Object Details
Artist
Paula Scher, born 1948
Copy after
Richard Avedon, 15 May 1923 - 1 Oct 2004 (Photographer)
Sitter
Savion Glover, born 19 Nov 1973
Exhibition Label
Born Newark, New Jersey
Savion Glover first performed on Broadway when he was ten, in The Tap Dance Kid. He has rooted his style firmly in the tradition forged by the great tappers of the past—the Nicholas Brothers, Jimmy Slyde, Honi Coles—but he has added his own sense of funk that is squarely based on contemporary life.
Glover describes his tap as “hittin’,” and it’s all about his feet, which are his drums. His left heel is his bass drum, his right a tom-tom: “I can get a snare out of my right toe, a whip sound. . . . And if I want cymbals, crash crash, that’s landing flat, both feet.”
In his choreography for the Tony Award–winning Bring in ’Da Noise, Bring in ’Da Funk, he chronicled how dance expressed African American identity, from slavery to rap. For Glover, dance is all about “communicating, getting on the floor the rhythm you live by.”
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Paula Scher/ PENTAGRAM
Date
1996
Object number
NPG.2011.86.1
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Print
Medium
Color photolithographic poster with halftone
Dimensions
Sheet: 118 x 77.1 cm (46 7/16 x 30 3/8")
See more items in
National Portrait Gallery Collection
Location
Currently not on view
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Topic
Poster
Savion Glover: Male
Savion Glover: Arts and Culture\Performing Arts\Dance\Dancer
Savion Glover: Arts and Culture\Performing Arts\Dance\Choreographer
Portrait
Link to Original Record
Record ID
npg_NPG.2011.86.1