Jeni LeGon
Dr. Jeni LeGon was one of the first African American women in tap dance to develop a solo career. A career, very much on her own terms. In a sea of chorus girls in short skirts and high heels, she was centre stage in pants and low-heeled shoes. Her routines combining flash, acrobatics, and rhythm tap proved you idn't have to be a man to dance like a hoofer.Born in 1916, the fifth child of Harriett and Hector LeGon, she developed her talents on the sidewalks near the southside of Chicago. At 13, supported by her brother who toured as a singer and ballroom dancer, she made her professional debut as a chorine with the Count Basie Orchestra at the Uptown Theatre in Chicago, where she stamped her famous style when her boyish figure didn't work with the chorus girl outfits and Basie decided she would dance front and centre in pants.
Soon after she started touring as a chorus line dancer with the Whitman Sisters, the highest paid act on the TOBA vaudeville circuit. This all black, woman-managed company was successful in booking themselves continually in leading southern theatres and had the reputation for giving hundreds of dancers their first break. LeGon remembers the famous female line, saying, "Each one of us was a distinct looking kid. It was a rainbow of beautiful girls."It was in Los Angeles, where she was stopping the show with her flips, spins, drops, and toe stands, that LeGon got a part in the 1935 MGM musical, Hooray for Love, in which she partnered the legendary Bill " Bojangles" Robinson.
In 1936, after numerous films, LeGon was released from her MGM contract to travel to London to star in the musical Follow the Sun. She was hailed as one of the brightest spirits, the "sepia Cinderella girl who sent London agog with her clever dancing." When she was in the UK she was struck by the increased level of respect she received there, not only as a headliner but also as a person. In a period where even the most celebrated performers were separated by race in the states, Jeni recounts that in London she didn’t have to worry when she went out, she could go anywhere without fear of being kept out because of her colour.
Talk of war, returned LeGon state side where she played the Apollo with Fats Waller, toured the East with many popular bands of the day, and was one of the few women ever to get invited back to the legendary New York tap hang out – the Hoofer’s Club.
Back in Hollywood, LeGon appeared in over sixty films. Often portraying stereotypical roles, Jeni played every kind of maid from an Egyptian hand servant to singing and dancing in a French maid outfit. However, LeGon did have the opportunity to play lead parts in several black films where she got to be the heroine and even have men fight over her – and as Jeni says “that’s what it’s all about.”
In the 50s, she started her own show – Jazz Caribe, which toured around the world. Touring finally landed her in Vancouver where she had always been reluctant to visit because of the snow and igloos. However, when she arrived she ran into some colleagues and former students she had taught in LA. They convinced her to stay and she quickly set up a dance studio.
In her National Film Board of Canada documentary entitled Living in a Great Big Way LeGon’s love for teaching
is as much a part of the film as her illustrious career. Many of her students have gone on to great careers of their own and Jeni still tours internationally teaching and lecturing.A brief outline of some of Dr. LeGon’s many achievements:
1987: inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame and received the Micheaux Award, an award presented to an individual that has made a great contribution to film despite difficult obstacles.
1993: inducted into the Tap Hall of Fame in LA
1998: honoured in Vancouver for Black History Month
1999: Documentary won 1st prize at the National Black Programming Consortium and 1st at the Prized Pieces International Film Festival in Pittsburgh. It also received a special mention at the Vancouver International Film Festival.
2002: Oklahoma City University conferred on Jeni LeGon the Degree of Doctor of Performing Arts in American Dance. (Doctor in the house).
2002: inducted into the Tap Hall of Fame in NY
2003: she was honoured by the Smithsonian Institute with a special presentation at the National Museum of American History where her red shoes from Ali Baba Goes to Town, her costume and drums from Jazz Caribe, and other papers and clipping are on permanent display.
2005: Honoured by the West Coast Tap Dance Collective at last year’s National tap Dance Day show Turn on the Tap.
Presentation given by Keri Minty at Tap Dance Day 2006