Displaying items by tag: The Cotton Club

The origins of hip-hop share provenance with clog dancing as a street dance art form. Clogging was brought to the US in the mid-nineteenth century and local performers refined the steps into tap. Tap dancing was originally performed as an accompaniment to song and the percussive and rhythmic patterns produced by the snags heightened effectiveness. The movement grew larger as rhythms grew more intricate and greater emphasis was placed on elements of dance composition and design. Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, refined the minstrel tradition, and Fred Astaire made ‘hoofing’ a modern art form and the cornerstone of Hip Hop.