More recently, he scored another breakthrough by tapping to Bach, Bartok and Vivaldi in a program titled "Classical [Savion Glover]." However, the challenge of Baroque masterworks caused him to modify his style - - now just as fast and intricate as ever but far less deliberately clompy and rough-edged in attack. "I'm trying to make tap more sound- friendly," he explains. "I want it to be melodic and musical. I want people to enjoy the sound of tap."

He praises Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and other Hollywood dance icons as "great entertainers. They were tap-dancing as America knew it, before hoofing." But hoofing, a.k.a. hitting -- the rhythm- dominated approach to tap that emerged in black nightclubs and was showcased in a few historic Broadway revues and films -- remains for Glover the wellspring of the art. It linked dancing and drumming in his mind when he was a child, and it continues to inspire him.

LIGHTS OUT: Glover would like to emphasize sound over sight in tap performances. "I want to do a show that's all dark," he says.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Ringo H.W. Chiu For The Times; EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED: Glover's improv-intensive show at the Kodak Theatre will include the tap-dancer singing and a tribute to [Michael Jackson]. But don't expect a lot of visual spectacle; that's not what Glover's about: "We need to go back to when tap was identified with sound," he says.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Ringo H.W. Chiu For The Times