Brenda Bufalino Interview, 1998-06-09

Brenda Bufalino was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, outside of Boston. She began studying dance around five years old. By seven, she was at a school where dance was part of daily curriculum, including interpretive, Egyptian, Spanish, acrobatic, tap, and ballet.

Both her mother and aunt were performers. The three of them composed "The Strickland Sisters", thanks to her mother's maiden name. They performed together until Brenda's teens. By that time, she was also touring with United Service Organizations, performing at hospitals.

In 1952, Brenda joined Stanley Brown's jazz-dance troupe. In this company, she performed Afro-Cuban dance, Caribbean dance. She then studied under Honi Coles in New York, where Brenda learned to be-bop dance. After a short retirement to raise a family and farm, Brenda joined Ed Summerlin in mixed media performances, supporting jazz liturgies.

It was not until the 1970s that Brenda concentrated on tap, working alonside Honi Coles again. Brenda was part of the tap revival. A fullbodied jazz artist and tap dancer, she's noted for being both graceful and shameless.

She was a solo performer, as well as a video director for the documentary "Great Feats of Feet" (1975). This was the first grant given to tap from the National Endowment for the Arts. Another popular international act was "Singin', Swingin' and Wingin'" (1978).

In an interview in the November-December 1999 newsletter "International Tap Association", Brenda shares that as a child, she "loved to dance, but not to perform." However, Brenda's work is a testament against that. Even in 1999, Brenda shared current projects of writing a book, performing "Bufalino Bufalino", and writing her own music.

Brenda is one of founders of the American Tap Dance Foundation. She is known for wearing three-piece men's suits, inspired by an article that argued women cannot tap. She also is known for teaching across genres, such as using chanting and monologue techniques alongside tap.