Renowned Dancer Reggio the Hoofer Appearing at Sun City Huntley

Reginald McLaughlin’s career has taken him from the underground world of Chicago’s subways to world tours in places like India.

McLaughlin, known as “Reggio the Hoofer,” is bringing his talent and skills to Huntley next week for a special performance at Sun City Huntley.

The internationally known tap dancer has worked with the legends of tap including the late Gregory Hines and Savion Glover. McLaughlin worked for 16 years with another legend, Ernest “Brownie” Brown who passed away at age 93 in 2009. Brown was a vaudeville performer who co-founded the Copasetics, which helped popularize tap, McLaughlin said.

Brown passed on information and routines from that era to him, McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin started dancing as a youth growing up on the South Side of Chicago. He started dancing in the subways where he said he learned the craft. Later, he took his performances to a different level and eventually developed a school program and started teaching as well as performing around the world.

“I’ve been tapping well over 25 years,” he said in a phone interview. “It’s what I do for a living.” In his biography on his website, he writes “I’ve always felt blessed, dancing has been my guardian angel.”

Tap dance is America’s true folk dance and never fades out, he said. It definitely has resurfaced over the last few years, which is really great, he said.

The dance is popular around the world, too. He has toured in Japan, Germany and Italy. His most recent tour was in India, where he went to New Delhi and eight other cities.

McLaughlin found tap was an art form many in India had not seen before but could relate to, he said. “It was very fascinating,” he said of the trip.

He is looking forward to his Sun City Huntley show and finds there are many people who are interested in tap within that community. The last time he performed, he held two workshops that drew 80 people. Sun City Huntley offers a tap club that is very active, he said.

“It’s always a great success and it brings back a lot of memories for people,” McLaughlin said of the show.