Entry in progress—B.P.
 
(Oxford English Dictionary)
hoofer  n. slang (orig. U.S.) a dancer.
1923   N.Y. Times 9 Sept. vii. 2/1   Hoofer, a dancer, also a heel-beater.
     
Chronicling America
12 January 1911, Bridgeport (CT) Evening Farmer, “Benefit Concert and Dance a Big Success,” pg. 7, col. 3:
(James—ed.) Conroy was formerly of the vaudeville team of Conroy & McCarthy, local boys known on the stage as the “Two Happy Hoofers.”
 
Chronicling America
9 July 1911, The Call (San Francisco, CA), “Vaudeville’s Vernacular,” pg. 27, col. 2:
HOOFER—Dancer.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Hail to the hoofers.
Author: Kenneth Macgowan
Edition/Format:   Article : English
Publication: Theatre arts. Aug 1927, p 624-634. ports
   
OCLC WorldCat record
Broadway hoofer
Author: George Archainbaud; Marie Saxon; Columbia Pictures Corp.; AFI : Columbia.
Publisher: 1930.
Edition/Format:   Film : Film   Visual material : No Linguistic Content
   
OCLC WorldCat record
Letters of a hoofer to his ma,
Author: Jack Donahue
Publisher: New York, Cosmopolitan Book Corp., 1931.
Edition/Format:   Print book : Biography : English : “First ed.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
“The hoofers,” an extravaganza of tap, opens.
Author: Anna Kisselgoff
Edition/Format:   Article : English
Publication: Clippings. New York Times. July 30, 1969
   
OCLC WorldCat record
Encouraging the hoofers : American musicals in London.
Author: Gordon Gow
Edition/Format:   Article : English
Publication: Dancing times. Nov 1977, p 85-86. illus
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Jazz hoofer
Author: William H Hancock
Publisher: Washington, DC : W. Hancock, 1981.
Edition/Format:   Film : Film   Visual material : English
Summary:
A portrait of Laurence Donald Jackson, “Baby” Laurence, noted singer and tap dancer. Traces his singing debut at age 12 in Baltimore and follows his varied career through well-known New York clubs including the Onyx Club, the Hoofer’s Club run by Bill Robinson and his debut as dancer at the fam ed Apollo Theater in 1940. Working with the big bands of Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Woody Herman, and small groups led by Nat King Cole, Dizzy Gillepsie and Charlie Mingus, Baby Laurence was one of the first to adapt to the bebop style, and one of the last great American tap dancers. Before his death in 1974, Laurence, undeterred by personal and professional problems, performed at the Newport and Monterey Jazz Festivals in 1973 and danced on a bill at the Palace Theater with the legendary Josephine Baker.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
The hoofers club : Leonard Reed.
Edition/Format:   Article : Biography : English
Publication: Tap! the greatest tap dance stars and their stories, 1900-1955. 1990. p. 37-45. ill.
     
Google Books
Vaudeville Old & New:
An Encyclopedia of Variety Performances in America
By Frank Cullen, Florence Hackman and Donald McNeilly
Psychology Press
2007
Pg. 523:
HOOFER
In its narrowest definition, a hoofer is a buck dancer, although the term is often applied to clog and tap dancers as well. By the early twentieth century, a; types of percussive dancers were called hoofers. The deceptively modest term conveyed a great deal of pride. Calling a dance a hoofer was like calling an actor a trooper—one who has paid his dues.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
A Happy Hoofers mystery. 05 : High kicks, hot chocolate, and homicides
Author: Mary McHugh
Publisher: New York, NY : Kensington Publishing Corp., 2016.
Edition/Format:   Print book : Fiction : English : First Kensington mass market edition
Summary:
“It’s a Christmas miracle for the Happy Hoofers—Tina, Janice, Pat, Mary Louise, and Gini. They’ve scored a gig at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall with the legendary Rockettes, complete with sexy Santa suits and microphones on their shoes. But when a dazzling diva of a dancer is found dead under the stage, there’s quite a lineup of suspects. In between rehearsals and seasonal sightseeing—and the discovery of a multi-talented, multi-colored cat—the toe-tapping troupe has to sort out the intrigue before another victim kicks the bucket…”