Mr. Sandman

Howard Sims earned his nickname through his use of sand, both as a medium in his dance routine visually and to create sonic atmospheres. Growing up in a dancing family, the Sandman loved tap dancing.

Moving to Harlem around the age of thirty, the neighborhood became his artistic home. He knew that different viewers and audiences took different meaning from his work, saying there was “a different story to each person because everybody takes it a different way.”