Estelle Sloan

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Estelle Sloan (born September 3, 1919 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † November 25, 2013 in New Jersey ) was an American tap dancer . Her dance style was characterized by the combination of elements of ballet with those of tap dance. Trademarks were very fast, gyro-like spins, which earned her nicknames such as Tap-Top-Dancer (tap-top dancer) or Whirlwind Tap Dancer . Her career began around 1934 and lasted into the 1960s.

Career

Estelle Sloan entered the stage as a professional dancer in 1934 - just 15 years old. Sloan quickly became a sought-after dancer. She was hired mainly by night clubs and variety theaters , the typical employers for dancers at the time. Sloan danced in her early days (1937) at the Lyric in Allentown (today Miller Symphony Hall ), it was once considered a test theater for later Broadway shows. Later on, other well-known theaters enriched her vitae, including Broadway houses such as the Music Box Theater (1942 with Star and Garter by Michael Todd ) and the New Century Theater (1946 with Toplitzky of Notre Dame by William Cahn) or, also in New York, several appearances in the renowned Radio City Music Hall (1948). In New York she acted with the singer and entertainer Sophie Tucker and the pianist Ted Shapiro in the same program (1947) and in the same year at the Waldorf Astoria together with the Colombian actor and baritone singer Carlos Ramírez .

The 1930s represent the heyday of tap dancing in the USA. The competition and pressure to stand out with ideas were correspondingly high. Sloan made a name for himself with various programs and dance styles: sometimes with Acrobatic Fast Tap (1936) or with Cuban Ideas (1937), then with a program oriented towards poets and farmers (1937), dancing uniquely on a xylophone (1940) or with elements of the Mime combined (1954). She performed with the Music Hall Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Charles Previn , along with the still famous dance formation of the Rockettes , with Jan Garber and Orchestra as well as with the Jerry Del Mar's all girl band, the Roy Reber Band and with Sammy Watkins and His Orchestra .

There are only a few documents and film recordings that reveal Sloan's dance style today. Her dance performance to Cole Porter's Just One of Those Things in the film Day and Night I Think of You (1946) is one of the few exceptions. The movie about Cole Porter is one of the highlights of her career in the 1940s. She also acted in some TV shows. She was a regular on the American Minstrels of 1949 series , hosted by Jack Carter . The show was a kind of Vaudville show for early television and presented other greats of tap dance in addition to Sloan.

Little information circulates in public about her personal life and what she did after the end of her career as a professional dancer. In the 1940s she was married to the former dancer, producer and World War II veteran Victor Manfredi. Apparently she enjoyed traveling and taking photos, this cautious glimpse afforded by chance discovered and published private photos. Under a YouTube clip showing the dance performance in the Cole Porter film, a commentator who was apparently familiar with her wrote, "Estelle Manfredi Sloan was not only a breathtaking dancer, but also a reliable partner and friend."

At the time, reviews sympathetically likened Sloan to the two greatest tap dancers of the day: Eleanor Powell and Ann Miller . The latter and the Rockettes have a place in the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame today .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Estelle Sloan at Marconi Outing Club . In: Warren Times Mirror . Warren, Pennsylvania December 31, 1941, pp. 2 ( newspapers.com [accessed April 14, 2020]).
  2. ↑ Estelle Sloan at Mayflower Hotel . In: The Akron Beacon Journal . Akron, Ohio November 30, 1966, pp. 5 ( newspapers.com [accessed April 14, 2020]).
  3. ^ Estelle Sloan at the Horde Shoe Bar . In: The York Dispatch . York, Pennsylvania September 26, 1934, pp. 12 ( newspapers.com [accessed April 14, 2020] The earliest entry found in the research, where it is advertised as "a dance sensation straight out of New York".).
  4. ^ The Long Way Round . In: Standard Spreaker . Hazleton, Pennsylvania September 12, 1946, p. 7 ( newspapers.com [accessed April 14, 2020] In a brief note, she jokingly indicated that her husband, Victor Manfredi, had given her ballet lessons and that by marrying him, she was freed from her debts).
  5. ↑ 69 News: History's Headlines: Allentown's Miller Symphony Hall continues to make history. Retrieved April 14, 2020 (English).
  6. ↑ Broadway Barometer . In: Daily News . New York, New York August 21, 1946, pp. 231 ( newspapers.com [accessed April 15, 2020] Here is the amusing anecdote that Sloan was once rejected by the Rockettes because too small ...).
  7. ^ IMDb: Estelle Sloan. Retrieved April 14, 2020 (The almost two-minute dance scene can be seen on YouTube: Estelle Sloan ).
  8. ^ Estelle Sloan Photography Tribute - andykazie. Retrieved April 14, 2020 .
  9. ↑ ESTELLE SLOAN - YouTube. Retrieved April 14, 2020 .
  10. ^ IMDb: Estelle Sloan. Retrieved April 14, 2020 .
  11. ↑ internationaltapdancehalloffame1. Retrieved April 15, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Sloan, Estelle
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American tap dancer
DATE OF BIRTH September 3, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH November 25, 2013
Place of death New Jersey