Eduardo Corrochio
Eduardo Corrochio (1869–1912) was a Spanish-born dancer who won the first Tap Dancing Championship in New York City in 1890. He died in a plane crash.
Early life[edit]
Eduardo Corrochio was born in Spain in 1869, the only son of Miguel and Regina Corrochio. His mother Regina was half English, having been fathered by a British Colonel. His early life has been poorly documented. It seems that his family was part of the poor farming class that lived on the shrinking agricultural land that bordered the city of Madrid. He was accepted into Spanish gymnastics school at the age of seven, where he caught the eye of an instructor by the name of Damiano Tutador. Damiano saw the makings of a great dancer in young Eduardo. Eduardo was accepted into The Capablanca school of dance in the centre of Madrid.
To raise money for his entrance his parents Miguel and Regina had to sell their inherited property. A sense of indebtedness plagued Eduardo for most of his adult life. He felt chained to his parents by feelings of deep guilt and obligation. This posed a special problem when his dancing ambition eventually brought him to the United States of America to study under the tap dancing legend Bernie Howard. Eduardo's immigration to America alienated him from his parents, something he writes about in his auto-biography "Soul of a Tap Dancer".
Career[edit]
1890- Corrochio entered the Tap Dancing Championship in New York city. The only non-American in a field of two hundred invited participants, he defeated Henry Rogers to become the first tap dancing champion of the world.
1894- Corrochio successfully defended his title at another Tap Dancing Championship in Chicago Illinois. Three hundred participants gather this time, twenty of them non-Americans, mostly from Britain and Germany.
External links[edit]
- http://www.dancelessons.net/dancehistory/HistoryofTapDance.html - covers the Spanish mad-step as practiced by Corrochio
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