Happy birthday to Tony-winning choreographer Savion Glover, born Nov. 19, 1973, in Newark, N.J. By age 7, Glover was dancing professionally. He made his Broadway debut at age 11 in The Tap Dance Kid, then was hired by his teacher Henry LeTang for the Parisian tap revue Black and Blue. At age 15, Glover made his film debut in Tap (1989) and earned his first Tony nomination for his performance in Hector Orezzoli and Claudio Segovia’s Broadway musical revue Black & Blue (1989). Below is Savion with Cid Glover and Dormeshia Sumbry in “Rhythm Is Our Business” from Broadway’s Black & Blue at the 1989 MDA Labor Day Telethon.
A year after graduating from Newark Arts High School, Glover was back on Broadway as young Jelly to Gregory Hines’ adult Jelly in Jelly’s Last Jam (1992), which earned Glover his second Drama Desk nomination. In addition to LeTang and Hines, Glover’s other mentors have included tap legends Honi Coles, Sammy Davis Jr., Buster Brown, and Arthur Duncan. His own choreographic debut was Bring in ’da Noise/Bring in ’da Funk (1996), which earned him Tony, Drama Desk, and Obie awards, in addition to Tony and Drama Desk nominations for his performance. Below is Glover and the Noise/Funk cast at the 1996 Tonys.
Glover’s later work includes the Off-Broadway show Downtown (1998), the TV special Nu York (1998), the HBO film The Rat Pack (1998), the Spike Lee film Bamboozled (2000), the animated film Happy Feet (2006), and the Broadway musical Shuffle Along (2016), which earned Glover his fourth Tony and Drama Desk nominations. Below is the Shuffle Along cast at the 2016 Tonys.