The Nicholas Brothers were a famous team of dancing brothers, Fayard(1914–2006) and Harold Nicholas (1921–2000). With their highly acrobatic technique (“flash dancing”), high level of artistry and daring innovations, they were considered by many the greatest tap dancers of their day. Growing up surrounded by Vaudeville acts as children, they became stars of the jazz circuit during the heyday of the Harlem Renaissance and went on to have successful careers performing on stage, film, and television well into the 1990’s.

One of their signature moves was to dance down a huge flight of broad stairs, leapfrogging over each other and landing in a complete split on each step. This move was performed in the finale of their most famous performance, the movie Stormy Weather. Fred Astaire once told the brothers that the “Jumpin’ Jive” dance number in Stormy Weather was the

greatest movie musical sequence he had ever seen. In that famous routine, the Nicholas Brothers fearlessly and exuberantly dance on drums and leap across music stands in an orchestra. In the finale, they leap-frog down a sweeping staircase. One of their signature moves was a “no-hands” splits, where they went into the splits and returned to their feet without using their hands. Gregory Hines declared that if their biography was ever filmed, their dance numbers would have to be computer generated because no one could duplicate them. Famed choreographer George Balanchine called their acrobatic movement ballet, despite their lack of formal training. Ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov once called them the most amazing dancers he had ever seen in his life.