Title Page | Collection Summary | History of the Collection | Biographical/Organizational Note | Scope and Content | Arrangement
Biographical Note
Joan Armstrong Hill, a classically trained pianist, relocated from California to Boston to study jazz with pianist-composer-educator Charlie Banacos (1946-2009). In Boston, she became accompanist for the Star Steps Studio and dance company of master tap dancer Leon Collins (1922-1985), who is credited with developing a bebop-influenced jazz tap style. The Joan Hill notation system for tap dancing was devised by her to record Collins’s tap routines, many of which are notated in the booklets of this collection. The Chicago Human Rhythm Project honored her with the JUBA Award in 2008.