Savion Glover Quotes

Other dances are like languages, like French or Spanish, but my steps are slang, and slang is always changing.

- Savion Glover

Always, Other, Spanish, Slang

Tap dancing is like... it's equivalent to music, not only for the African American community, but also for the world. Tap dancing is like language; it's like air: it's like everything else that we need in order to survive. I'm blessed and honored to be knowledgeable of the art form and to be a part of the art form.

- Savion Glover

Dancing, Part, Equivalent, African American

It's as if my left heel is my bass drum and my right heel is the floor tom-tom. I can get snare out of my right toe by not putting it down on the floor hard, and, if I want cymbals, I land flat on both feet, full strength on the floor.

- Savion Glover

Strength, Feet, Putting, Flat

I was always looking at footage of dancers from Nicholas Brothers to Ralph Brown to Sand Man to Miller Brothers and Lois, and I grew up looking at old footage.

- Savion Glover

Always, Dancers, Ralph, Brown

Authenticity is the most important thing. You have to know where it all comes from, study who pioneered it.

- Savion Glover

Study, The Most Important, Authenticity

La Cave was a great platform for me to learn and be able to listen in on conversations and just get a lot of notes and teachings from those older guys.

- Savion Glover

Learn, Cave, Notes, Conversations

The sound of tap is not 'clickety clickety tap tap,' this monotone thing. The sound of tap has depth. We want you to hear the different highs and lows, the bass, the trebles and the melodies, if you can.

- Savion Glover

Sound, Melodies, Tap, Depth

I want tap to be something danced in arenas. Sort of like a rock group. Other art forms happen every night. Take theater, opera; there's always opera happening every night.

- Savion Glover

Opera, Other, Rock Group, Art Forms

I come from a long line of people who express themselves through the dance. I come from a long line of people who create music through their feet.

- Savion Glover

Feet, Through, Line, Long Line

I am realizing and accepting my role as a tap dancer in this world is not only to tap dance for the sake of performance, but through tap dance be able to share and spread a message and congregate with people I would not necessarily be with had it not been for dance.

- Savion Glover

Through, Role, Been, Realizing

My mom always had me and my brother watching old Fred Astaire movies.

- Savion Glover

Movies, Old, Always, Fred

When Puffy asked me to do the video, I said yes. Cuz it's all about the Benjamins!

- Savion Glover

Yes, About, Video, Cuz

They're taking away the arts programmes in the schools, and that's a terrible thing.

- Savion Glover

Away, Schools, Programmes, Terrible Thing

I used to think I had this responsibility to carry on this tradition. Now I just feel like I have to keep the dance out there, keep it in the public eye.

- Savion Glover

Think, Feel, Like, Public Eye

Frank Sinatra changed people's approach to singing. Ella Fitzgerald, Marvin Gaye, van Gogh, they were all part of movements that allowed people to think about their craft differently. They changed the game. These people changed the game.

- Savion Glover

Game, Frank, Van Gogh, None

I don't deal in terminology, I deal with expressions: colors, shapes, tones, characteristics.

- Savion Glover

Deal, Characteristics, Expressions

What does genius mean? God has put us here specifically... every person has a job or journey to do. It's just a matter of finding what we're here to fulfill or execute. That's genius to me.

- Savion Glover

Journey, Here, Fulfill, Specifically

I was first introduced to dancing through the TV: I remember watching ballet, jazz and ballroom dancing when I was very little. But I felt no connection with it whatsoever: it was just like watching a Tom and Jerry cartoon.

- Savion Glover

Dancing, Through, Whatsoever, No Connection

My show mode is that the dressing room is like going into the cockpit. Going down the stairs is like going on the runway, and once we begin performing, it's flight time. I'm just floatin' on that stage.

- Savion Glover

Flight, Like, Going, Dressing Room

The connection of what I do to flamenco lies in the whole lament, whole cry, whole pouring back into the earth and giving energy back to the earth. It's a cry and a celebration. That's what music, sound, vibration should do. It should spark energy in someone.

- Savion Glover

Sound, Back, Lament, Spark

There are many different styles of, and approaches to, tap. My own leans towards a more intellectual view: tap dancing not just for the sake of entertainment but to educate and spark emotion.

- Savion Glover

Dancing, Entertainment, Tap, Spark

I've changed my whole angle for dance. I'm moving towards moving back rather than hanging out with my peers. I'm reaching back to older dudes for a second.

- Savion Glover

Back, Rather, Peers, Changed

When you think about John Coltrane, in my opinion - and I think I share this opinion with a lot of people - his approach to music changed other people's approach to music.

- Savion Glover

Think, Other, John Coltrane, Changed

Every now and then, someone comes along - we used to call it 'New Jack' - tries to do something new, tries to take all the credit, without acknowledging the past.

- Savion Glover

Past, New, Tries, Jack

I grew up watching Gregory Hines banging out rhythms like drum beats, and Jimmy Slyde dancing these melodies, you know, bop-bah-be-do-bap, not just tap-tap-tap. Everyone else was dancing in monotone, but I could hear the hoofers in stereo, and they influenced me to have this musical approach towards tap.

- Savion Glover

Dancing, Melodies, Rhythms, Banging

My mom couldn't afford dance shoes, so she put me in these old cowboy boots with a hard bottom so I could get some sound out. I used them for seven months. When I finally got real tap shoes, I was nervous. I kept moving my feet, thinking, 'Oh, so this is how it's supposed to sound.'

- Savion Glover

Feet, Sound, Some, Boots

I feel it's my duty, my job, now to allow people to hear the dance to different genres of music, to ensure audiences have the chance to listen to tap dancing up against all these other styles.

- Savion Glover

Dancing, Other, Allow, Different Genres

A tapper sticks to existing routines. Whereas hoofing... a hoofer pushes the art form.

- Savion Glover

Art, Existing, Sticks, Whereas

I try new stuff every time I perform. I have steps I do that I know are definite, and stuff I can make up right then and there and then forget.

- Savion Glover

New, Perform, Definite, Every Time

We need these figures who don't exactly go against the grain but create a new grain.

- Savion Glover

New, Need, Figures, Grain

I go for a nice walk in my neighborhood and search for vinyl, old jazz, classics. Then I go home and listen to them.

- Savion Glover

Old, Classics, Go Home, Neighborhood

The youth coming up is interested in dance now, and they're coming to the shows. That's a blessing for those of us who create.

- Savion Glover

Youth, Now, Shows, Blessing

When I'm on TV or whatever, I'm able to bring my instruments, my board, and my sound is intact. But other kids who are on TV, when they're doing tap, sometimes they're just on the regular floor. It's not as safe; it's not as sound-worthy as it should be.

- Savion Glover

Doing, Other, TV, Board

I deal with more complex rhythmical patterns than a regular tap dancer. I even think in rhythms.

- Savion Glover

Think, Deal, Rhythms, Regular

I want to entertain, but I'm interested in a whole range of feelings.

- Savion Glover

Want, Entertain, Range, Feelings

It wasn't until I did a musical revue in Paris in the 1980s called 'Black and Blue,' and met the great men and women responsible for the progress of tap dance, that my relationship with the dance really began.

- Savion Glover

Men, Paris, Men And Women, 1980s

I was a drummer in a group called Three Plus. We were performing at a club in New York, and my mother signed me up for tap classes. I fell in love from the door... so you can blame it on my mother.

- Savion Glover

Love, Door, Classes, Group

Tap's foundation is jazz, just like hip-hop, so relating tap-dancing to rap is natural for me.

- Savion Glover

Natural, Rap, Tap, Hip-Hop

I'm still growing, still learning. I'm still open and vulnerable enough to know there's much more to be taught to me and learned by me. I hope I don't reach my pinnacle on this earth where I think I know it all.

- Savion Glover

Learning, Reach, I Think, Open

Everything has to do with meditation. It's a conversation; it's a joy - it's everything.

- Savion Glover

Joy, Meditation, Everything, Conversation

There's a tendency to think tap's had its day, but 'Happy Feet' kept us in the race. That penguin is our Shirley Temple.

- Savion Glover

Feet, Think, Tap, Temple

What we're looking for at my school is intellectuals. People who want to talk about the art and be knowledgeable about it. People who want to know the history. Not everybody needs to be performing.

- Savion Glover

Art, Needs, Everybody, Intellectuals

Whether it is Jimmy Slyde or Lon Chaney or Gregory Hines, their dance shows what they experienced, what they had to go through.

- Savion Glover

Go, Through, Had, Jimmy

Jimmy Slyde was more a musician than a dancer; Greg Hines was more musician than dancer.

- Savion Glover

More, Than, Dancer, Jimmy

I started as a drummer. The feet are an extension of that.

- Savion Glover

Feet, Started, Extension, Drummer

My personal style at this point in my life is more audio; it's more driven on less visual and more musicality. But because of my upbringing, my fabulous mentors and teachers that I've had throughout my dance journey or career, I also possess a style that is of the past. It was just a matter of me reaching back.

- Savion Glover

My Life, Career, Musicality, Audio

I never really stop and think about should I put my hat on this way or that, not thinking that little JoJo down the street would be copying that. I'm more conscious about it now and tell the kids that it's not about the shoes or what kind of shoes... it's all about the dance.

- Savion Glover

Thinking, Tell, About, Copying

I'm continuing the educational process of getting people to accept dance as music.

- Savion Glover

Music, Process, Getting, Continuing

I try to convey the musical notes through dance, take on the music.

- Savion Glover

Through, Notes, Take, Convey

Movie making is such a long process, and they only use that one take, although you do it over and over about 30 times. Live theatre is that one time and one time only.

- Savion Glover

Process, Over, Making, One Time

I don't like being too serious. I'm the type of person that, if the mike isn't in the right place when I go on, I just move it. Other people, they'll be all frantic. I'm more relaxed.

- Savion Glover

Other, Mike, Type, Frantic

I search for different tonalities in my taps. But my greatest pleasure is hearing a note I haven't heard before, hearing a chord that sparks something new.

- Savion Glover

New, Sparks, Note, Hearing

I can produce any instrument, any sound that I can imagine; it may be percussive to the audience, but in my mind it may be a piano, a melody, or a tuba, or a harp, or a harmonica. My mission is to allow people to hear the dance in its purity and up against any other type of sound or music.

- Savion Glover

Other, Purity, Allow, Tuba

I'm always inspired by music, things of that nature. Just life in general. I'm happy to be waking up and having another chance at it.

- Savion Glover

Chance, Always, Having, Waking

There's no dancer alive better than those of the 1950s and 1960s. It's only the energy that changes. Every now and then, someone like me comes along, and people say, 'Oh, this guy is this new thing.' But that's not so. There is no me without them. The tradition just goes on.

- Savion Glover

Changes, Alive, Guy, Now And Then

I want to share what I have, and I'd rather share it with people that are a little bit more open-minded.

- Savion Glover

Want, More, Rather, Open-Minded

Who is Savion Glover? Who is that guy? Good question. I'm a lot of things... Intense... Focused.

- Savion Glover

Question, Things, Lot, Intense

Just like a comedian has a certain joke or a jazz musician has a riff that they know will get the crowd, a tap dancer always has a step.

- Savion Glover

Always, Riff, Tap, Joke

I'm more a percussion instrument than a dancer.

- Savion Glover

More, Than, Dancer, Percussion

Tap is still the central driving force of my life. I think and talk in dance.

- Savion Glover

My Life, Think, Tap, Driving Force

I'm committed to the purity of my art form.

- Savion Glover

Art, Committed, Form, Art Form

I'm just blessed, man. I'm just happy to share my art form with everyone. That's cool.

- Savion Glover

Art, Happy, Everyone, Art Form

What I'm trying to do is bring young people into doing tap so that the art form will keep going.

- Savion Glover

Art, Doing, Tap, Art Form

I like to be around dancers who are totally committed to the art form, totally committed to the men and women around them.

- Savion Glover

Art, Like, Committed, Art Form

When you find real jazz on the radio dial, it comes in all static-y. It's just like tap dancers. You have to go uptown to find the real hoofers. We only come to midtown if we're called upon.

- Savion Glover

Radio, Jazz, Dancers, Dial

I've never looked at what I do as show business, I guess, because of my connection to the art and how I was introduced to the dance.

- Savion Glover

Business, Art, Looked, Connection

I did a production called 'Classical Savion,' where I did some Shostakovich, Mendelssohn, Bach, Vivaldi, and all these great pieces.

- Savion Glover

Some, Production, Classical, Bach

I see myself helping the next generation of dancers who come along, helping them to keep the dance focused, so we don't get into a position where they're saying in 2050, or whatever, that around 2001 or 2002 or something the dance died.

- Savion Glover

Next, Dancers, Helping, Saying

My style is raw; my style is '95. My style is what I live. My style is my story.

- Savion Glover

Style, Live, Story, Raw

I dance anywhere. I just start moving my feet.

- Savion Glover

Feet, Start, Anywhere, Moving

I'm inspired by breath, by the human body - by so many things.

- Savion Glover

Human Body, Inspired, Things, Breath

If someone wants to be very tight about authenticity or ownership, it just sounds kind of competitive to me.

- Savion Glover

Kind, Authenticity, Very, Ownership

Great athletes last because they let the mental do all the work. What we do as hoofers is not so much a physical strain as everybody thinks. It's more of a mental stretch.

- Savion Glover

Strain, Last, Everybody, Thinks

The spirituality of the dance, that's something that's evolved for me in the past ten years or so. I'm still trying to figure out where that's taking me.

- Savion Glover

In The Past, Still, Figure, Ten

I realized early on, I'm more interested in Baryshnikov than some dancer who wants to do a rock show with ballet.

- Savion Glover

More, Some, Show, Ballet

For me, the importance in learning about the dance is using it as a voice. It's not about a step, it's about a way to express oneself.

- Savion Glover

Voice, Importance, Using, Dance

I've come to realize that people dance for reasons of their own.

- Savion Glover

Own, Come, Reasons, Dance

There are people who take tap class, do a tap dance. And then there are people who know the dance, who know why they take tap classes. Who know why they do 20 shuffles, or 50 shuffles, before they go on.

- Savion Glover

Before, Tap, Classes, Dance

I was very happy with the success of 'Noise/Funk,' but of course, there is a lot more that I have to say about the dance, about the history, about the people involved with the dance and their history.

- Savion Glover

Happy, More, Very, Dance

I wasn't into tapping when it began dying down. Ever since I started, it's been alive for me. I just want to keep on dancing. I want to do it all.

- Savion Glover

Dancing, Alive, Been, Tapping

I'm happy that people think of me as the greatest tap-dancer that ever lived. But it's just a rumor. Because the greatest dancer that ever lived knows everything, and I don't. I'm still learning. I still have a lot of work to do.

- Savion Glover

Work, Think, Still, Rumor

I'm a basketball freak.

- Savion Glover

Basketball, Freak

I don't really care what the visual is looking like. I've gotten away from - not shenanigans, but spectacle.

- Savion Glover

Away, Like, Gotten, Spectacle

I wake up, and I'm in the zone... My performance is the continuation of my life.

- Savion Glover

My Life, Zone, Wake, Performance

Every performance is different because I'm different; my mood is different.

- Savion Glover

Mood, Different, Because, Performance

I'm thankful I am able to continue to share the joy and the inspiration tap brings.

- Savion Glover

I Am, Tap, Brings, Share

There's a whole new generation who know about tap dancing thanks to 'Happy Feet.'

- Savion Glover

Dancing, Generation, New, Thanks

They all come from the street - tap, jazz and flamenco. And the streets are always changing. If it comes from the streets, change is the only thing that's consistent.

- Savion Glover

Always, Streets, Tap, Consistent

I actually wanted to be a fireman when I was younger.

- Savion Glover

Wanted, Actually, Fireman, Younger

I like to express myself inside of the work that is given, and I let the dancers do the same.

- Savion Glover

Same, Like, Given, Dancers

The Nicholas Brothers were the best tap-dancers. I'm not talking about their flash-dancing, I'm talking about tap-dancing. They were really saying something with their feet.

- Savion Glover

Feet, Brothers, About, Not Talking

I love riding my ATV 450.

- Savion Glover

Love, I Love, Riding

I used to think I could save tap. But tap was here way before I was, and it's going to be here after I'm gone.

- Savion Glover

Think, Here, Tap, Save

When I wake up in the morning, I just go.

- Savion Glover

Go, Up, Wake, Wake Up

You can go to see a singer and love the show, but you don't need to know all the songs. What you want to do when you leave is go and find out more about the music.

- Savion Glover

Love, More, Need, Singer

I'm going to continue to tap until I can't move.

- Savion Glover

Continue, Going, Move, Tap

I can hold a note, but that's about it.

- Savion Glover

I Can, Hold, About, Note

I don't think I'm a genius. Not yet.

- Savion Glover

Think, Genius

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