Bruneau was known for his tap dancing in Montreal’s clubs
Many people knew Ethel Bruneau as the tap dance queen of Montreal. She has died.
Majiza Philip, Bruneau’s granddaughter, told CBC on Monday night that the news was true. He was 87 years old.
“I can’t believe she’s actually gone,” Philip told CBC Montreal.Daybreak. “I’m sad, but I’m also lucky because I got to know her, learn from her, and grow up with her.”
Bruneau grew up in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem, where she learned to tap dance. When she was a teenager, she moved to Canada.
She became known as the best tap dancer in Montreal by dancing in clubs like Rockhead’s Paradise, the Aldo, the Black Bottom, the Cavendish Club, the Maroon, and others.
She told CBC in 2014 that tap dancing was like a religion for her.
Philip, who also tap dances, said that Bruneau had a very strong spirit and was a strict teacher who could show her students how much she loved tap dancing.
In 2019, she shut down her tap dancing school in Dorval, Que.
“She was a force,” said Philip. “She was very strong. She was an example. She was honest. She was terrible. She was the best. She started with nothing and worked so hard to get everything she had. She taught us all to work hard.”