HOW DOES YOUR DAZZLE GROW? If nothing is new under the sun, what inspires you to innovate?

Every summer the Linvilles of Kansas City trades the local humidity and heat for Beaver Creek, Colorado, where the Rockies sprout with Midwesterners like us, Texans and sundry other climate tourists—including some impressive artists. 

One year in downtown Beaver Creek the Vilar Performing Arts Center hosted Savion Glover, modern wonder of the centuries-old thrill of tap dance, and we got to our seats early. After his opening footwork pyrotechnics, as the audience picked up its collective chin, high overhead Glover ran a video of the giants of his world: Bojangles Robinson, the Nicholas Brothers, Fred Astaire . . . and the legends dazzled us from above as Glover duplicated the dazzle onstage. 

And then. And then before our eyes, as Glover danced, every step became his alone. “I study the masters,” he announced to us, “and repackage in my own sell.” 

Right there, that simply, Savion Glover personified innovation: old steps in a new swing. Innovators don’t create; they creatively change, improve, and adapt. And in the right shoes, it looks for all the world like genius. Gregory Hines, another dance legend, called Savion Glover maybe the best tap dancer ever. 

And the question is, where do we get our steps? If nothing is new under the sun, where do we harvest ideas? What compels us to grab a pen or our cell phone to take notes? What stirs our cravings to imitate? How do we stay dynamic? Per Savion Glover, I submit that what keeps us on our toes are the legends that preceded us – the best of all that’s come before .