Alfred Desio, innovative tap dancer, dies at 74 in Los Angeles

Dancer and choreographer Alfred Desio, a Broadway veteran who invented a form of electronically enhanced tap dancing called Tap-Tronics, has died. He was 74.

Desio died on Wednesday of complications of bladder cancer at Olympia Medical Center in Los Angeles, his wife and dance collaborator Louise Reichlin said Friday.

"I'm happy I was there when he died," said Reichlin, his sole survivor.

Desio (pronounced dee-SEE'-oh) created Tap-Tronics in the 1980s, a concept that allows tap dancers to make their own music by means of microphones in their shoes. The tap sounds picked up by the microphones are relayed to transmitters, receivers, synthesizers and other electronic equipment.

Electronic tap was featured in the 1989 movie "Tap," starring Gregory Hines, Sammy Davis Jr. and Savion Glover.

Desio began performing at a young age, his wife said. He was an original cast member of the Broadway hit "West Side Story," playing a Sharks gang member, and had roles in "Fiddler On the Roof," "Man of La Mancha," "She Loves Me" and other musicals.