What would a young tap dancing Gloria Steinem have looked like? What did working class Toledo look like? If she was born in 1934, then our tap dancing is happening in the 1940’s. 14 if they are a freshman in high school, or even the earnestness of an 8 year old could be a great place to start. So, I am going to aim at 1945 and choose someone young, so we can get a full range on her life:
Any of the dresses and hairdos on those girls would be great. White socks or striped ones like the girl scout? I don’t think there is any reason to pursue young girl from the 40’s generics here. If you didn’t happen to look below, what looks from above would you think a future feminist icon would wear?
The photos below tell me that she was always in training to be a protagonist.
In that picture with the other girls, she is the only one doing that pose, the only one sockless and in sandals, she is showing the most leg and has the longest hair. White collars are great at creating a serving platter for the face. Between the collar, the stripes and value contrast in the dress, she is already the focus of the family photo - even without being seated right in the middle.
This photo of craft time at summer camp, or Gloria and the line of kids (maybe at her father’s performance camp?) has a great variety of clothing to choose from. What seems essential, though, is the socks plus the tap shoes.
If I had one young tap dancer and some form of projector I would use the Rockette reels that are available on youtube and maybe ask her where she would like to dance in the room. In my 9 year old’s classroom, the dancer’s name is Shayla. Last week she wore her competition dress to school, asked for low-lighting and gave an abridged rendition of her dance piece. If you have a Shayla, give her a lamp as a spot light, or a mirror to dance in front of. If there were several young tappers, maybe they would just stand where they are sitting and do a standard 20 seconds of choreography. Could they stand on their chairs or bleachers?
Some schools are blessed with a dance team, a cheerleading squad or a color guard. Gloria tells us that her “biggest dream was to become a Rockette” within a minute of opening the show. Spend a little time on the Rockette’s youtube channel and it is clear that dream is still a common one. There are workouts and tutorials and mini-movies and, and, and… the dance sequences are sufficiently short and simple, look very Rockette. I would lift one of them if no one wanted the job of choreographing a few 8 counts. I like the sleigh ride one.
I imagine that Ms.Steinem would have seen the Rockettes on a newsreel like the one below. I think young audiences need a to live for a few minutes in the 1940’s and 50’s to fully understand the childhood that laid the foundation for the rest of the play. Worth the trouble of watching the clip below, or inserting a big dance number at the start of the show.
People dressed the same, doing a sequence in unison is very satisfying to watch. What uniforms are available? Cheerleading uniforms would work as is. The idea is not to look like a real Rockette, but to see the people around us poured into that mold. I am always surprised by how much clothing transforms when a dancer assumes a starting position. Even the instructional video above gives you a lesson in how the “feminine” lives in the posture of the body. Look at those boots when they are standing in repose and then compare it to the “bevel”.
The city I live in does not do cheerleading any more. The high school has a lot of dance and there are a couple of studios around town. For that school, I would seat these folks on the cushions in the front of the stage and ask them to perform a snippet of the piece below.
I will let you imagine what a school with a color guard and a dance team could do with a few 8 counts to start a show.
$50. Is that still the budget for school shows? I hear tell it is.
Next time we will talk about how to stage whichever play is right for your community, in whatever location, for whatever your budget.
If you want Gloria: A Life for $50, you can have it.