around Severance, the band that Gregory created. I
remember the band included Barry Saperstein, John Vanderlit, Philip Shanele,
Mike Daniels and Todd
Bingham.”
“Many of us were
single parents and took turns baby sitting each other’s kids while we went
dancing at Honky Hoagie’s Handy Hangout on Lincoln Boulevard five nights a
week when the band performed. Gregory was always charming and gracious, but he
always had an air of resolve about
him.”
Severance also performed at
benefits and fundraisers for the
Beachhead.
Gregory left Venice for New
York to star in “Eubie” produced by his former wife Pamela
Koslow.
Elegant and aggressive in his
dance, he brought those qualities to
acting.
He was in “White
Nights” with Mikhail Baryshnikov where he and Baryshnikov dueled by dance
and by intellect. He starred and was featured in “Wolfen,”
“the Cotton Club,” and the unforgettable “Tap” to name
just his movies. On stage he performed in “Jelly’s Last Jam,”
and “Sophisticated Ladies,”
According to Sally R. Sommer,
Professor of Dance at Florida University: “He was a dance
revolutionary…He helped to shift perception of the tap dancer as
entertainer to serious artist…He played the floor like a drum, testing the
surface until he found ‘the spot;’ sounding the wood for melodies,
pitches, and thumps.”
For dance
aficionados, or lovers of good prose, I recommend reading Professor
Sommer’s tribute in the August 14 edition of the New York Times:
“Gregory Hines, from Time Step to
Timelessness.”
Whenever Gregory
came to Los Angeles for business or pleasure he made a point of visiting
Venice.
The funeral service at St.
Monica’s in Santa Monica was attended by many well-known actors and
celebrities, among them Laurence Fishburne and Savion Glover. Linda Lucks, who
attended the funeral said “At the end of the service a man got up and went
to the altar where the coffin was and tapped. Then Savion Glover got up and
tapped with the man. It culminated with about ten men and women tapping as the
choir sang “Amazing
‘Grace.”
Gregory Hines was
underutilized by Broadway and Hollywood. But like a good performer, he left us
asking for more.
Way to go
Gregory.
Posted: Mon - September 1, 2003 at 04:15 PM