Draper, Paul, 1909-1996

Paul Draper (1909-1996) was a dancer and choreographer, best known for his innovative combination of ballet and tap. Draper was born to a prominent New York family and was encouraged as a student to become an engineer. After only 6 tap dance lessons in the 1930s, he set off for London to find work as a dancer, where he spent a year perfecting his tap routines. When he returned to the United States, he enrolled in the School of American Ballet â€" and from that experience developed his “Ballet-Tap” routines in 1932. This trademark style integrated ballet technique and vocabulary into tap dance routines. Draper often performed tap to classical music.

Draper not only toured the country in a very popular routine with harmonicist Larry Adler, but also choreographed for Broadway, the American Dance Festival, and Goodspeed Opera House. In 1941 he married Balanchine dancer Heidi Vossler.

Draper’s act with Adler ended in 1949 when they were blacklisted as Communist sympathizers. He fought the accusations, filing a libel lawsuit against the Connecticut housewife who had accused him of communist leanings, but still had to leave the country briefly. Draper did not resume performing until 1955. Upon returning to the stage, Draper worked on several Broadway shows and also appeared at the New York City Center. He also wrote articles for Dance Magazine during the years 1954-1963. In 1967 he became a professor at Carnagie Mellon University, where he taught in the theater department until 1978. He retired in Woodstock, NY.

From the guide to the Paul Draper papers, 1909-1991, (The New York Public Library. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.)