Savion Glover (born November 19, 1973 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American actor, tap dancer and choreographer. Glover is a graduate of the Newark Arts High School.
While a student at Broadway Dance Center in Manhattan, his teacher arranged an audition for him with Broadway choreographer Henry LeTang. This led to his Broadway debut at age 10 in The Tap Dance Kid. He made his film debut in 1989's Tap co-starring with Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis, Jr. In 1990, he joined the cast of the children's television series, Sesame Street, and stayed on the show until 1995. He came to prominence in 1996, starring in the George C. Wolfe-produced musical Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in 'da Funk. He also starred in Spike Lee's 2000 film Bamboozled. He also appeared with Barbra Streisand in her "Timeless" tour, and appears on the New Years Eve 1999/2000 DVD of this show.
In 2003, Glover appeared on the DVD The One, a 40-minute retrospective look at the career of pop legend Michael Jackson, which was originally intended to air as a special called Number Ones in November 2003, to coincide with the release of Jackson's Greatest Hits package of the same name. The show was postponed after Jackson's arrest.
In 2007, Glover partnered with spoken word artist Reg E. Gaines and saxophonist Matana Roberts in a John Coltrane-inspired improvisation session, If Trane Wuz Here. In 2005, he collaborated with a string chamber orchestra and his band.
His most recent credit is as the motion-capture dancer for Mumble, the penguin in the animated release Happy Feet.
He is now in a production called "Classical Savion", where he taps to classical pieces played by a chamber string group. The show jazzes and blues it up a bit towards the end adding drums and a pianist.
Glover recently appeared on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, on the September 26, 2007 results show.
Made his Broadway debut as the title character in "The Tap Dance Kid" when he was 12 years old.
He was one of the youngest males to be nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in "Black and Blue".
In 1991 he received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Outstanding Youth Award.
He was 18 years old when he portrayed "Young Jelly" in the Broadway musical "Jelly's Last Jam" opposite Gregory Hines ("Jelly Roll Morton").
He won a Tony Award for Best Choreography 2 June 1996 for the musical he starred in and co-created with George C. Wolfe called "Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk'; Wolfe received the Tony for Best Direction of a Musical.
Before he got his first pair of tap shoes (red & white) from the Broadway show The Tap Dance Kid, he used to tap in cowboy boots.
Won Broadway's 1996 Tony Award for Best Choreographer for the musical he starred in and co-created with George C. Wolfe called "Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk'; which also brought him a Best Actor (Musical) Tony nomination. Previously, in 1989, he has been nominated as Best Actor (Musical) for "Black and Blue," which, at the age of 15, made him one of the youngest males ever to be nominated for a Tony.
Savion was trained in tap dancing by Broadway, Film and Television actor/dancer Michael Blevins, who was commissioned by Tony Winning choreographer Danny Daniels, to prepare Savion for the title role in the Broadway production of "The Tap Dance Kid".
