Clayton “Peg Leg” Bates’s legacy reverberates throughout the tap dance community in New York and beyond. From a humble upbringing, Peg Leg danced his way through history on stage, on screen, and occasionally in the air. Throughout his long life and career, he continuously poured into his artistic community through his resort and numerous community programs. He never accepted pity for his disability, but his grit and determination after childhood trauma led him to pursue a prolific career as a performer and entrepreneur. The self-taught nature of Bates’s technique generated an innovative expansion of aesthetic possibilities in the tap dance and Black musical community.

Peg Leg’s career was unmatched on stage, on screen, and at home. He began his professional career performing in minstrel shows and vaudeville theater. Bates eventually found himself being featured alongside performers such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Erskine Hawkins. Gracing the stages of the Cotton Club, Club Zanzibar, and Broadway, he invented acrobatic variations of popular tap steps. These variations were born from his skillful ability to manipulate his custom-built peg legs to accompany his tap shoe to expand his musical palette. The resulting sound would utilize bass, midrange, and treble sounds which enriched the acoustic depth regardless of the floor’s construction. This unique foothold on the craft helped him land multiple television spotlights with Ed Sullivan, Ken Murray, and Tony Bennett. [Insert Image from Ed Sullivan Show]

This commercial success did not detract from community leadership. He mentored numerous tap dancers and often brought them to perform at his resort in the Catskills. The resort venue quickly became a hotbed for Black artists to rest and commune with one another. Peg Leg’s friends and colleagues would regularly visit to perform, relax, and enrich their musical lives. Eventually, he and his musical colleagues would record singles with Blue Chip Records, and Royalty Records, and eventually form Peg Leg Bates Records. Bates; philanthropic engagement extended beyond the resort as he was deeply engaged with children’s programming in New York. He would often work with studios and state-funded arts education programs to raise money and resources for budding artists. In 1989, an act of Congress established May 25th as National Tap Dance Day in honor of Peg Leg’s mentor Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. To celebrate, the annual Tap Extravaganza was established by the New York Committee to Celebrate Tap Dance Day. At their inaugural event, the organizers chose to honor Peg Leg’s service by awarding him the first Flo-Bert award in 1991 for his “heroic social service to black society”. From this year on, Bates would become a regular participant in the annual proceedings.

Clayton “Peg Leg” Bates’s artistic legacy has the ability to also transcend artistic medium. His life and professional career have been an inspiration for many dance artists today. Including Joel Hanna, Evan Ruggiero, Traci Mann, Michael “Toes” Tiranoff, and countless others. This influence led to the commissioning of two statues portraying his likeness. The first statue of Bates in his hometown of Fountain Inn South Carolina depicts him as one of the great figures of American Tap Dance. However, the second statue in Greenville, South Carolina is an abstract interpretation of his likeness, demonstrating his ever-present role in the arts. The legacy of Peg Leg Bates will continue to influence American dance for generations to come.

Joseph Johnson
Indiana University, Bloomington