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Gregory Hines was known as a highly acclaimed tap dancer, choreographer, dramatic and comic actor, singer, and director.
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At the age of two, his father employed him in a dance act with his older brothers.
He honed his dancing skills with master tap dancer Henry Le Tang. Hines was five when his
father teamed him with his big brother, Jake to form the Hines Kids. The brothers spent much of their
early careers dancing at the Apollo Theater and learned much from such famed fellow performers as the Nicholas Brothers and Sandman Sims. At age eight, he debuted on Broadway in the musical The Girl in Pink Tights
(1954). When the boys reached adolescence, they were called the Hines Brothers. In 1963, they became Hines, Hines and Dad,
and started a ten-year stint on the nightclub circuit and on television. They also went abroad.
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| Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis Jr. |
On August 9, 2003, Gregory Hines, died of cancer in Los Angeles.
He was 57, and the lights of Broadway were dimmed in his honor three days after his untimely death.
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In 2004, in honor of legendary tap dance artist
Gregory Hines (1946-2003), a number of gifts from the tap community came to the Dance Division. In cooperation with
the American Tap Dance Foundation, these materials were organized as a tribute to Mr. Hines and gathered under the title The
Gregory Hines Collection of American Tap Dance.
The Gregory Hines collection brings together
film, video, photographs and manuscripts. The Dance Division’s existing tap materials as well as future donations
will eventually be incorporated under this title, resulting in a comprehensive archive of American tap dance that will also
serve as an ongoing memorial to Mr. Hines.
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