Full Product Details
Author: Maureen Footer
Publisher: Beacon Press
Imprint: Beacon Press
Weight: 0.567kg
ISBN: 9780807045244
ISBN 10: 0807045241
Pages: 360
Publication Date: 12 May 2026
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
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Reviews
“Finally! A meticulously researched biography of Buddy Bradley, the visionary choreographer who revolutionized jazz and tap dance, electrified Broadway, and transformed London’s West End. With passionate narrative drive, Maureen Footer restores Bradley’s rightful place in dance history, tracing influences from across geographies, performance genres, and shifting social circumstances. A celebration of artistry, resilience, and cultural legacy, this book is essential reading for anyone passionate about dance, history, and the fight for recognition.” —Thomas F. DeFrantz, author of Dancing Revelations: Alvin Ailey’s Embodiment of African American Culture
“Feel the Floor is a rich and lovely book. It brings forward Buddy Bradley with forthright care, wondering with thinkers and artists from Black history how we might best remember his work and understand his achievements.” —Thomas F. DeFrantz, co-editor of Dance History(s): Imagination as a Form of Study
“An excellent and overdue portrayal of a backstage trailblazer, showing Bradley’s hard work, dedication, and sacrifice to make a life doing what he loved.” —Library Journal “Finally! A meticulously researched biography of Buddy Bradley, the visionary choreographer who revolutionized jazz and tap dance, electrified Broadway, and transformed London’s West End. With passionate narrative drive, Maureen Footer restores Bradley’s rightful place in dance history, tracing influences from across geographies, performance genres, and shifting social circumstances. A celebration of artistry, resilience, and cultural legacy, this book is essential reading for anyone passionate about dance, history, and the fight for recognition.” —Thomas F. DeFrantz, author of Dancing Revelations: Alvin Ailey’s Embodiment of African American Culture “With exemplary research and insights into the life and work of Buddy Bradley, one of the legends of the dance world, Maureen Footer places into the spotlight an innovative yet often overlooked choreographer. Feel the Floor is an engaging, informative, and accessible biography that will appeal not only to anyone interested in the history of dance but also musical theatre and cinema.” —Stephen Bourne, author of Black in the British Frame: Black People in British Film and Television 1896-1996 “Descended from free, landowning Southern Blacks, Buddy Bradley claimed his territory as an innovative jazz tap dancer and choreographer. He began in Harlem Renaissance New York, then, when segregation dwarfed his ambitions, he moved to London. There, artists and audiences were eager to see a multilingual choreography, which joined jazz tap to ballet and musical theater. His work was brilliant and wide ranging. So is Maureen Footer’s biography. With historical rigor and narrative elegance, she restores the life and art of an American dance genius.” —Margo Jefferson, author of Negroland “Feel the Floor tells the rich, layered story of choreographer Buddy Bradley and his journey from Alabama to Harlem and on to London’s West End. Maureen Footer weaves a compelling tale, showing how Buddy Bradley’s influence on dance on both stage and screen spread across the Atlantic and brought the dance culture of the Black American South to the world.” —W. Ralph Eubanks, author of When It’s Darkness on the Delta
“Finally! A meticulously researched biography of Buddy Bradley, the visionary choreographer who revolutionized jazz and tap dance, electrified Broadway, and transformed London’s West End. With passionate narrative drive, Maureen Footer restores Bradley’s rightful place in dance history, tracing influences from across geographies, performance genres, and shifting social circumstances. A celebration of artistry, resilience, and cultural legacy, this book is essential reading for anyone passionate about dance, history, and the fight for recognition.” —Thomas F. DeFrantz, author of Dancing Revelations: Alvin Ailey’s Embodiment of African American Culture “With exemplary research and insights into the life and work of Buddy Bradley, one of the legends of the dance world, Maureen Footer places into the spotlight an innovative yet often overlooked choreographer. Feel the Floor is an engaging, informative, and accessible biography that will appeal not only to anyone interested in the history of dance but also musical theatre and cinema.” —Stephen Bourne, author of Black in the British Frame: Black People in British Film and Television 1896-1996 “Descended from free, landowning Southern Blacks, Buddy Bradley claimed his territory as an innovative jazz tap dancer and choreographer. He began in Harlem Renaissance New York, then, when segregation dwarfed his ambitions, he moved to London. There, artists and audiences were eager to see a multilingual choreography, which joined jazz tap to ballet and musical theater. His work was brilliant and wide ranging. So is Maureen Footer’s biography. With historical rigor and narrative elegance, she restores the life and art of an American dance genius.” —Margo Jefferson, author of Negroland
“Finally! A meticulously researched biography of Buddy Bradley, the visionary choreographer who revolutionized jazz and tap dance, electrified Broadway, and transformed London’s West End. With passionate narrative drive, Maureen Footer restores Bradley’s rightful place in dance history, tracing influences from across geographies, performance genres, and shifting social circumstances. A celebration of artistry, resilience, and cultural legacy, this book is essential reading for anyone passionate about dance, history, and the fight for recognition.” —Thomas F. DeFrantz, author of Dancing Revelations: Alvin Ailey’s Embodiment of African American Culture “With exemplary research and insights into the life and work of Buddy Bradley, one of the legends of the dance world, Maureen Footer places into the spotlight an innovative yet often overlooked choreographer. Feel the Floor is an engaging, informative, and accessible biography that will appeal not only to anyone interested in the history of dance but also musical theatre and cinema.” —Stephen Bourne, author of Black in the British Frame: Black People in British Film and Television 1896-1996 “Descended from free, landowning Southern Blacks, Buddy Bradley claimed his territory as an innovative jazz tap dancer and choreographer. He began in Harlem Renaissance New York, then, when segregation dwarfed his ambitions, he moved to London. There, artists and audiences were eager to see a multilingual choreography, which joined jazz tap to ballet and musical theater. His work was brilliant and wide ranging. So is Maureen Footer’s biography. With historical rigor and narrative elegance, she restores the life and art of an American dance genius.” —Margo Jefferson, author of Negroland “Feel the Floor tells the rich, layered story of choreographer Buddy Bradley and his journey from Alabama to Harlem and on to London’s West End. Maureen Footer weaves a compelling tale, showing how Buddy Bradley’s influence on dance on both stage and screen spread across the Atlantic and brought the dance culture of the Black American South to the world.” —W. Ralph Eubanks, author of When It’s Darkness on the Delta
Author Information
Maureen Footer is author of George Stacey and the Creation of American Chic and Dior and His Decorators- Victor Grandpierre, Georges Geffroy, and the New Look. Her books have been reviewed in The Financial Times, Forbes, the Times Literary Supplement, Vogue, Wall Street Journal, and Vanity Fair, among others. Ms. Footer sits on the boards of the New York City Ballet and the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library, the preeminent dance research institution in the world. She can be found today studying tap in dance studios and dancing to African drums in the East Village.
