Annotation:John Dimond's Reel
X:1 T:John Dimond's Reel M:2/4 L:1/8 B:"Buckley's Violin Tunes" (1855, p. 34) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:D (3A/B/c/|d c/A/ B/d/ A/F/-|(3G/E/E/ F/D/ E/D/ C/E/|D/E/ F/G/ A/B/ c/e/|g/e/ f/d/ e/c/ A/c/| d c/A/ B/d/ A/F/-|(3G/E/E/ F/D/ E/D/ C/E/|D/F/ A/F/ G/B/ AF/-|(3E/D/D/ C/E/ D:| |:{B}A/^G/|A/c/ e/c/ {f}A/d/ f/d/|{f}e/^d/ e/f/ e/c/ A/c/|g/e/ f/d/ e/c/ d/f/|e/d/ c/B/ A/g/ f/e/| d c/A/ B/d/ A/F/-|(3G/E/E/ F/D/ E/D/ C/E/|D/F/ A/F/ G/B/ A/F/-|(3E/D/D/ C/E/ D:|]
JOHN DIMOND'S REEL. American, Reel (2/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. John Dimond (sometimes given as 'Diamond') has been said to "have been the most skillful and accomplished jig dancer that ever appeared on the American stage" [1]. However a similar, and more substantiated claim for best dancer of the era is for African-American dancer Master Juba, a stage name and whose real name is thought to have been William Lane. He was born a freeman in Providence, Rhode Island, but moved to New York City while still a child and learned his craft in the notorious Five Points dance halls and saloons. Charles Dickens visited New York in 1842 and wrote an account after witnessing Juba's dancing. By the age of 19, Juba had himself been labelled one of the greatest dancers of the era, and "he regularly challenged and defeated the best while dancers including John Dimond" [2]. There was a tinted lithograph representing the stage of the Chatham Theatre, New York, with Billy Whitlock playing the banjo with Dimond dancing in 1845 [3].
- ↑ From a description of a lithograph (No. 3680) in the catalogue of the library of Thomas Jefferson McKee [1]. John Anderson Jr., Catalogue of the Library of the late Thomas J. McKee of New York, Part IV, 1902, p. 758.
- ↑ Mark Knowles, Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing, North Carolina: McFarland, 2002, p. 88, and Britannica, Master Juba [2]
- ↑ Anderson, ibid.