Ethel Bruneau - at 78, she's Montreal's "Tap Queen"
"Listen to my feet," said John W. Bubbles, the father of Rhythm Tap, "and I will tell you the story of my life." Ethel Bruneau - Montreal's "mother of Tap", has great feet, and they have quite the tale too....
"Listen to my feet," said John W. Bubbles, the father of Rhythm Tap, "and I will tell you the story of my life." Ethel Bruneau - Montreal's "mother of Tap", has great feet, and they have quite the
tale too.
When she was three years old, in 1940, her mom did what a lot of other moms in Harlem did: she sent her to dancing school. And Ethel took to tap like a duck to water. She and her tap-dancing classmates were good. Really good.
Her world was alive with people making music with their feet: Peg-Leg Bates, the Nicholas Brothers and the Godfather of tap, and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. Before she was a teenager, Ethel had danced in Carnegie Hall, and had been on "The Ed Sullivan Show". She was a serious "hoofer".
Her world was alive with people making music with their feet: Peg-Leg Bates, the Nicholas Brothers and the Godfather of tap, and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. Before she was a teenager, Ethel had danced in Carnegie Hall, and had been on "The Ed Sullivan Show". She was a serious "hoofer".
Ethel Bruneau is now 78 years old. She walks with a bit of a limp. But she's still dancing, and teaching tap in Montreal, which has been her home for 60 years - and with all the spirit and character she began with.
"You Want To Be There When The Band Starts Playing", was produced by David Gutnick.