The Roots of Savion Glover

THE latest subject for my Influences column is dance god Savion Glover, who no less than Gregory Hines said may've been the finest tap dancer in history.

Glover came to Broadway as a kid, and broke big with "Noise/Funk" in the mid '90s. He's been an exemplar of removing the Hollywood polish from tap dancing and reconnecting it to a specifically black and African lineage of rhythm.

In my story -- here -- Glover talks about some of the figures who've inspired him. Some, like the dancer who called himself Jimmy Slyde, did not surprise me much. Even John Coltrane I could have seen coming. But others showed me how wide-ranging Glover's interests are.

He's in town to perform Bare Sounds at the Valley Performing Arts Center on Saturday night.