The Original Copasetics were an ensemble of star

tap dance Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely perfo ...

rs formed in 1949 on the death of Bill Bojangles Robinson that helped to revive the art of tap. The first group included composer/arranger

Billy Strayhorn William Thomas Strayhorn (November 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967) was an American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger, who collaborated with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington for nearly three decades. His compositions include "Take ...

and the choreographer

Cholly Atkins Charles "Cholly" Atkins (born Charles Sylvan Atkinson; September 13, 1913 – April 19, 2003) was an American dancer and vaudeville performer, who later became noted as the house choreographer for the various artists on the Motown label. Biogr ...

, as well as

Honi Coles Charles “Honi” Coles (April 2, 1911 – November 12, 1992) was an American actor and tap dancer, who was inducted posthumously into the American Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2003. He had a distinctive personal style that required technical prec ...

, Charles “Cookie” Cook and his dance partner Ernest “Brownie” Brown.NY Times obituary
by

Jennifer Dunning Jennifer Dunning (born February 4, 1942) is a writer and critic for ''The New York Times'' on the subjects of dance and ballet. She is the author of the 1985 ''But First a School: The First Fifty Years of the School of American Ballet'', the 1996 ...

, August 25, 2009 Other dancers included Chuck Green,

Jimmy Slyde James Titus Godbolt (October 2, 1927 – May 16, 2008), known professionally as Jimmy Slyde and also as the "King of Slides", was an American tap dancer known for his innovative tap style mixed with jazz. Slyde was a popular rhythm tap dancer i ...

and Howard “Sandman” Sims. The group took its name from Robinson’s familiar observation that “everything is

copasetic ''Copacetic'' is an album by Velocity Girl, released in 1993. It is their first full-length album and features the singles "Crazy Town" and "Audrey's Eyes," both of which were given music videos. The album's title derives from an American slang wo ...

” and was honored in the 1989 Broadway revue ''

Black and Blue ''Black and Blue'' is the 13th British and 15th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 23 April 1976 by Rolling Stones Records. This album was the first recorded after former guitarist Mick Taylor quit ...

''.

Notes

{{Reflist American tap dancers