Feel the Floor - by Maureen Footer Hardcover

Book Synopsis

"A rich and lovely book. It brings forward Buddy Bradley with forthright care, wondering with thinkers and artists from Black history how we might best remember his work and understand his achievements."--Thomas F. DeFrantz, author of Dancing Many Drums

The groundbreaking story of Buddy Bradley--the most influential dancer and choreographer you've never heard of

This sweeping biography brings to life the extraordinary Black dancer and choreographer whose work was key to the jazz age transformation of how we move to music--in nightclubs, on stage, and in film. Like the many other talented Black jazz and tap dancers who created America's vernacular dance forms, Bradley's career began as a dancer during the Harlem Renaissance. But Bradley soon began to teach jazz and tap dance to up-and-coming white entertainers and then to choreograph--an unheard-of role in Jim Crow America, and one for which he received no credit. Moving to England in 1930, where his work would be credited and lauded, Bradley revolutionized dance with jazz movement in the West End, Paris, and the British film industry, working on scores of famous productions over three decades.

Feel the Floor exposes how Bradley's revolutionary moves electrified Broadway in the 1920s, conquered London's West End in the 1930s, introduced unsuspected nuance to tap dance, and, even, permeated classical dance. His students became legends: Eleanor Powell, Ruby Keeler, Adele Astaire, Clifton Webb. His innovations live on in Balanchine ballets and Jerome Robbins masterpieces as well as the Broadway choreography of Agnes de Mille, Bob Fosse, and Susan Stroman.

Maureen Footer spent five years in prodigious research, crossed three continents, and enlisted private investigators to uncover Bradley's buried legacy. She tracked ancestral history in the Deep South, discovered lost films, corrected false narratives, and revealed how one man's genius rewrote the DNA of American dance.

Buddy Bradley's story mirrors today's fight for recognition of Black contributions to American culture. His work in rhythm tap and jazz dance, and cross-pollination with classical ballet choreographers like Frederick Ashton and Georges Balanchine, vocabulary didn't just influence dance--they created the movement language we still speak today.

For anyone passionate about Broadway's golden age, the Harlem Renaissance, cosmopolitan London between the wars, American vernacular dance, African American history, and untold stories of artistic brilliance, Feel the Floor delivers a stunning resurrection of one of dance history's most dynamic innovators.

Review Quotes

"Finally! A meticulously researched biography of Buddy Bradley, the visionary choreographer who revolutionized jazz and tap dance, electrified Broadway, and transformed London's West End. With passionate narrative drive, Maureen Footer restores Bradley's rightful place in dance history, tracing influences from across geographies, performance genres, and shifting social circumstances. A celebration of artistry, resilience, and cultural legacy, this book is essential reading for anyone passionate about dance, history, and the fight for recognition."
--Thomas F. DeFrantz, author of Dancing Revelations: Alvin Ailey's Embodiment of African American Culture

"With exemplary research and insights into the life and work of Buddy Bradley, one of the legends of the dance world, Maureen Footer places into the spotlight an innovative yet often overlooked choreographer. Feel the Floor is an engaging, informative, and accessible biography that will appeal not only to anyone interested in the history of dance but also musical theatre and cinema."
--Stephen Bourne, author of Black in the British Frame: Black People in British Film and Television 1896-1996

"Descended from free, landowning Southern Blacks, Buddy Bradley claimed his territory as an innovative jazz tap dancer and choreographer. He began in Harlem Renaissance New York, then, when segregation dwarfed his ambitions, he moved to London. There, artists and audiences were eager to see a multilingual choreography, which joined jazz tap to ballet and musical theater. His work was brilliant and wide ranging. So is Maureen Footer's biography. With historical rigor and narrative elegance, she restores the life and art of an American dance genius."
--Margo Jefferson, author of Negroland

"Feel the Floor tells the rich, layered story of choreographer Buddy Bradley and his journey from Alabama to Harlem and on to London's West End. Maureen Footer weaves a compelling tale, showing how Buddy Bradley's influence on dance on both stage and screen spread across the Atlantic and brought the dance culture of the Black American South to the world."
--W. Ralph Eubanks, author of When It's Darkness on the Delta

About the Author

Maureen Footer is author of George Stacey and the Creation of American Chic and Dior and His Decorators: Victor Grandpierre, Georges Geffroy, and the New Look. Her books have been reviewed in The Financial Times, Forbes, the Times Literary Supplement, Vogue, Wall Street Journal, and Vanity Fair, among others. Ms. Footer sits on the boards of the New York City Ballet and the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library, the preeminent dance research institution in the world. She can be found today studying tap in dance studios and dancing to African drums in the East Village.