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“Let the Punishment Fit the Crime”: The Vocal Choreography of Cholly Atkins

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2014

Jacqui Malone
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Extract

From the Twenties through most of the Forties, American tap dance in the jazz/rhythm tradition experienced its heyday. Suddenly in the late Forties, the bottom dropped out for many rhythm tap dancers who had established successful careers in vaudeville, musicals, and with big bands. The great chronicler of jazz dance, Marshall Stearns, died wondering whether or not American vernacular dance was vanishing forever. Even today, many still believe that tap absolutely ended with the advent of rock-and-roll, or that it remained in a deep freeze until its revival in the late Sixties. However, the existence of black vocal groups such as those in the Motor Town Revue helped retain and preserve much of the vocabulary of American vernacular dance, including that of tap. The man largely responsible for this retention and cultural transference was Cholly Atkins, who worked as choreographer for Motown Records from 1965-1971.

Type
Research Article
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , Summer 1988 , pp. 11 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 1988

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References

NOTES

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93. I would like to thank Professor Sally R. Sommer for her careful reading of an earlier version of this article.