Las Vegas woman’s memories trace U.S. history

Kimberley McGee

Friday, June 8, 2001 | 8:56 a.m.

In its heyday in the '30s and '40s Harlem's Savoy Ballroom was the place to be. Jazz and blues legends Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne and Billie Holiday sang there, as did Frank Sinatra and the Andrews Sisters.

It was a place in the racially charged country where dance and music blurred the lines between blacks and whites, said Norma Miller, an original Savoy jazz dancer, award-winning choreographer, actress and author.

"We were the best, and we made it a profession," said Miller, who moved to Las Vegas in 1977. "It was something created in America and it spread around the world, that's why people recognized us. We made the world swing, we made this country swing."

It was the beginning of jazz, the Lindy Hop and swing dancing that would take the country by storm after World War II.

The Lindy Hop, a fast-paced jazz step made famous at the Savoy, traveled around the world and became popular with all races, cultures and creeds.

Miller, born in Harlem in 1919, watched history unfold from the side of the Savoy stage as such band leaders as Duke Ellington and his orchestra moved dancers to jump, jive and wail on the hardwood floor of the famed ballroom.

"Jazz changed America because jazz was integrated, always," Miller said. "Blacks and whites always danced at the Savoy Ballroom, there was never segregation. So I never came up under that umbrella."

Miller's story is about dance, but it also reflects the racial issues of the country and Las Vegas and the phenomenon of a dance style that swept the world.

She wrote of her experiences as an acclaimed Lindy Hop dancer and choreographer in her book, "Swingin' at the Savoy" ($19.95, Temple University Press).

Before baseball, the military or schools were integrated, jazz broke racial barriers, said John Edward Hasse, curator of the American Music for the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Miller was a large part of that powerful agent for change that was jazz in the early '40s through the '50s.

"She's one of the living legends of dance," Hasse said. "A very important figure."

Miller's book was one of the first to delve into the history of jazz dance from a personal perspective, said Robert Tate, former managing editor of Jazz Now magazine.

The Savoy was the epicenter for the Lindy Hop, also known as the Jitterbug, which enthralled a nation and eventually the world, Tate said.

"It was good times," Tate said. "Jazz was the music of the day and this dancing that went along with it was exuberant. It was a phenomenon."

There are few books that chronicle the history of jazz dance, Tate said, which is why Miller's written memories are so important.

"The form that jazz took, there's nothing similar today," Tate said. "Norma Miller and the people that were with her were pop stars of their time."

Miller's career began in Harlem at age 14 when she won a dance contest to become a member of Herbert White's Lindy Hoppers.

From the time Miller was a teenager she was performing.

In 1952 she toured in the Broadway stage production of "Hellzapopin" for five years.

She formed the Norma Miller Jazz Dancers in 1963 and became the opening act for Sammy Davis Jr. at the Latin Casino in Philadelphia.

Miller moved to Las Vegas and continued to choreograph shows on the Strip as well as perform as an opening act for Redd Foxx.

"I always loved Las Vegas," Miller said. "It was the place I wanted to be."

She first set foot on the hot desert floor of Las Vegas in 1943 to play at El Cortez with Ivy Anderson, a popular singer of the time.

The heat was a step up from the cold winter climate she had left in New York, she said. So was the pay.

"It was always the aim to come to Vegas because Vegas was the best job," Miller said. "But we were not part of the community."

Miller stayed at a boarding house on H Street in West Las Vegas while she danced in the elegant showrooms. Black performers were not allowed to stay in the hotel rooms or play at the gaming tables, she said.

"Pearl Bailey would play here and not be allowed to go into the cafe," Miller said. "Las Vegas payed us the best money, but didn't give us the best courtesy. But we changed all that. We changed America."

Miller continues to tour the world teaching swing dance to a new generation of dancers. She is also working on a book about dance and its social impact on America.

"It's the swing that gets you, the rhythm, the beat," Miller said. "It won't let go."