YouTube offers a variety of videos on various forms of dance. A YouTube search for Tap Dancing or Jazz Dancing offers many resources. You can also search for any of the dance legends below to see their videos.

There are many movies and musicals from the 1930s and 1940s that you can rent. These movies are great to watch and are very important to learn more about the history of dance.

Tap

Dr. Henry LeTang
Elaine Colaneri studied with Henry LeTang for years and teaches his techniques and choreography in her tap classes. Dr. LeTang was a legendary Broadway choreographer and master tap instructor. Sadly, Dr. LeTang passed away on April 27, 2007.

Henry LeTang is a native of New York who began his dancing career at age seven. Having fully polished his own technique by age seventeen, he opened his studio in 1937. His first big star student was Betty Hutton. Henry's inimitable style transformed and emphasized the importance of choreography for nightclub performers, thereby establishing him as one of the country's foremost motion stylists. Another beautiful hopeful came to Henry for direction and made it big, her name was Lena Horne.

Dr. LeTang choreographed the movies Tap and the Cotton Club. His Broadway credits include the smash hit Sophisticated Ladies, staring Gregory Hines and Judith Jamieson, which earned him a Tony nomination and the Outer Critic Circle Award for outstanding tap choreography on this show and also Eubie.

Henry won a Tony in 1989 for the Broadway musical Black and Blue. Some of Mr. LeTang's students and proteges include: Gregory Hines, Debbie Allen, Maurice Hines, Bette Midler, Milton Berle, Lee Marvin, Harry Belafonte, Joey Heatherton, Chita Rivera, Lola Falana, George Kirby, Nancy Wilson, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Billie Holiday. His fine work was represented on Broadway by his students and stars of Bubbling Brown Sugar, Guys and Dolls, and My One and Only, and Tap Dance Kid. The legendary Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, who summed up his choreographing talent, "That young man's staging is really copasetic." (Source: - Tap Heritage.com)

For more information on Dr. LeTang and other great tap dancers, see the Hoofer's Club website.

Below is the famous "Tap Challenge" scene from the movie "Tap." Henry LeTang is playing the piano during this scene, courtesy of YouTube.

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Fred Astaire
Any movie with Fred Astaire is worth seeing. One of the best tap dance numbers in a movie is with Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody 1940. The song is "Begin the Beguine". See the video of this tap number below, courtesy of YouTube.

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Gene Kelly
All of Gene Kelly's movies are wonderful. The best of all is Singin' in the Rain which can be viewed below, courtesy of YouTube.

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Gregory Hines
Hines is Elaine Colaneri's favorite dancer. There are only 3 movies that he made that he dances in: Cotton Club (with his brother Maurice), White Nights (with ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov), and Tap. In these movies you will see some of the best Tap Hoofers of all time: Sammy Davis Jr., Bunny Briggs, Jimmy Slyde, Sandman, the Nicholas Brothers, Steve Condos, Arthur Duncan, and a young Savion Glover.

Here is a video of five tap masters: Gregory Hines, Bunny Briggs, Jimmy Slyde, Buster Brown, and Sandman Sims, from Dance In America: Tap (1989), courtesy of YouTube.

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Savion Glover
Considered a tap prodigy, Savion Glover has studied since he was young with many of the great tap dancers of the age. His credits include television appearances, movies, theatre, and he has also written an autobiography.

Here is a taste of Savion's talents, courtesy of YouTube.

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Jazz

Matt Mattox

Matt Mattox is a dancer-teacher-choreographer who has greatly affected the evolution of jazz dance in America and Europe. Mattox was born in 1921, and received a strong foundation in ballet before becoming a leading dancer in Hollywood from 1946-1953. As a dancer, his leading film accomplishments include Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and The Bandwagon. Some of his partners have included Judy Garland, Cyd Charisse, Mitzi Gaynor, Marilyn Monroe, Gwen Verdon, and Jane Russell. The Mattox movement style is an eclectic form that draws from the Cole style, modern dance, ethnic, flamenco, tap, and Mattox's own studies in ballet. It is based on Mattox's personal belief that all forms of dance are valid as inspiration and expression. Mattox has commented on his need for total freedom in expression by calling his style "freestyle".

Here is Matt Mattox, speaking about dance, courtesy of YouTube.

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