Fred and Ginger

This is one of my favorite clips from the movie “Swing Time“. I love watching the chemistry between two of Hollywood’s old time favorites. Movies like these were so abundant back when life was lived at a much slower pace and enjoyed in a whole different way- when we didn’t have the internet and cell phones and people actually went out and took part in activities like dancing. Today we don’t see dancing like this, except when we watch old footage. Times like what we see here on the screen will never be recreated in today’s world, and watching this really makes me appreciate my art form and makes me that much more passionate about passing the history along. Enjoy.

Jeni LeGon

Jeni LeGon is a tap dancer that most people don’t know about, yet she was one of (if not the only) solo black women who had an amazing career. Many women of the time period were in choruses and some were lucky enough to be the soubrette dancing out in front of the line. Others were in brother-sister groups, pairs, trios, all girl lines (like the Whittman Sisters where Jeni found herself for a short period of time). There were a lot of tap acts and it took some real talent to make it as a solo, especially in film. And there weren’t many solo women- it was a man’s world. You hear names from the movies like Eleanor Powell, Ann Miller, Shirley Temple, and Ruby Keeler, but not many people know of Jeni LeGon. She had made history as the only black women to be paired with Bill Robinson in film, and was the rare act of a solo girl. What set Jeni apart from the other girls was what she could do. She would be out on stage hitting like some of the best men of the time and included toe stands and other tricks that you would never see Ginger Rogers or Ann Miller attempt. She had a style all her own and it catapulted her career to a rank unmatched by any other black women of the time.

In this clip from “Double Deal” (1939) she shows off her amazing strength as a dancer and why she was such a successful solo act- no women could match what she does!