A great one passes

Since I never travel with my laptop and pretty much stay away from Internet cafes--vacation means "getting away from"--I had to find out about Dr. Jimmy Slyde's passing the old-fashioned way, from radio. The minute I twirled the dial and discovered Flagstaff's local NPR station, I heard the announcement. That was a strange feeling--to be away from New York City where I know the news hit hard and touched off much discussion. Rashida Bumbray's May 23 launching of Hoofers' House at The Kitchen (in partnership with The Studio Museum in Harlem) was dedicated to the memory of Dr. Slyde, and his performing was powerfully invoked by video artist Rashaad Newsome. The dance goes on.

In any case, if you haven't read it already, here's Claudia La Rocco's Times obit and a 2001 photo of Dr. Slyde by the great Jack Vartoogian.

Catching up with New York

Back from the powerful earth of Arizona, I managed to haul my jetlagged self to Hoofers' House at The Kitchen (curated by Rashida Bumbray and MC-ed by Jason Samuels Smith) on Friday night and to La MaMa Moves Festival's "Dancing Divas" evening on Saturday evening (curated by Nicky Paraiso and Mia Yoo and featuring works by Vicky Shick, Jodi Melnick, Pam Tanowitz, Barbara Mahler, Sally Silvers and Sara Rudner). Lovely, sensitive and interesting moments were in good supply at La MaMa Annex, but the mamadiva who moved us most had to be Rudner, one of my dance-crushes from way back, whose Positions--The All Star Variation was a true, openhearted gigglefest. I loved its extravagant size, its combination of the serene and the silly, its total lack of taking itself seriously. My kind of extravaganza with amusing performances from John Scott and Chris Yon among a bevy of downtown dance beauties, Rudner among them. Look for my Hoofers' House review on DanceMagazine.com sometime down the line.

Rashida Bumbray: Body and Soul podcast

The Kitchen, located in Chelsea, and The Studio Museum in Harlem have a couple of exciting things in common. Both centers herald innovation in the arts. And now both have Hoofers' House--an intimate tap jam session celebrating tap dance on the cutting edge. Rashida Bumbray--who co-founded Hoofers' House at SMH and now serves as Assistant Curator at The Kitchen--joins me to talk about this new partnership and The Kitchen's upcoming free event, hosted by master tap dancer/teacher Jason Samuels Smith (May 23).

BIO

Rashida Bumbray is a dancer and curator living in Harlem. While Bumbray's primary dance form is tap, she has studied with international dance masters of various forms in Brazil, The Gambia, and London. Her personal work combines her passion for dance and visual art in the interest of creating and presenting work that interrogates society and inspires transformation.

Bumbray has been Assistant Curator at The Kitchen since Fall 2006. Previously she enjoyed a five and half year tenure at The Studio Museum in Harlem, as Curatorial Assistant and Exhibition Coordinator. She is co-founder and curator of Studio Sound, the Studio Museum's lobby music installation which featured new works by Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR), Marc Cary, and Charlie Dark’s The Black Atlantic Project: a musical chain letter. Recently she co-curated the exhibition Mai-Thu Perret: An Evening of the Book with Debra Singer and has organized several music events at The Kitchen, including new concert works by Pheroan akLaff, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Guillermo E. Brown, Min Xiao-Fen, and Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber. She is also the co-founder of Hoofers’ House, the Studio Museum's quarterly jam session for tap dancers, which is now co-produced by The Kitchen.

EVENT

Hoofers' House, May 23, 8pm. Free. For details, visit The Kitchen site (link below).

LINKS

The Kitchen
http://thekitchen.org

The Studio Museum in Harlem
http://www.studiomuseum.org

Jason Samuels Smith
Divine Rhythm Productions
http://www.divinerhythmproductions.macwebsitebuilder.com/
JasonSamuelsSmith.html

Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at
http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at
http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml.

(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

MP3 File