Pop Music Gets a Workout Under Savion Glover’s Taps

Although “Savion Glover’s Nu York” features the Tony-winning tap phenomenon as its titular star, choreographer, composer of original music and one of its executive producers, don’t expect dance to be the focus of this hourlong ABC special.

Credits to the contrary, this is essentially a pop music program garnished with some of the most spectacular tapping anywhere. And the emphasis is clearly musical because only the music is presented without interference or interruption--music that includes a ballad from Stevie Wonder, rap from Puff Daddy and the Family, gospel from Kirk Franklin and God’s Property, hip-hop from SWV.

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Glover’s dancing, however, is ruinously shot and edited--continually cropped out of frame, blocked by the bodies of onlookers and various architectural obstructions, spatially confused by moving or tilting camera perspectives and often made irrelevant by close-ups. Yes, you see amazing steps every now and then as part of the editing barrage, but with no coherent sense of any dance as a whole.

At best, the show gives you a feverish MTV-style impression of Glover’s dancing but, as such, can’t compete with the expert, honest and often artful way that television currently presents ice dancing and ballroom competitions.

Does ABC really believe that an audience that routinely watches Kristi Yamaguchi’s figure-skating routines on TV needs editing razzle-dazzle to enjoy the incredible speed and intensity of Glover’s dancing?

In one segment, Glover speaks of tapping as music, so if you want to appreciate his rhythmic sophistication and the moment-to-moment continuity of his dancing, maybe you should throw a towel over the picture tube and simply listen.

Of course, you’d miss seeing the colorful street fair in Spanish Harlem, with Wyclef Jean of the Fugees singing “Guantanamera.” And you might be hard pressed to follow Glover’s footwork in the group-tap scenes featuring the Silk Suits--or his challenge duet with Puff Daddy.

But, otherwise, the fancy visual effects and photogenic locations in “Savion Glover’s Nu York” are strictly diversionary--beside the point when it comes to making a mass audience understand why everyone in the dance world is so excited about the dazzling Mr. G.

* “Savion Glover’s Nu York” airs at 8 p.m. tonight on KABC-TV, Channel 7.