White Tap Shoes
Datec. 1980
Credit LineGift of Joey Hollingsworth, Hamilton, Ontario, 2024
Object number2024.007.002
Label TextThis white pair of tap shoes belonged to legendary Afro-Canadian tap dancer Joey Hollingsworth (b. 1936). Raised in London, Ontario, Hollingsworth started tap dancing at 3 years old. In 1946, he danced backstage at the London Arena with the renowned tap dancer Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson. Also at the London Arena, Hollingsworth saw acts like Nat King Cole with celebrated tap dancer Peg Leg Bates.
Like many Black families at the time, who had restricted access to decent work and a good education, Hollingsworth grew up poor. As a child, he performed in medicine and minstrel shows to support the family on his father’s condition that he was not put in Blackface.
Hollingsworth’s jazz style tap, always improvising, drew on his Afro-diasporic roots. In the 1950s, he was an early Black performer on CBC television. He would go on to perform on one of the world’s greatest stages, the Ed Sullivan Show. In the 1960s, he became an early role model for Black Canadians and Americans as the Dancing Salesman on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. In 2018, the Ontario Black History Society awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2024 he was inducted into the Canadian Dance Collection Danse Hall of Fame.
NameShoes
CopyrightPhoto Credit: Alex Walker
