Chuck Davis, 80

Chuck Davis, Who Brought African Dance Traditions to America, Dies at 80
by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, May 15, 2017

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American Dance Festival takes a stand on North Carolina's HB2...sort of

American Dance Festival--launched in 1934 as Vermont's Bennington Festival and, since 1977, based at Duke University--is arguably one of the world's most historic, most influential arts institutions. Its renown--and its location in Durham, North Carolina--recently raised questions for many of us in the dance community when the state's legislature passed HB2, touted as a way to protect women and girls from transgender women in school and public bathrooms and changing rooms. HB2, in actuality, broadly denies anti-discrimination protection to LGBTQ people and strips employees of the right to file claims under state law for discrimination on the basis of race, sex, national origin, color and age. It also restricts local governments from raising the minimum wage beyond the federal level.

HB2's passage drew swift condemnation--most notably from rock star Bruce Springsteen, who cancelled shows scheduled for the state, and PayPal, quashing plans to open a center with hundreds of jobs in Charlotte. But what about ADF whose programs include and serve many people who identify across the queer/gender non-conforming spectrum?

On March 30, ADF's Facebook friends found this posting on its page:

In light NC's legislature passing ‪#‎HB2‬, we want our friends in NC and beyond to know that our bathrooms are still safe for trans and gender non-conforming folks. ‪#‎WeAreNotThis‬ ‪#‎NoHateInMyState‬

followed by Google's handy map of North Carolina businesses "who have stated publicly that their bathrooms are safe for trans* and gender non-conforming folks under HB2." And that--to the immediate and continued anger of many friends from the dance field--is as far as things went.

Yesterday, finally, a dance artist I know discovered a new statement now linked through ADF's website:

The American Dance Festival (ADF) is disappointed by the North Carolina legislature's recent passage of HB2, a bill that cruelly reduces the scope of anti-discrimination protections in the state. Discrimination is wrong, period. As an organization, ADF has long promoted diversity and is deeply troubled by North Carolina's embarrassing step backward. HB2 does not reflect the values of ADF nor do we believe it reflects the values of the overwhelming majority of the state of North Carolina. ADF has been a proud resident of the North Carolina arts community since 1977, a community that believes in inclusion and fairness and believes that every individual is important. 

ADF strongly urges the North Carolina General Assembly to repeal HB2 at the earliest opportunity. ‪#‎WeAreNotThis‬

This is the rough equivalent of "Hey, you guys, cut it out. We're over here trying to do the right thing, and you're making us look bad." No one expects dance folks to make economy-shaking gestures on the level of a Springsteen, an Apple or a PayPal, but we really need to pull out better words than these prim ones about disappointment and embarrassment.

ADF has no shortage of smart, creative people. Surely, good heads can work up a statement or action that, in no uncertain terms, reflects ADF's cultural and economic value to the state of North Carolina and the weight of its rejection of hate. Direct, uncompromising condemnation of HB2 from ADF--an institution associated with the best North Carolina, and our nation, has to offer--would have high visibility and moral impact, giving needed support to anti-discrimination activists in the state and beyond.

This fight isn't only about who gets to use which bathroom. It's about concerted efforts to drag our country back to times when discrimination and abuse could be widely, openly practiced without restriction or consequences. An ignorant, hate-filled demagogue now commands an army of supporters who--even if he goes down to defeat--have been encouraged and activated. With or without a Trump--or a Cruz--we're staring at damage we'll likely still be confronting well into the future. Sitting there in the belly of the beast, ADF needs to toughen up, speak truth to power and represent our dance community the right way.

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BAM welcomes roots musicians Carolina Chocolate Drops and Twyla Tharp

The Carolina Chocolate Drops
L to r: Hubby Jenkins, Rhiannon Giddens,
Rowan Corbett and Malcolm Parson
(photo by Michael Wilson)

The Carolina Chocolate Drops (reviewed by me here in March 2012) brought their acclaimed, rollicking rhythms to the BAM Gilman Opera House for one special evening including the world premiere of a duet choreographed by Twyla Tharp. In the spirited couplings and variations of Cornbread Duet, a contemporary ballet set to several of the Black fiddle-and-banjo band's songs, Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild of New York City Ballet infused fluid, lighter-than-air, speedy technique with accents of jazz, square dance, social dance and joyful sass. Embedded in the lavish, two-hour-plus program, this segment aptly reflected not only the historic cultural blend (the Black and Celtic lineage of the 19th to early 20th Century American South) that the Drops honor in their music but also the qualities that give American performance widespread, enduring appeal and influence. The ballet stars were dressed by Norma Kamali in bold, horizontal layers of black and white, and while I'd like to believe none of us need the possible subliminal message in those adjoined colors, there it is.

Tiler Peck
(photo courtesy of the artist)

Robert Fairchild
(photo courtesy of the artist)

From Tharp's Cornbread Duet
(photo by Rahav Segev)

By now, I'd imagine, smart Tharp fans would also be hip to the Drops. But if any turned up last night just for Tharp and the NYCB principals, never having encountered the band, they were probably won over by Rhiannon Giddens' ebullient personality and valiant singing and the band's rousing performance. Welcome to what the rest of us have been loving for some time now, Grammy-winners for their 2010 Nonesuch debut, Genuine Negro Jig.

Certainly, the Drops warmly welcome you, too, with a set list ranging across revival church music, some soul-seeking Odetta blues, Joe Thompson fiddle tunes, Hank Williams's "Please Don't Let Me Love You"--this last delivered with Giddens's near-yodeling voice bending notes before kicking everything into high, trotting speed. Fan faves like "Country Girl" (written by Giddens and her sister) and the countrified version of Blu Cantrell's "Hit 'Em Up Style" were given fresh, full-on performances. The only problem was that Giddens got to slip off her shoes and stomp and twirl, while the audience had to sit still watching from the theater's "Line 'Em Up Sardine Style" rows.

As Giddens noted, with typical generosity, two former members of the band have split off into solo careers--the charismatic Don Flemons, a founding member, and cellist Leyla McCalla, who appeared with the band on tour and on their Grammy-nominated Leaving Eden (2012). Flemons and McCalla are out there doing their thing and spreading the goodness, and if you miss them, you can support their new moves by checking up on Flemons here and McCalla here.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for Giddens's own solo album, which she's working on for the band's label, Nonesuch Records.

For more Spring events at BAM, click here.

Robert Lindgren, 89

Robert Lindgren, 89, Ballet Dancer and College Dean, Is Dead
by Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times, May 14, 2013

By example: Great Black women writers inspire writing retreats

Finding Poems: A Creative Writing Retreat Series by Alexis Pauline Gumbs
The Feminist Wire, April 20, 2013

Those roots-working Carolina Chocolate Drops

If I live to be 100, I'll never forget the show I saw last night at Schimmel Center for the Arts (Pace University). And if I do live to be 100, it will be, in part, thanks to the joy I get from the Grammy-winning Black roots music group Carolina Chocolate Drops.

On tour to promote their brand new CD for Nonesuch, Leaving Eden, the Drops offered up two hours of astonishing talent, skill, charisma and generosity. If you've only heard them on recording, you really need to get in the same room with them.

Late last month, the Drops lost their mentor, Joe Thompson, a master of the old-time Black string band tradition of the Carolinas, who died at the age of 93. Co-founder Rhiannon Giddens acknowledged the loss, but it became clear that the Drops have one guiding philosophy: Get on with it. The exuberance of their concert performance was all the tribute Thompson would ever need.

Besides Giddens (fiddles, minstrel banjo, kazoo and vocals), the other remaining Drops veteran is co-founder Dom Flemons (banjo, guitar, bones, jug, harmonica and vocals). Former bandmate Justin Robinson departed for other projects. But there are some newcomers: Leyla McCalla, a wonderful cellist, and Hubby Jenkins (guitar, banjo, mandolin, bones and vocals). Everybody's go-to human beatbox guy Adam Matta also appears on the new CD and joined the Drops for a few numbers last evening.

Flemons and colleagues have focused on a pre-blues melange of sounds from southern Black string band traditions that easily find welcome with today's fans of folk, country and Celtic music. They're also lighting out for blues territory now, too--a place that will be particularly fertile for Giddens. "West End Blues"--an homage to North Carolina blues guitarist/singer Etta Baker, who influenced the likes of Bob Dylan and Taj Mahal--showcased not only the rich fluidity of Giddens' opera-trained soprano but its expressive, affecting power. I think her finger-popping "Country Girl" on Leaving Eden, is going to do for the Drops what her sassy rendition of Blu Cantrell's revenge tune, "Hit 'Em Up Style," did for their Grammy-winning Genuine Negro Jig. Much as I hope the beautiful, self-assured Giddens will be Carolina Chocolate Dropping well into her distinguished 90s, I think some smart movie folks should write her a few acting projects worthy of her talents.

Here she is, in 2010, singing a Scottish song...

...and dueting with her sister, Lalenja Giddens Harrington...

...and leading her original bandmates--Flemons with banjo; Robinson doing beatbox at the mic--at Mass MoCa in 2010:

But then, all the Drops are radiant. You easily see that Flemons, in particular, lives to entertain. This man will find every last way to do it--crack the jokes, flip the guitar, break into dance. He loves performing and is impossible to resist. ("If you give to us, we can give it back," he said, needlessly, to the already-smitten, willing audience. "We can make this happen.") But it's also clear that Flemons' consummate facility with instruments and his eagerness to please get their drive from rigorous research and grounding in tradition. Jenkins, who hails from Brooklyn, is also a find--as fast and flashy-of-hand as any Drop, as personable and bearing a voice of substance and authority.

So, ladies...and gentlemen, if the Drops are headed your way--Hello, New England! You're next!--don't hesitate. Get a ticket. In the meantime, hit 'em up for the new CD.

Carolina Chocolate Drops Web site

Leaving Eden on Nonesuch Records

Carolina Chocolate Drops Facebook page

NY Times obit for Joe Thompson, 93

Joe Thompson Dies at 93 - Fiddler of String Band Legacy
by Douglas Martin, The New York Times, March 1, 2012

Joe Thompson, folk musician, 93 [UPDATED]

NC folk musician Joe Thompson dies at 93
by David Menconi, charlottesobserver.com, February 22, 2012

Carolina Chocolate Drops with Joe Thompson- John Henry - YouTube
(2:57)

Festival of American Fiddle Tunes. The Carolina Chocolate Drops with 88-year old fiddler Joe Thompson doing the song "John Henry" in a small un-amplified showcase concert. July 2007

UPDATE: Read the March 1 New York Times obituary here.