Jane Bradley learns to tap dance with star of Top Hat

The Scotsman

Phillip Attmore, star of Irving Berlin musical Top Hat, which is currently playing at the Edinburgh Playhouse, gives a tap tutorial to arts and culture correspondent Jane Bradley.  Attmore plays Jerry Travers, who was portrayed by Fred Astaire in the 1935 film.

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Jane Bradley, arts and culture correspondent at The Scotsman, and today, as you can see,

00:04I'm here on the Playhouse stage in Edinburgh with Philip Atmore, who is playing the character

00:08of Gerry Travers in Top Hat.

00:11Hi, Philip.

00:11Hi, Jane.

00:12How are you?

00:12Very good.

00:13You look fantastic today, dressed in your costume.

00:16Oh, thank you.

00:16You look spiffy with your top hat.

00:18I know.

00:18I got to borrow one.

00:19So, you're obviously the star of the show.

00:21You're an absolutely incredible dancer.

00:23Can you just tell me a little bit about how you started dance?

00:25Oh, thank you so much.

00:26Yeah, I started when I was three.

00:27I have a brother and sister who are much older who were both artistically inclined,

00:33and my parents had a sneaking suspicion that after the first two, I might have been bitten

00:38by the bug early, and so they tried with dancing and got lucky the first time.

00:44You know, I started as a tap dancer and studied all styles, and because I grew up in L.A.,

00:48I did the whole child acting thing, got involved in theater and singing and acting, and yeah,

00:53before I knew it, I knew that I wanted to be on Broadway and do theater and women's movies.

00:57And for a dancer, this must pretty much be the ultimate part.

01:01Do you know what?

01:02Yeah.

01:02For a tap dancer.

01:03It is, for sure.

01:04No, I grew up watching Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire and Gregory Hines and Ben Vereen,

01:09the song and dance men and women, and Ann Miller, incredible song and dance performers.

01:15And I am living the dream in terms of being able to do the thing,

01:20to become the type of performer that I used to dream about becoming.

01:24So, yeah, it's a dream.

01:26Brilliant.

01:27Well, as we were discussing earlier, you've been tap dancing since you were three,

01:30and I have not tap danced since I was three.

01:32But you are going to teach me how, and I'm going to have a little tutorial,

01:36and we'll see how I get on.

01:37Yeah, we'll do a little crash course.

01:38You've got this, though.

01:40So, yeah, so you've been teaching me a fairly basic, as I understand it, time step,

01:43which I found very, very difficult.

01:45And it's probably something you learn in your very first ever tap class as a small child.

01:49But can you just talk us through what it is and how you go about doing it?

01:52Yeah, the time step is a staple.

01:54It's funny.

01:54You learn it as a baby, but baby's a professional.

01:57Everyone does a time step because it's so classic.

02:00And, yeah, congratulations.

02:02The mechanics of a time step, essentially, are you stamp with your foot,

02:06you hop with the other foot, you step with your foot,

02:09you brush with the ball of your foot, you step, and then you reset.

02:12You know?

02:12Sounds so easy.

02:13Hop, step, belette to stamp, hop, step, belette to stamp.

02:16However, when they do the numbers, the thought goes wrong.

02:19Congratulations.

02:21Well, we'll have to have a look and see how I got on.

02:24And watch out, Baudelaire, here I come.

02:26A one, three, four, five, six, seven, go!

02:30So I'm putting on my top hat, four, five, six, brushing up my white top,

02:39dancing in my tails, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

02:46I'm...

02:46Read more about it.

02:47Look at scotsman.com.

02:49Hey!

02:50Hey!

02:51Hey!

02:52Hey!

02:53Hey!

02:54Hey!

02:55Hey!

02:56Hey!

02:57Hey!

02:58Hey!

02:59Hey!

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended