High Steppers Dance 1900

Photo from Jaimeson/ Caldwell–Remember When? Jamiesons — Now and Then-Caldwell Jamieson Dunlop Reunion – Part 5

High steppers were considered a contemporary precision dance and drill troupe – performing dance steps, military drill maneuvers, marching steps and choreographed street dance to percussion accompaniment. I could not find anything pertaining these high steppers from Carleton Place but I did find this mention of ‘steppers’ in the Lanark Era.

The Lanark Era
Lanark, Ontario, Canada02 Apr 1919, Wed • Page 1

Never Miss a Chance to Dance!

No one in this world wanted to take over tap dancer Ann Miller’s job more than I did. After 70 long years of random attempts, all that remains is a pair of silver tap shoes tucked away in a cupboard long forgotten. I used to wear them on a day to day basis for many years as I always believed one should be on call if someone had the odd tap dancing job. In life I have always winged it: life, eyeliner, just everything.

As a child my mother told my father that I had natural rhythm and would probably belong to a professional dance troupe. Actually, what she really wanted me to be was one of the dancers on American Bandstand, but I had other goals in mind. When I was eight I wanted to fluff out my tutu and be the Sugar Plum Fairy so badly that I accidentally bumped the reigning fairy off the stage during practice. Seeing the stage was a foot off the ground, she was luckily not hurt, and I was to remain a Waltzing Flower forever.

At 17 I had my first “break”. I became one of the regular “crowd” dancers on a Montreal based TV show called “Like Young”. Every Saturday afternoon I lined up outside CFCF-TV sporting my grandmother’s orthopedic brown lace up shoes, ready to dance. Those borrowed shoes were just super for dancing and they looked fabulous with my floor dusting Le Chateau gabardine pants. I was nothing but double-trouble on the dance floor. Read the rest here..