A Dancer Who Inspires: Bill “Bojangles” Robinson “Any job very well done that has been carried out by a person who is fully dedicated is always a source of inspiration. ” Carlos Ghosn This quote by Carlos Ghosn, a Brazilian-Lebanese-French businessman, perfectly describes the dance legend who coined the term “copacetic”, meaning in excellent order (Haskins 1990: 54). A big reason many look up to this dancer is because he was fully dedicated to his art form and hence a source of inspiration.
Bill “Bojangles” Robinson is worth studying because he was seen as one of the best tap dancers of his generation and still is considered to be one of the very best to this day. As a pioneer in the development of western popular theater and dance, he helped make the world of dance more accessible to AfricanAmerican performers. Before Robinson became Bill “Bojangles” he was simply Luther Robinson (“American Tap Dance Foundation”). He was born on May 25th, 1878 in Richmond, Virginia, United States to Maria Robinson, a choir singer, and Maxwell Robinson, a machine-shop worker.
Luther and his younger brother, at the time named Bill, were raised by their parents until 1884 when their father passed away due to a chronic heart disease and his mother died of natural causes. The two boys were placed in the care of their grandmother, Bedilia Robinson (“American Tap Dance Foundation”). It was near that point that the eldest Robinson convinced his younger brother to switch names with him. Bill then started using the nickname, Bojangles, which was bestowed on him by his childhood friends (Haskins 1990: 53). While it wasn’t as bad as the years before, growing up in the 1800s was not an easy feat.
It was an era where slavery was abolished, but segregation and racism was still very much alive. Because of this, Wwhite theaters were able to enforce the “two-colour rule”. This rule was made on account of white show managers who believed that black solo entertainers weren’t smart enough to engage a white audience. As a young black man in America, Robinson’s choices for work were extremely limited and so between the ages of 5-7 he began dancing jazz tap dance in community beer gardens (outdoor areas where beer and local food were served).
By the age of eight, he had quit school with the intent of dancing professionally. For a majority of his early career, Robinson was self taught, dedicating his time to perfecting and honing his dancing talent, but there are some records that suggest that he was a protege to the scarcely documented Whitman Sisters. He spent a year busking for pennies before he joined Mayme Remington’s minstrel shows where he played a pickaninny. Then in 1891, at the age of 13, he began touring in the production of “The South Before the War.
The skills he picked up in his early career would later on be perfected and passed on to the next generation of dancers like Shirley Temple and Florence Mills. Throughout his extensive career ne of Robinson’s biggest highlights in his career was his famous stair routines. They were complex, showcasing a variety of rhythmic patterns and even though he wasn’t the first to perform a stair routine he was definitely the most popular. Before 1908 he mainly performed for black audiences in black theaters, but in 1914 Bill “Bojangles” Robinson became the first black dancer to perform solo on vaudeville (Haskins 1990: 55).
This wasn’t his only achievement. Robinson was the first African American to ever be seen in a Hollywood film in an interracial dance team, with Temple in The Little Colonel, the first African-American to headline a mixedrace Broadway production, and the first Robinson pass on what he taught himself to a large number of dance two of which were Shirley Temple,one of the most well known child stars in the world, and Florence Mills, a famous African-American cabaret dancer, singer, and comedian.
Mills, who was a big admired him Robinson, received tap lessons from him and the two later went on to perform the black-and-tan Panama Cafe. In another attempt to encourage the work of black artists, he also founded the Negro Actors Guild of America, which argued on the behalf of African-American performers. This work did not go unnoticed by the public. It is because of his immense talent, community involvement and various achievements, that after his death the city of New York named a park after him (“Bill Bojangles Robinson Playground”).
Not only that, but National Tap Day was chosen to be on May 25 because it was the day of Robinson’s birth. In terms of his contribution to dance he made the movement in tap upright, swinging, and more elevated while his particular style of dance was percussive, had minimal movement, and small gestures. The upper torso movement was relaxed with little use of the arms since Robinson tended to focus on his soft shoe footwork that was syncopated and at times improvised. Like Robinson, his shoes were just as unique with ‘Wooden Taps’ on the bottoms providing an unusual sound (Streetswing’s Dancer History Archives).
Audiences loved the light on his feet, rhythmic quality of his style and if all that wasn’t enough, Bojangles dazzling smile would definitely charm them. During his lifetime Robinson was featured in a total of 14 films (The Editors of Encyclop? dia Britannica, “Bill Robinson. “), not including documentaries, but the more well know ones are Dixiana (1930), The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935), The Little Colonel (1935), The Littlest Rebel (1935), In Old Kentucky (1935), One Mile from Heaven (1937), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938), Up the River (1938), Just Around the Corner (1938), and Stormy Weather (1943).
Robinson played a part in Harlem is Heaven (1933), the first allblack film ever made (“American Tap Dance Foundation”) that was supposedly about Robinson’s life (“Bill Robinson” IMDb). Dixiana however, was his debut (“Bill Robinson” IMDb) and the films he starred in with Shirley Temple were the most popular. One of the things I learned personally about Bill “Bojangles” Robinson is that he was a hard worker. He didn’t have a dance teacher or instructor to help him. He learned all that he did because he was committed and unwavering with a solid resolve. He was ambitious ad went solo which was unheard of for a black person at the time.
Robinson himself even said, “What success I achieved in the theater is due to the fact that I have always worked just as hard when there were ten people in the house as when there were thousands. Just as hard in Springfield, Illinois, as on Broadway. ” (“Bill Robinson” IMDb) All that he achieved was done with a great deal of effort. He loved dance so much that he put up with the constant obstacles that were constantly trying to stop him and slow him down. He fought racism and discrimination which were the most common reasons for the lack of roles he received and he grappled with a gambling addiction for a large part of his life.
He was also very generous and died poor in New York on November 25, 1949, despite the fact that he was making $6,600 a week for at least one year. While part of this was because of his gambling problem it was also because he gave a good portion of his earnings to charity. Therefor Bill Robinson is a person worth taking a look at because he is an inspiring reminder that you have to put in the work and stay dedicated if you want to achieve your goals, he prevailed against the odds, and he acquired immense fame and fortune during a time where that was virtually impossible for an African-American.
