Master Juba: King of All Dancers
If you’ve ever taken a tap class, you may have heard the names of some of the modern greats like Chloe Arnold, Michelle Dorrance, or Jason Samuels Smith. It’s even more likely you’ve heard of the greats from some famous movies of the 1900s like Gregory Hines, Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Fred Astaire… I could go on. But where did it begin? Do you know who started it all?
To answer that question, we have to go back to New York City in the 1800s. Before slaves were freed, before the Civil War, before electricity or indoor plumbing were widespread, and only 50 years after the birth of the great United States of America, William Henry Lane was born around 1825 in Rhode Island.
No one would have expected Lane to not only make a name for himself at a time when African Americans had no rights, but that he would become the father of tap dance and start a movement we carry on to this day.
How William Henry Lane Became Master Juba and “The Greatest Dancer Known”
Records about the life of William Henry Lane are spotty at best. However, there are several events we do know for sure. Lane moved from Rhode Island to Five Points in New York City at a young age, where he was surrounded by dance influence due to the “melting pot” of cultures, specifically African American and Irish, in that particular area.
Lane got his start dancing early on, and it is understood that he received some training from another famous Black saloon dancer at the time, named “Uncle” Jim Lowe. As he grew, Lane performed in a variety of minstrel shows with white and black performers of the time and even bested the most famous white performer of the time, John Diamond, throughout a series of dance competitions in the 1840s.
As was common at the time, William Henry Lane took on a performance name, and was often billed under this name. He was best known as “Master Juba: King of All Dancers”, but often went by Master Juba or just Juba. The word juba is defined as rhythmic handclapping and thigh slapping that originated on the plantations in the southern United States.
Charles Dickens wrote about Master Juba in his American Notes (1842), as “the greatest dancer known,” and one of the only redeeming events in Dickens' visit to America. Later on his tour through England, to get more publicity, Master Juba was billed as “Boz’s Juba” due to his popularity from Dickens’ writing (“Boz” was a pseudonym Dickens used).
Juba did not have an easy life, and was forced into a performing world that did not readily accept African Americans. Most rhythmic dance at the time was performed by white dancers wearing blackface, and was intended to mock or poke fun at the Negro population of America. Juba performed in a variety of minstrel shows and wore blackface with the other performers. He performed for P.T. Barnum at Barnum’s Museum, where the conditions were often dirty and unsafe. Later, Juba traveled to England as the only African American dancer to perform with Pell’s Ethiopian Serenaders, and continued to perform under blackface.
Master Juba spent the end of his life in England. He opened a dance school to share his specific style of dance with the people who loved it so much. He also married; however, there is no record of who his wife could have been.
Master Juba died around the year 1852 at the age of 27. His cause of death is unknown, but is hypothesized to be due to overwork, malnutrition, or illness from the lack of sanitary conditions of his time. He lived a short life, but his legacy is still remembered, and his dancing was just the start of how tap dance would evolve in the future.
Master Juba’s Tap Dancing Style:
A Melting Pot of Dance Traditions
Tap dance in the mid-1800s would not have looked similar to what you see performed today. However, it was heavily influenced by a variety of cultures.
The type of dancing Master Juba became known for was a mix of:
African American vernacular dance, which originated as a way for enslaved Africans to preserve their cultural traditions
Irish jigs, brought over with Irish Immigrants as they fled the Irish Potato Famine and
Clogging, popular in the Appalachian Mountains from Irish, Scottish, English, and Dutch-German Immigrants.
African Americans were not allowed to play any sort of music in the 1800s, so they adapted to using their bodies as instruments to create rhythmic and syncopated sounds. Juba applied this idea to his feet, using the bass sound of his heels to hold the rhythm like a bass drum and his toes, voice, and hands to layer in the higher sounds. This style was revolutionary in the 1800s, unlike anything anyone had seen before.
We have Master Juba to thank for our continued exploration of tap dance today. He simply wanted to do what he loved: dance. Next time you take a tap class, consider the history of the dance we love, too, and say thanks to Master Juba!
If you are interested in reading more about Master Juba, consider checking out Juba! A Novel by Walter Dean Meyers.
By Gabbie Lindsly
