Imagine living in a room no larger than a walk-in closet, sleeping shoulder to shoulder with strangers, it's pitch black, no windows, no ventilation, you might miss a stair step in the inky darkness and tumble to your doom... This would give you an idea what it's like to be a resident of the Five Points neighborhood in New York City before, during and after the Civil War. Yet this is one of the places credited with the formation of the art form we now call tap dance. Is that true? Were Black and Irish residents dancing all "hugemsnug" together in underground hooch joints? Check out this episode of the Gasps podcast to learn those answers...and more!

Special thanks to Jane Goldberg, Rachel Germond and the Changing Times Tap Dance Initiative Grant and to the Illinois Arts Council for supporting this episode as part of the larger project, "What It's Like To Be Human," a long-form work of tap dance based on research for this episode and more to come.

Chapters

0:00-0:54 Theme 14

0:55-1:28 Introduction

1:29-2:25 Tyler Anbinder Author's CV

2:26-5:35 Five Points Referenced in Beverly Fletcher's "Tapworks"

5:36-11:20 Origin of the Five Points Neighborhood

11:21-18:34 Race Riots

18:25-21:04 Origin of "The Irish Were Slaves, Too!"

21:05-22:11 Black Flight from Five Points

22:12-25:28 History Repeated/George Santayana is Rolling in his Grave

25:59-27:12 "Hey, Where's the Tap Dance, Bro?"

27:13-30:08 Description of Almack's/Pete William's Place

30:09-31:05 Modern Day Five Points

31:06-33:17 Were Fletcher and "Tapworks" Correct? Well...Yes and No.

33:18-36:05 Conclusion

36:06-43:02 Tap Dance Podcast Roundup

And that's it! Nothing left to see here. Move along, folks!

Besides Jane, Rachel and the IAC, an extra special thank you to the Gasps' Patreon supporters Junior Laniyan and Lori Williams—Love you guys, and didn't I tell you I would be churning these suckers out quicker after taking some time off? Told'ja so!

Support this program by joining us on Patreon. 50% of all support goes to the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Tap Academy at the Harold Washington Cultural Center on Chicago's historic South Side.

Link to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/GFADAF

Or support this program through a one time donation in our tip jar!

Gasps From A Dying Art Form is part of the M.A.D.D. Rhythms Podcast Network

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