Charles Coles facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Charles Coles
Born	April 2, 1911 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	November 12, 1992(1992-11-12) (aged 81) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Tap dancer, actor
Years active	1940–1992
Spouse(s)	Marion Edwards Coles (1915–2009) ​ (m. 1944)​

Charles “Honi” Coles (April 2, 1911 – November 12, 1992) was an amazing American actor and tap dancer. He was so good that he was added to the American Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2003, after he passed away. Honi Coles had a special way of dancing. He was very precise and tapped super fast, keeping his feet close to the floor. It looked like his legs and feet did all the hard work!

Coles was also part of a famous tap dancing team called Coles and Atkins. They were known for their elegant style. They performed many different tap steps like "swing dance" and "bebop." Honi Coles appeared in popular movies like The Cotton Club and Dirty Dancing. He was also in a documentary called Great Feats of Feet. He often danced with Brenda Bufalino, who started the American Tap Dance Foundation.

During his career, Honi Coles won many awards. He received the Dance Magazine Award in 1985 and the Capezio Award in 1988 for his lifetime achievements in dance. In 1991, President George H. W. Bush gave him the National Medal of the Arts. Honi Coles was a mentor to many dancers. He believed, "If you can walk, you can tap." He also said that "tap dance was the only dance art form that America could claim as its own."

Growing Up: Honi Coles' Early Life

Charles “Honi” Coles was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 2, 1911. His parents were George and Isabel Coles. His dad owned a pool hall and a barbershop. His mom worked as a domestic servant. When Honi was a little boy, his sister took care of him. She gave him the nickname “Honey.” Later, when he was about 14 or 15, he was part of a club called the Jolly Buccaneers. He changed the spelling of his nickname to “Honi.” This nickname stuck with him, and even his teachers called him Honi.

How Honi Coles Learned to Tap Dance

Honi Coles couldn't afford to go to dance school when he was a kid. So, he found a different way to learn tap dancing. In the summer, Honi and his friends would gather on street corners in Philadelphia. They would dance just for fun. Soon, other kids from different neighborhoods joined them. This led to dance competitions among the young tap dancers. A talented dancer named Billy Bailey also competed on the street corner. By watching others and joining these contests, Honi and his friends learned many dance steps. At first, they didn't think about dancing as a job.

By his late teenage years, Honi Coles had spent years learning and practicing tap dancing on the streets. He decided he wanted to make a career in show business. He practiced alone for a whole year to get even better. He worked on his speed, how many taps he could do per beat, and complex dance patterns. Honi was taller and slimmer than most tap dancers. But he used his unique body shape to his advantage. His fellow tap dancer, Pete Nugent, said Honi could do "centipede steps." This meant his legs and feet could move in opposite directions!

Honi Coles' Amazing Dance Career

Starting Out: 1931–1935

In 1931, Charles “Honi” Coles made his first big appearance. He performed at the Lafayette Theater in New York City. This was a popular theater for Black performers at the time. He was part of a group called the Three Millers. They were famous for their fast moves. They did "over-the-tops," "barrel turns," and "wings" on six-foot-high pedestals. But his partners replaced him, so Honi went back to Philadelphia. He was determined to make his fast-step style even better.

After improving his skills, Honi Coles returned to New York City in 1934. He performed at the Harlem Opera House and the Apollo Theater. While practicing at Joe Price’s acrobatics studio, some white dancers came to challenge him. But after Honi showed them his routines, they were amazed by his talent. With his fast rhythm technique, he earned a great reputation. Other tap dancers called him "the fastest feet in show business." At the Hoofer's Club in Harlem, where the best tap dancers competed, Honi was known as "the most graceful dancer ever seen."

New Partnerships: 1936–1939

From 1936 to 1939, Honi Coles joined the Lucky Seven Trio. This group was a rival to the Millers. The Lucky Seven Trio danced on large cubes that looked like dice. They also changed costumes ten times during their act! In 1938, Honi teamed up with a comedian, but then he went back to performing alone. He toured with big swing bands like Count Basie and Duke Ellington. This helped him perfect his technique. He successfully combined super-fast tapping with an elegant style.

Coles and Atkins: A Famous Duo (1940–1960)

In 1940, Honi Coles was performing as a solo dancer with Cab Calloway and his band. That's when he met Charles "Cholly" Atkins. Atkins was a well-known jazz tap dancer. He created dances and staged acts for many singing groups in the 1960s. Honi Coles was great at precise and fast-rhythm steps. Atkins was an expert "wing dancer," known as "the man with the moves."

In 1943, both dancers joined the Army during wartime. After the war ended in 1946, they combined their unique skills. They formed the famous duo Coles & Atkins. They were hired to perform at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Their shows were very popular. They wore tailored suits and performed a precise swing dance together. Then they did a "soft-shoe" dance. They ended with a "challenge dance," where each dancer showed off his special moves. Honi showed his high-speed tapping and bebop rhythms. Atkins was lighter on his feet and mixed tap with modern dance and ballet. They always finished their performance with precise steps and walked off stage together.

Coles and Atkins' "soft-shoe" was a masterpiece of slow, graceful dancing. But their biggest achievement was bringing tap dancers together in a "class act." They performed with specific music arrangements from the bands. They worked with many drummers like Cozy Cole and Jo Jones. They especially loved working with Jo Jones. He respected dancers and knew how to support their tap with his music. They tried to create a system to work well with drummers and musicians.

Throughout the 1940s, Coles and Atkins toured with many big bands. These included Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Barnet, Billy Eckstine, Count Basie, Johnny Otis, and Billie Holiday. In 1947, they toured the West Coast with Count Basie. They also toured with Billy Eckstine’s band. That summer, they performed with The Ink Spots. Johnny Otis was the band leader. They did a "slow-motion acrobatic dance, using jazz movements." Coles and Atkins also created dances for the June Taylor dancers for early television.

By the late 1940s, Coles and Atkins noticed that audiences were less interested in "pure" tap dancing. They tried adding comedy to their shows, but it only helped a little. In 1949, they created a show-stopping dance called "Mamie is Mimi." It was part of the Broadway musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes at the Ziegfeld Theater. Sadly, the show's choreographer, Agnes de Mille, didn't give them credit for their work.

By 1952, when Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ended, Coles and Atkins found it hard to find jobs. A new style of Broadway ballet was becoming more popular than tap dance. So, each dancer took on new work. Honi Coles opened a dance studio with Pete Nugent]. Atkins became a vocal coach for many singing groups. Even though Coles and Atkins kept working in the 1950s, they couldn't stop the decline in audience interest. They eventually broke up in 1960.

Honi Coles' Dance Studio

Between 1954 and 1955, Honi Coles worked with Pete Nugent, another talented tap dancer. They opened the Dance Craft studio on Fifty-second Street in New York City. This was even though interest in tap dance was going down in the 1950s. Unfortunately, their studio closed in 1957 because of the lack of interest. Honi Coles remembered that tough time, saying, "No work, no money. Tap had dropped dead."

It was during this time at his Dance Craft studio that Honi Coles met Brenda Bufalino. When Brenda was eighteen, she moved to New York City in 1955 to study dance more. At his studio, Honi taught Brenda his fast-rhythm tap dancing and other tap steps.

Working Behind the Scenes and Mentoring (1960–1970)

After Coles and Atkins broke up in 1960, Honi Coles started working as a stage manager for the Apollo Theater. He did this for the next sixteen years. Part of his job was introducing other dance acts. Honi Coles said about the Apollo performances, "A dancing act could come into the Apollo with all original material and when they left at the end of the week, the chorus line would have stolen many of the outstanding things that they did."

Honi also served as the president of the Negro Actors Guild. He continued his connection with the Copasetics. This was a club for musical and tap artists. They worked to keep the memory of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson alive. In the 1950s and 60s, the Copasetics were important in the Harlem community. They held annual balls and charity performances to raise money for children. In 1962, Honi Coles performed at the Newport Jazz Festival. His performance brought veteran members of the Copasetics back to the stage. Members of the Copasetics also mentored and performed with younger female tap pioneers. These included Brenda Bufalino, Jane Goldberg, and Deborah Mitchell].

A Comeback and New Collaborations (1970–1990)

In 1976, Honi Coles joined the tour of Bubbling Brown Sugar. He played the role of John Sage. He became popular again as a solo dancer. He performed at famous venues like Carnegie Hall and Town Hall. In 1978, he received compliments for his performance in a ballet production. It was Agnes de Mille's Conversations on the Dance with the Joffrey Ballet. Coles then spoke about how important tap dance was in the world of concert dance.

After the successful documentary Great Feats of Feet in 1977, Coles teamed up with Brenda Bufalino. They performed their duet concert of The Morton Gould Tap Concerto. They toured the United States and England. Singing, Swinging, and Winging was Brenda Bufalino’s first major performance. Honi Coles was a guest tap dancer in the middle of the show. He performed Honi’s Suite. This was a mix of music, talking, and dance created by Bufalino and Coles. It included songs like “Let’s Dance” and the famous soft-shoe of Coles and Atkins, “Taking A Chance On Love.”

After Singing, Swinging, and Winging, Coles kept working with Bufalino. In 1979, they created a tap dance for The Morton Gourt Tap Concerto. They performed it with the Brooklyn Academy Philharmonic Orchestra. This performance was a big success. They then worked together to choreograph Sounds of Music. Their successful teamwork showed how different races could work together in the tap community. Brenda Bufalino said about their friendship and work, "the white vaudevillian, the black vaudevillian. It was a wonderful show but it was hard to book because we were black and white.” When his friends asked why he taught his tapping skills to a white woman, Brenda Bufalino, Coles replied, “Because no blacks want it, and she does, and because nobody else can do it, and she can.” Honi Coles and Brenda Bufalino continued their strong creative partnership for the next fifteen years.

In 1983, Honi Coles performed with Tommy Tune in My One and Only. This was a Broadway musical at the St. James Theater. After his amazing duet with Tommy Tune, Coles was praised for his "precise terpsichorean pointillism." Jack Kroll from Newsweek magazine wrote that Coles’s feet "have the delicacy and power of a master pianist’s hands."

In 1984, Coles appeared in Jane Goldberg’s The Tapping Talk Show. This show was presented at the Village Gate. It featured both experienced and female tap dancers.

During the 1980s, Honi Coles also taught dance and dance history. He taught at famous universities like Yale, Cornell, Duke, and George Washington University.

Honi Coles on Screen and Stage

Memorable Performances

• Taking A Chance On Love with Coles and Atkins
• Newport Jazz Festival (1962)
• Singing, Swinging, and Winging (1978)
• Sounds in Motion (1979)
• By Word of Foot (1980)
• Shoot Me while I’m Happy
• Swinging Taps (1980)
• Black Broadway (1980)
• The Essence of Rhythm
• My One and Only (1983)
• The Tapping Talk Show (1984)

Movies and TV Shows

Honi Coles appeared in the movies The Cotton Club (1984) and Dirty Dancing (1987). He was also in the documentary “Great Feats of Feet” (1977). Some of his TV performances include The Tap Dance Kid, Mr. Griffin and Me, Conversations in Dance, Charleston, Archives of a Master, and Dance in America's Tap Dance in America for PBS. In 1963, the Camera Three TV show featured Coles and Atkins' "Soft Shoe" and "Over the Top with Bebop." A jazz historian named Marshall Stearns narrated the show.

Honi Coles' Family Life

In 1944, Honi Coles married Marion Evelyn Edwards. She was a dancer in the top chorus line at the Apollo Theater. Honi and Marion had two children together.

On November 12, 1992, Charles "Honi" Coles passed away from cancer in Queens County, New York. He was 81 years old. His wife, Marion Coles, passed away on November 6, 2009, in Queens County, New York, at the age of 94.

Awards and Recognition

In 1983, Honi Coles received several major awards for his role in My One and Only. This was a popular Broadway musical starring Tommy Tune. He won the Tony Award, Fred Astaire Award, and Drama Desk Award for best-featured actor and dancer. Coles was also given the Dance Magazine Award in 1985. In 1988, he received the Capezio Award for his lifetime achievements in dance. In 1991, President George H. W. Bush honored him with the National Medal of Arts.

Images for kids

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  Charles "Honi" Coles, a legendary tap dancer.

See also

In Spanish: Charles Coles para niños