Connections and Influences

I went to high school, DeWitt Clinton, with a fellow Bronxite whom you may not know by name but, if you listen to a lot of music, have probably heard often. His name is Jerry Jemmott and he is a bass player who, after being discovered by King Curtis, has worked with everyone from Aretha Franklin to the Allman Brothers and has been known as "The Groovemaster". What I didn't know, until recently, is that he started out, at the age of five, as a tap dancer with Mary Bruce's Star Buds in Harlem! It's always interesting to me to find out about a creative artist's background to see what influenced their work, either as something they did as a child or what shifts they make in their careers. I always encourage young tap dancers to study stuff other than tap to enrich what's in their bodies, minds and souls, that will in turn enhance what they do on stage. There are many tap dancer who do have a rich background. One tapper I know did flamenco before getting into tap and another I know went from tap to flamenco! Others came to tap from other dance forms, some are also musicians and some are actors. Two online events last week had me reflecting on my own jambalaya of artistic/creative experiences that inform what it is that I do.

On Friday, I watched Bill Irwin do an online version of On Beckett, his exploration of the work of Samuel Beckett, recorded at the Irish Repertory Theater, where he did it live in 2018. Okay, my connections to this. My base as a performer is mime, which I studied in the 1970s at HB Studios in the West Village. A group of us there at HB formed a mime company, Garden Variery Mime Theater, and performed around NYC in various and sundry situations. With the confidence I gained from that experience, I started trying other movement disciplines like, fencing, contact improvisation, modern dance, a tentative return to tap dance (which I had done as a youngster) and...clowning. After seeing Irwin's The Regard of Flight in 1983, I was inspired to do my own semi-solo clown show, Moving About, a year later at Eleo Pomare's (hold on to that name for later) Vital Arts Center in Chelsea. Someone (Jonah Salz) who saw it offered me a scholarship to participate in a summer program he was heading in Kyoto, Japan, which I attended and studied the comic Japanese theater form, Kyogen. One of the things I performed there was a Kyogen style

Act Without Words I - Kyoto, 1984

version of Beckett's mime piece, Act Without Words I. At this point in time, I was getting involved in the "downtown" NY dance scene, and wound up in Wexford, Ireland, a few years after my show. A choreographer friend of mine (Martha Bowers, who now heads Hook Arts Media) set up and ran a residency there for a few weeks, where she, I and another dancer performed and taught. I even created a James Brown dance number for Irish housewives! The day before seeing Irwin's online piece, I hung out with some friends in my neighborhood who often play fiddle music, much of which is Irish, on their porch and talked a bit with them about my Wexford adventure. So, seeing Irwin the next night just brought back a lot of stuff. Good stuff!

Now, when I came home last Thursday, after hanging with those friends on the porch, I watched the latest episode of a weekly YouTube series entitled, Black Dance Stories, that has been running since this past June. Each week the host, Charmaine Warren, introduces two Black dancers as her guests. Each dancer talks about their work/history, then the two talk with each other and then Charmaine jumps in for a three way conversation. It's great because I get to know about some dancers I'm unfamiliar with and also see dancers I know and some I've worked with, and there are dancers from all genres. Last week the guests were Maurice Chestnut and Dyane Harvey-Salaam. Maurice and I know each other from the world of tap. I'm not sure when I first saw him, but it must have been when he was with the NJ Tap Ensemble as a youngster. Even though he's in his 30s now, I think of him as "youngster". But Dyane I know of from way back! I first saw her in the 1970s when she danced with Eleo Pomare's (told you he'd pop up again) dance company. One of the works Eleo mounted on her was a solo entitled, Roots, which I remember knocked me out. The 70s was a time of dance explosion in New York City and I went to see a lot, and there were many Black dance companies making their mark. I had a Sony portapak, a portable video deck with camera, and shot some dance video then and even shot (if memory serves correct) some footage of Dyane in a loft rehearsal space belonging to choreographer, Ron Pratt, who was running the Alpha-Omega 1-7 Theatrical Dance Company. Dyane's husband, Abdel R. Salaam danced with that company and I think I shot some video of the company rehearsing with him in it. The couple founded and run Forces of Nature Dance Theatre Company and he now heads DanceAfrica at BAM. So, seeing two generations represented by Maurice and Dyane, that also represented two of my worlds of interest spoke to me. To add to this, a few moments ago I googled Maurice's name to check on when he was with NY Tap Ensemle and found out that at the age of five he was taught dance by Alfred Gallman who, in the 1970s, danced with Pepsi Bethel's dance company. I remember him because I studied with Pepsi and took photos and video of his company!  It's all too much sometimes...the connections.

I often perform solo, but I am never alone because all of the above, and more, is always right with me. 

Check out the links below for related material, and subscribe to my mailing list, if you haven't already.

Peace, 

 Hank

Jerry Jemmott kicking off King Curtis' Memphis Soul Stew

Black Dance Stories

Bill Irwin on Samuel Beckett

 

"Jumpin' Jive" and Affirmation

I had some delayed reactions to the election of Joe Biden. When it became clear on November 7th that he won I, like many others, felt a major sigh of relief and some joy about the ousting of the guy in office now. I immediately called some friends and went to my back yard and shouted. But I also felt a bit numb and not as totally overjoyed with emotions as I was when Obama won. Cleary they were two different situations, but in 2008, I knew exactly how I felt, and thought, but this time I wasn't sure. Most of the day, I watched other parts of the country and world do their thing in celebration and enjoyed seeing it. I also felt jealous because nothing like that was happening where I live. Later in the day, and into the next day, I did get hit with a delayed reaction where something, I forgot what, in my mind suddenly made me realize the importance of Kamala Harris winning.

That fact that a Black woman with Indian and Jamaican heritage would be in the White House and be seen by many in that role is something else. I thought of Ella Baker, Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan and Fannie Lou Hamer, who fought for this country. I thought of all the young people, particularly young girls, and more particularly, young girls of color who will be affected by this. And between President Elect Biden and Vice President Elect Harris, the White House will have Catholic, Irish, English, French, Indian and Jamaican energy floating around. Not to mention that our first Second Gentleman, will be Jewish! That all just kicks into my ongoing thing about culture and its power, whether you navigate to part of what you identify as your culture or get a major connection to something that is supposedly outside your "culture".

This idea of connecting to cultural things really becomes evident to me when watching a genre of YouTube videos that I've recently discovered. A few nights ago I wanted to hear a particular song because of how I was feeling about the election. I forgot which one, but probably something from the 60s, it might have been a Stevie Wonder tune. I usually go to YouTube for this, knowing that it is a dangerous move. I alway fool myself by saying, "I'm just gonna look at this one clip." Of course, that's like trying to eat just one potato chip, so I went down the YouTube rabbit hole. The journey led me to a bunch of videos where young folks, mainly Black, watch or listen to music that has been suggested to them to check out. In all instances they don't know the tune or the artist they are about to experience. I was introduced to this last year when a saw a clip of a set of twins reacting to a Phil Collins tune.

It seems that there is a genre of "First Time" or "Reaction" videos on YouTube. What they see is always something older, which leads to some amusing assumptions they make on the era they are watching, with some thinking a 1940s clip is from the 1960s. But the interesting thing is, just about all these viewers get into what they're watching and have insightful analysis of what they've experienced. The most consistent reaction is that these folks feel the videos show how good someone can be without all the extra technical stuff added to so much of the contemporary music they watch or hear. A few watched a clip from the film, The Last Waltz of the Band and the Staple Singers singing The Weight, and more than one person was knocked out that the drummer (the late Levon Helm) was singing! I watched a couple enjoy, and then try to duplicate, one of my favorite comedy routines, Abbott and Costello's Who's On First But this is a tap blog, right? So, I had to see what the reactions would be to the clip most of us tap dancers, and others, believe is the greatest music/dance number ever put on film.

For years when I taught my course on the history of African American Performance, I would end the semester by showing Stormy Weather. The only problem I had with showing it, was that I could barely wait get to the end so I could see the students' reactions to Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers Jumpin' Jive number. During over more than 40 years of teaching, the reaction was consistent, they dug it. Turns out, the same is true for the folks on YouTube who watched and loved it. One young man, even tried to do one of the splits, and found out how hard it is to do. But what stood out for me was one woman's reaction. As the clip began, and she saw Cab Calloway, it looked as if she was totally taken aback, almost in shock, and when the Nicholas Brothers showed up it was too much and she had to stop the clip. She got herself together and watched the rest, going through emotions and tears, her body as completed affected by the clip. It was even emotional for me to watch. At the end it became clear why she was so taken. Before seeing this clip, she had seen and enjoyed wonderful clips of Hollywood stars like Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, but seeing Black artists stylishly doing their thing in a Hollywood movie spoke to her in deep terms. It meant so much to her as a Black woman. Plus, she seemed to WANT Cab!

So, this brings me back to Kamala. When you see/experience something you haven't seen before, that you immediately relate to, there is strength to be gained. Whatever it is, and whoever you are, something can happen inside that can move you to action. Like she said in her speech, "...while I may be the first woman in this office, I won't be the last."

Check out the three links below (also click on highlighted areas above for some links) to see three responses to the Jumpin' Jive clip. Watch it in the numbered order 1- 3. No. 3 is of the woman I was describing...save that one for last. 

If you want to subscribe to my mailing list, you can do so in the column on the right.

Peace,

  Hank

1. Twins' Jumpin' Jive response.

2. Another Jumpin' Jive response.

3. Woman's Jumpin' Jive response.

Pandemic Times, Tap Dance Matters

In my last blog post, over a year ago, I talked about my tap family. These past eight months of unusual living circumstances has made me even more aware of this "family" and also the folks outside of tap, whom I love as my extended family. It has been a major source of stability and grounding for me, as I figure out how to navigate this time we're experiencing.

Online tap jams, who knew there could be such a thing? Don't know if it was the first, but early on in the pandemic I checked out one of the first. It was hosted by Dormeshia, Jason Samuels Smith and Derick Grant. What I enjoyed most was getting to see the cross section of people out there into tap. The London Tap Jam has been online and I popped in briefly when Michela Marino Lerman hosted. My other streaming excursions have included; My friends Toes Tiranoff and Megan Haungs doing tap meditations for the Church in the Village, Ayodele Casel's ongoing project, Diary of a Tap Dancer, produced by City Center, Dormeshia's And Still You Must Swing, via The Joyce Theater, Tap Family Reunion, L.A. Tap Festival, Marshall L. Davis Jr's Revelations in Rhythm, directed by Savion Glover, Nico Rubio's, Tap Footage Nights, Heather Cornell's conversations with tap dancers, Tap City's Copasetic Boat Ride, and most recently, Laraine Goodman's annual tap contribution to the Theater of New City's Halloween Night. I also have gotten involved, created some fun videos that I've posted.

This time has me also thinking about time in general and age and legacy. I find myself listening/meditating more. I'm choosing to engage in conversations with younger artists often, to pass on whatever I have to offer, but also to learn from them. There have also been conversations about race and the arts, which continue to enlighten me in my continuing exploration into my role on the planet. One thing that I learned from listening to folks, who are more into certain segments of popular culture than I am, is the fact the tap dance is still seen negatively by many folks, and particularly by some Black folks. Travis Knight addressed this recently and I have seen some things that piss me off, like a stupid Fanduel commercial (I didn't even know what Fanduel was while watching) that used tap dance as a comic "payoff". I even had to post a comment on a YouTube clip, where this young Black man used the term "tap dancing around the issue". I explained, gently, that I didn't disagree with the content of his clip but that using that phrase diminishes the art, in the opinion of some of us dancers. He actually replied, thanking me for illuminating him on the issue.

I continue to feel much has to be done. Tap is a foundation for me in my Blackness. It also in my sense of being American, because it's a creation of African Americans in this country that many, from all backgrounds love. So, I will continue to tell stories, create space for stories to be told and channel those that went before me. I began doing some Stories Hank live events on Facebook and will do more events, now under the auspice of Zenobia-Jay Productions, so please subscribe here to my new mailing list (it's in the right hand column) to stay informed on my goings on....well, not ALL of my goings on!

Peace,

  Hank