The youngest of three sons, Glover was born to a white father, who left the family before he was born, and a black mother. Glover's great-grandfather on his mother's side, Dick Lundy, was a shortstop in the Negro leagues. He managed eleven Negro League baseball teams, including the Newark Eagles.[1] His grandfather, Bill Lewis, was a big band pianist and vocalist.[1] His grandmother, Anna Lundy Lewis, was the minister of music at New Hope Baptist ChurchinNewark, New Jersey. She played for Whitney Houston when she was singing in the gospel choir, and was the one who first noticed Savion's musical talent. She once held him and hummed some rhythms to him, and he smiled and joined along.[2][3] Glover graduated from Newark Arts High School in 1991.[4]
Glover stated that his style is "young and funk." When asked to describe what funk is, he says it is the bass line. "Funk is anything that gets one's head on beat. It is riding with the rhythm. It is a pulse that keeps one rolling with the beat."[5]Gregory Hines, a tap legend, was one of Glover's tap teachers. Hines stated that "Savion is possibly the best tap dancer that ever lived." Glover liked to start his pieces with some old school moves from famous tappers and then work his way into his own style. Hines said it is like paying homage to those he respects. When Honi Coles died, Savion performed at his memorial service. He finished his dance with a famous Coles move: a backflip into a split from standing position, then getting up without using one's hands. Glover rarely does this move because it wasn't his style, but he did it because it was Coles' style that he wanted to keep alive. "I feel like it's one of my responsibilities to keep the style."[6]Henry LeTang called Glover "the Sponge" because he learned very quickly with everything thrown at him. LeTang taught the Hines brothers back in the 1950s and taught Glover for a little while before having him work for "Black and Blue," a tap revue in Paris in 1987. Many legendary tappers taught Glover such as LeTang, the Hines brothers, Jimmy Slyde, Dianne Walker, Chuck Green, Lon Chaney (Isaiah Chaneyfield), Honi Coles, Sammy Davis Jr., Buster Brown, Howard Sims, and Arthur Duncan.[1]
He has been teaching tap since he was 14 years old. Glover created Real Tap Skills, and started HooFeRz Club School for TapinNewark, New Jersey.[7] At age seven, Glover drummed in a group called Three Plus One. In the group, he demanded that he dance while he played the drum.[8] Glover has a heavy foot for tap. He dances hard and loud in every step, and teaches his students how to "hit," a term related to one's ability to express oneself, complete a tap sequence, or say something.[8]
When Glover choreographs a piece, he improvises as he generates a dance sequence.[10] As he finds rhythms, he listens for new sounds at many points on the stage. "I'm feelin' the stage for sounds. You might find a spot on it that gives you that bass; you might find a spot on the floor that gives you that dead type tom-tom sound." "I think what makes Savion an incredible artist is his extraordinary joy in what he does. He is able to live in that state of joy and not compromise his emotional complexity like the earlier tap dancers had to," says George C. Wolfe.[11]
One of the timesteps performed in Barbra Streisand's Timeless in Glover's performance as "Brother Time" has been informally named the "Savion Glover Timestep" by many tap dancers.
This musical was based on the 1974 novel Nobody's Family is Going to ChangebyLouise Fitzhugh. Glover's Broadway debut, at the age of 11, was as a replacement with this show. The musical was choreographed by Danny Daniels, with direction by Vivian Matalon; the music was by Henry Krieger and lyrics by Robert Lorick.[12] Reviews of this show were mediocre. The New York Times claimed it was a traditional story to give children a dream to look forward to, but was not anything exceptional.[13] However, the musical went on to be nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical.[12]
Glover performed in this musical and also choreographed it. He was nominated for the Tony Award, Actor in a Musical for his roles as Lil' Dahlin' and 'da Beat and for Choreography.[1][16] "Mr. Glover meticulously and respectfully demonstrates the techniques made famous by each, then blends them all into an exultant stylistic brew that belongs to no one but him. As dance, as musical, as theater, as art, as history and entertainment, there's nothing Noise/Funk cannot and should not do." -The New York Times.[13]
Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed (2016)
Sesame Street (1990–95) (also known as Les amis de Sesame, Canadian Sesame Street, The New Sesame Street, Open Sesame, and Sesame Park), as Savion, on PBS[20]
Dance in America: Tap!
Black Film Makers Hall of Fame
The Kennedy Center Honors
Academy Awards Ceremony (1996) for Tom Hanks tribute[21]
The Wall, as Bracey Mitchell, 1998 Showtime TV movie
The Rat Pack, as the choreographer, 1998 HBO TV movie
1989 - Tap Dance in America (also known as Gregory Hines' Tap Dance in America), PBS
1991 - The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts, CBS
1992 - Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, NBC
1992 - Jammin': Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway (documentary), PBS
1993 - Sesame Street Stays Up Late! (also known as Sesame Street Stays Up Late! A Monster New Year's Eve Party), as Savion, PBS
1994 - Sesame Street's All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever!, ABC
1994 - In a New Light `94, ABC
1995 - The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts, CBS
1996 - Vanessa Williams & Friends: Christmas in New York, ABC
1997 - It Just Takes One, USA
1997 - 53rd Presidential Inaugural Gala, CBS
1998 - Slide and Swing with Savion Glover, Stomp, PBS
1998 - Savion Glover's Nu York, as the Host, ABC
1998 - Savion Glover's Nu York, Executive producer and choreographer, ABC
1998 - The First 50 Years, Quincy Jones, ABC
1998 - The New Jersey Performing Arts Center Opening Night Gala, PBS,
1999 - Disney's Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra in Concert, Disney Channel
1999- The Jamie Foxx Show
2000 - The Steadfast Tin Soldier: An Animated Special from the "Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child" Series (animated), the voice of toy dancer, HBO
