A highlight forever— visiting, watching, and speaking to the Royal Ballet School and its phenomenal talent (and legacy!) .
I regret the square format does not allow me to show all 92 star upper school students at the Royal Ballet School.
How do we explain—and find—those rare moments when all the stars align? That was my past two weeks in London speaking about Buddy Bradley and Feel the Floor in such diverse venues as the British Film Institute, the Noel Coward Archive, the Royal Ballet School, intimate seminars, and private clubs, with dancers, historians, writers, students, theatre people, film people, choreographers, academics, and the eternally curious. So many in London still live, breathe , and create within Bradley’s lineage—and shared this experience and literally brought the magic of Bradley into the room, over and over again. I loved every encounter and left London elevated, exhilarated, and more knowledgeable. Just what we always want in life!
Thank you to all the individuals who worked so hard to produce these events. Thank you to the booksellers who stocked the events. Thank you to the wonderful participants, to those who shared and to those who were fascinated. It was a joy meeting each of you and signing all your books. Until we meet again—❤️❤️❤️
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#feelthefloor
@beaconpress
@britishfilminstitute
@sirnoelcoward
@royalballetschool
@justinepicardie
@robert_hazle
@annetteuk
@dauntbooks
@thegoldenacornbooks
Photo courtesy @zhanna_lifestyle Thank you!
Who isn’t buoyed by friends? Fantastic to have my Buddy Bradley research pals @robert_hazle from @sirnoelcoward and @irinaboicu In attendance at the British Film Institute screening and talk. Thank you as well to so many others in the auditorium that night for all your support in recovering —and sharing—the life and legacy of Buddy Bradley. I couldn’t have written Feel the Floor without you.
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#feelthefloor
@beaconpress
@britishfilminstitute
How do we sufficiently thank@josephinebotting_rzwb and @britishfilminstitute for conserving the legacy of Buddy Bradley on film? With the addition of exceptional private footage at @sirnoelcoward , BFI holdings were my holy grail for understanding Bradley’s choreography. And now this 3-dimensional opportunity to share real- time Bradley’s work with a talk+film last night! Thank you.
PS book stock of Feel the Floor at the BFI bookstore is flying out the door. (Daunt has sold out AGAIN!). So run over quickly. Better yet come to the talk on Bradley tonight at 8 pm at the BFI Southbank where I can sign your copy. I would love to meet you there.
#feelthefloor
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
@beaconpress
Photo credit @irinaboicu
Do you know what happens when @annettewalker and @jreenagreenmovement assemble a discussion on Feel the Floor? Magic! Non-stop stimulation from dancers, tappers, choreographers, historians, and musicians discussing from every possible perspective Buddy Bradley’s story, its implications, its relevance, its challenges. Brava and huge thank you to Annette, dancer, musician, PhD candidate ( you guessed it!-on Buddy Bradley) and brilliant choreographer and historian Jreena for bringing together your London friends for this very special discussion. I loved every moment and fell asleep last night dreaming of a blue plaque for Bradley!
Missing from photo, two very special attendees who contributed so much @dewittflemingjr and @sarahinthepark whose book so inspired me.
Photo credit @odinkaluu (whose second talent is mixing cocktails. )
#feelthefloor
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer @beaconpress
London brief! Signed copies of Feel the Floor will be back in stock this weekend at the venerable Daunt Books.
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#feelthefloor
Are you Mad About the Boy? Noel Coward, Buddy Bradley, and what defined 1930s chic will all be under the lens this Thursday night in London. Co-hosted by the Noel Coward Archive and the Club for Acts and Actors, @justinepicardie and I delving into the mood of the time, @robert_hazle interpreting Coward standards, and —pièce de résistance - never distributed footage by Coward himself of Bradley’s choreography for “Words and Music.”
See link in bio for tickets.
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer #noelcoward
We closed down Jackson McNally Books last night!. So many ideas to explore, so little time, in the coziest venue. Loved talking Jazz Age theatre, preserving tap history, Harlem Renaissance and, of course, BUDDY BRADLEY last night with tap dancer and archivist @jenaicutcher , artist and musical historian @themusicaltheatrereport Ben West, theatrical dancer and dance journalist @mirandastuck. And what a fantastic audience —with their own dance histories and fascinating questions. Thank you everyone who made this such a special evening.
#feelthefloor
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
@beaconpress
Thank you bon vivant and all-round charmer @christian.keesee for a fantastic summer-in-the-city party for Feel the Floor. ❤️
Join me, musical theatre artist and historian Ben West ( @themusicaltheatrereport ) and Jenai Cutcher, polyvalent tap dance performer and archivist, to explore Buddy Bradley, the evolution of the musical, the transformative influence of jazz, and inside theatre scoop, all prompted by dance journalist Miranda Stuck. June 15 at Jackson McNally South Street Seaport at 7 pm.
To reserve (it’s free!) see link in bio.
@themusicaltheatrereport @jenaicutcher @mirandastuck
@beaconpress
@mcnallyjackson
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#feelthefloor
#musicaltheatre
#tapdance
Aren’t we all Mad About the Boy? And fascinated by fluidity, chic, and artistic exchanges that characterized the glamorous 1930s? Blithe Spirits, join me, cultural historian Justine Picardie, and the Noël Coward Archive Trust on July 2 in London to explore how the artistry of Noël Coward, Buddy Bradley, and Edward Molyneux revealed their era.
Pièces de résistance: exclusive filming by Noël Coward himself of Words and Music and Robert Hazle performing Coward standards!
See link in bio for tickets.
@beaconpress
@justinepicardie
@sirnoelcoward
@maureenfooter
@the_noel_coward_project
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#feelthefloor
@robert_hazle
#edwardmolyneux
#noelcoward
Thrilled my darling @gabbyyortegaa could celebrate Buddy Bradley and Feel the Floor last night with me.
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#feeltheFloor
@beaconpress
So which would YOU choose for early summer reading? I gasped when I saw the Wall Street Journal chose my book on jazz choreographer Buddy Bradley, Feel the Floor, alongside diverse titles ranging from spiders, Taiwan, and lost civilizations. Don’t you think Bradley, whose story spans the Harlem Renaissance to the Jazz Age to Civil Rights , Rodgers and Hart to Cole Porter, the shim sham to neoclassical ballet will engage you all summer?
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#feelthefloor
@beaconpress
@wsj
May I write a love letter to a hotel as book collaborator? Durrant’s Hotel was my home base for countless trips to London researching Buddy Bradley’s 40 years living overseas. The concierge desk, headed by the magnificent Clive, got me in cars to coastal interviews, smoothed out all wrinkles in my path, found obscure answers to my obscure questions, tickets to Covent Garden. Its signature coffee ( supplied by the Algerian Coffee Company, coincidentally across the street from Bradley’s Soho dance studio, then as now), fortified me morning after morning before I headed off to an archive or interview, often fighting jet lag. At night I would type up my notes in my room, organize my plan for the next day, then venture down late to the convivial oak bar for a change of scenery. When so many dancers who had known Bradley wanted to meet others who had worked with him, Durrant’s organized a sympatico tea, taking special care of some of my more fragile guests. Situated just behind the Wallace Collection ( that in itself a high recommendation for any hotel in my book) meant it was in walking distance of all Bradley’s haunts, flats, dance studios, and the locus of his professional life, the West End. After two long years of writing and editing the book, I returned to Durrant’s this week to give a talk about Bradley and Frederick Ashton at the V&A. And while a few things had changed, the perennials still greet at the entrance, the staff is as warm and cosmopolitan as ever, I settled into my favorite room overlooking St James’ mews, and all these memories came back to me. I realized Durrant’s had been my partner in this quest, sustaining and supporting me at every step. Iindeed, Feel the Floor would have been a different experience and a different book without Durrant’s . Love to this endearing hotel.❤️
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer #feelthefloor. @durrants_hotel @beaconpress
Was it a full circle moment or just the beginning at the V &A’s symposium on British dance? Today I brought Buddy Bradley back to London, speaking about Bradley’s collaborations with Frederick Ashton in the 1930s at the V&A’s day long symposium on Frederick Ashton. Theirs was a connection of synergies—as Ashton learned from Bradley how to balleticize popular dance, Bradley brought expansive upper body epaulement into his jazz practice.
And I learned so much from the other presenters. Always thinking of the next book…
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#feelthefloor
@beaconpress
@vamuseum
#100Yearsofbritishdance
#frederickashton
Is there a dream team to lift Buddy Bradley and his accomplishments to the light? Could it be dance curator extraordinaire Linda Murray, Pulitzer Prize historian David Levering Lewis, tap dancer, drummer and great humanitarian DeWitt Fleming Jr.? Yes, after a fascinating panel with me last week, I think it is!
Thank you Linda, David and DeWitt for your insights, knowledge, and unique perspectives.
#feelthefloor
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
@beaconpress
@dewittflemingjr
@jeromerobbinsdancedivision
