Savion Glover returns to The Joyce!

Tony-winning tap great Savion Glover
has a new show at The Joyce Theater.

LADY 5

@

SAVION GLoVER's

BARoQUE'BLAK

TaP Café

by Savion Glover
at The Joyce Theater
July 2-7, 2019

The letters flip up and down--kind of like hoofers' heels and toes--in the titles tap icon Savion Glover gives things. The off-kilter rhythm of the letters jingles and jangles...and jars. Skim across a program page, and your eyes might get snagged on a particular letter or the oddly-true sound a whimsical word makes inside your head. What, exactly, is Half-Our or I Can Here Myself? Tell me there's no part of you smiling at this thought: "Well, I kinda know what that might mean!"

As noted above, the title of Glover's new ensemble production--running now through Sunday at The Joyce Theater--is rendered in his program notes precisely this way:

LADY 5

@

SAVION GLoVER's

BARoQUE'BLAK

TaP Café

It has been several years since Glover, a popular man at The Joyce, has brought a show there. (The Joyce, by the way, is on a roll with tap--now through early January--with luminaries like Ayodele Casel, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards and Michelle Dorrance waiting in the wings. And a tip of the hat to my dear colleague Aaron Mattocks for that programming.) LADY 5 looks nothing like your conventional tap extravaganza. It's so many things and soooo much. It's an illustrative tribute to a wide range of music genres and artists. It's a way of proving to us that dancers are musicians--and that we see through hearing and hear through seeing, or something like that. And it's a transparently messy, headlong plunge into an artist's overflowing psyche.

I count almost twenty sections in the 90-minute show, including one where a male tap shoe foot puppet (yes, you read that right) chats up a female footless-tight foot puppet (yes...) at a café table, and another binary-boosting segment (What Kind of MaNz) where aggressive male tap dancers seem to be all but literally humping their slithering female jazz dancing partners. I need to scold Glover for engaging superb dancers like Natrea Blake, Samantha Berger, Monique Smith and Megan Gessner (the last introduced by Glover as "our token white person") in cheesy moments like this. A finale set to Stevie Wonder's "Another Star" ends up slaughtering poor Stevie under Glover, Marshall Davis Jr. and Darrell Grand Moultrie's jet-propelled and amplified drilling. Maybe a single dancer--or these three without amplification--would have been kinder to the singer and his gorgeous song.

As noted before, with LADY 5 one must push aside any longing for the conventional. Glover takes you on a journey that, for reasons not exactly or convincingly clear, opens with a display of antique costumes arranged along a metal walkway above a café-like setting. Along the way, you'll see Smith dancing to spoken word (the brilliant Jae Nichelle on recording) about what it's like to live with anxiety; various and sundry face-offs between ballet and tap or ballet and jazz; and surrealistic vignettes with Glover apparently haunted, obsessed and traumatized by a ballerina's disembodied tutu descending from above. A dancer might be doing her thing downstage while a shadowy figure creeps along the high walkway in the background. The Dalai Lama makes an appearance. (Just dropping that here. Don't fret about it.) There was an impressive, spiky contemporary solo (PHuQSPaCE) performed by Gessner to the stylings of Bjork, and there is the lovely warmth of Blake's solo work in Everything Must Change.

So...a lot. And, although I am far from the kind of critic who needs the conventional, I must say I was grateful for a segment with fabulous, straight-up tap dance to Latin jazz that met percussion with percussion, fire with fire, spotlighting virtuosity in a way nothing else in the show really touched.

A show with turbo-charged ambitions and oddities, and not everything works. But, hey...Savion Glover at The Joyce. It took several years for that to happen again.

LADY 5 @ SAVION GLoVER's BARoQUE'BLAK TaP Café continues through this Sunday with matinee and evening performances. For schedule and ticket information, click here.

The Joyce Theater

175 Eighth Avenue (between 18th and 19th Streets), Manhattan
(map/directions)

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DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve as Senior Curatorial Director of Gibney. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

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A joyful noise: Savion Glover brings STePz to the Joyce

Savion Glover (r) and Marshall Davis Jr. ring some changes on
the stair dancing made famous by Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
(photo by Elijah Paul)

By the time you read this, it will be too late to catch STePz--the latest and, to my eye, most incandescent tap dance production brought to The Joyce Theater by the great Savion Glover. I hope that someone will help Glover to take this show on the road, keep it going somehow, until the shoes and feet fall off each of its five hoofers or until Armageddon, whichever happens first.

Savion Glover in action
(photo by Elijah Paul)

STePz should not fade into history. Everyone should have the chance to see Glover looking up, looking out and beaming, perhaps, from the joy of knowing he has gathered the right crew: Marshall Davis Jr., Robyn Watson, Ayodele Casel and Sarah Savelli. This ensemble rocks consummate discipline, style, sass and stamina. Glover has pulled it off: a show that manages to be both delightfully playful and bracingly tight. Neatly arranged into two halves featuring six numbers each, the 90-minute program slips from one high-powered dance into the next--nods to Miles Davis, Gregory Hines, Stevie Wonder and more--with barely a pause for breath.

A tap dancer's perennially loving, reverent gaze into the storied past of ancestral mentors might have brought a stern life lesson: Get busy. No time for nonsense.

The new, unexpected radiance coming off Glover is no illusion. Whatever the source, it frees his entire body and his aura and self-presentation, makes him gutsier, more responsive and musical than ever. You can believe his Mission Impossible theme face-off with Davis Jr.--numerous attacks on stacks of stairs in ways that would make Bill "Bojangles" Robinson faint--could go on forever. No quit, really, in either man.

Left to right: Robyn Watson, Ayodele Casel and Sarah Savelli
aka, 3CW (3 Controversial Women)
(photo by Elijah Paul)

It's always a pleasure, and instructive, to watch Casel's feet work with the focus and precision of delicate needlework, and it has been too long since I've seen the juicy Savelli in action. Savelli's dancing reminds me of why I like to dance. I also got a kick out of the way the jazzy, tuneful Watson allowed herself more time than Glover apparently had planned. As she worked through her solo turn in Miles Mode, Glover started back on stage, then had to back off! No quit in any of these women, either!

Love tap?

Do you love tap the way I love tap?

If so, there's lots of it here to enjoy, thanks to Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive!

Rays of light

My body is a halfway house for a ray of light. -- Marc Bamuthi Joseph

Last evening, 651 Arts brought together the fabulous Ntozake Shange and Marc Bamuthi Joseph--"fabulous" modifies both of them, thank you--for a conversation that could have, should have gone on all night. From the outset--with Joseph explaining that his middle name means "of the trees" and Shange acknowledging that "trees carry spirits"--everyone could feel that these two charming, multi-talented, politically astute artists ride the same wavelength and have much to share. I'm still buoyed and buzzing from this one-time-only, one-of-a-kind, event, which took place before a full and fully mesmerized audience at the Mark Morris Dance Center as part of 651 Arts' Live & Outspoken series.

 

Joseph opened by offering excerpts from Word Becomes Flesh, a solo that takes the familiar concept of spoken word and pumps it up into super-embodied word--a steady roll of movement, narrative and allegorical characterization treating historical and societal realities. Later, as Shange interviewed him, Joseph cited the world-renowned Tap God. "The way Savion Glover hears rhythm and channels it through his body is the way I aspire to hear language and channel it through my body," he said. "The body is the primary mechanism for carrying a story and for the making of ritual." He certainly has come a long way from the nine-year-old who--auditioning for Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk--did not know how to dance. Unimaginable!

Like Joseph, we were all beguiled by the presence of the author of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. Shange, as interviewer, brought insightful questions and an effervescent spirit of generosity and wit. Imagine Shange--"she who walks like a lion"--wondering about the distinction between Ruby Keeler (of the hard-charging feet) and Ginger Rogers (of the light-skimming feet) and Joseph answering with a juicily word-embodied elucidation of the Afro-Haitian snake god, Damballah. Pure joy, pure joy. The two of them should really take this act on the road.

For Colored Girls deeply influenced the young Joseph, to be sure, and clearly directed his sense of compassion towards women and his commitment to playing a positive role as educator and activist. It would have been great to hear a little about his concern for environmental issues and eco-equity, described as "the radically democratic position that poor communities and communities of color are logistically and psychologically included in the new, clean and green economy." But if this interests you, keep watch for his upcoming performance project--red black and green: a blues. You can find out more about it at Life is Living.

To keep pace with 651 Arts, click here. Next up: poet-activist Amiri Baraka interviews actor-director Stephen Henderson, April 5, 7pm. (Information and ticketing)

Face to face with Savion Glover

Home4Dance presents a video interview with tap superstar Savion Glover.

Listening to Savion

Savion Glover - Tap Dancing (Or Is It Composing) at the Blue Note
by Ben Ratliff, The New York Times, November 20, 2009

King Glover: The reign in Spain

The Joyce Theater curtain comes up on Savion Glover's SoLo in TIME, and--blam!--there he is, up on his tap floor, tapping away. Right away. In your face. On a stage rendered as stark and intimate as a tiny, dark, smoky nightclub.

Everything about this says, "Let's get back to basics and down to business." And I say, the man is working. Let the man work.

SoLo in Time does have the expected Glovericious arc of musical exploration, though. I really didn't care for Glover's move into classical beats, Classical Savion, a few years back. Looked and sounded like oil and water to me and very unnecessary, though others--touched by the stellar hoofer's interest in Western classical music, I guess--embraced it.

Others might not fully grasp his new flirtation with flamenco in SoLo in Time, but I dig it. It's a more felicitous affair, flamenco itself is all about blended cultural currents--and groovy ones at that--and Glover seems more at home. He has absorbed much about flamenco's presentation and percussion, and his knowledge is well displayed by his engagement with collaborating artists--flamenco singer/dancer La Conja, flamenco guitarist Arturo Martinez, percussionist Carmen Estevez and the foxy bassist Andy McCloud. Fellow dancers Marshall Davis, Jr. and Cartier Williams provide backup when not gorgeously rocking out themselves.

Aggressive. Secure. Joyous. This is the Savion we love to see. His footwork, sharp and sweet and unbelievable. How the hell does he get those sounds?

Best of all, although doing the crosscultural thing so popular with tappers these days, he does not pander to his audience. He expects us to be schooled in flamenco ways and tap ways and to keep up our end of the bargain. Keep up with him.

Tall order? Well, here's a moment that will really challenge the best of you: Towards the end of the show, La Conja and the musicians form a loose circle while Glover--tucked to the side--faces the back of the stage and throws down. (All I could see, basically, was the bobbing of dreadlocks.) You can hear him, but what he's doing doesn't seem to have much relationship to what anyone else has on his or her mind. Has he forgotten them? Forgotten us?

Okay, kids! What's going on here? Listen up!

Everyone's holding the space for Glover, holding it nice and steady and safe, so that he can do his trance dance. For the moment--now, don't freak out folks; it's going to be okay--he's gone. Glover's gone. And we can't follow him. And we should respect and allow him his prayer space.

I think he has gone to the land of the ancestors. To forebears like Hines and Condos and Slyde.

We don't get to see his adorable, gleaming face because this moment is not about us.

What's cool here is that you can hear the exact moment when something breaks, his feet slow down and he's coming back. Soon after that, he turns his dancing sideways--his often-favored position on stage--and faces La Conja and looks out to her and to this world, interested and engaged again.

SoLo in TIME ends this coming Sunday. Contact the Joyce quick!

Jane Goldberg: Body and Soul podcast

Jane Goldberg--tap dancer and journalist--discusses her entertaining and insightful new book, "Shoot Me While I'm Happy: Memories from The Tap Goddess of the Lower East Side."

Program notes--http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Guest info at http://www.janegoldberg.org. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

MP3 File

Dance artists interviewed on WBGO sports show

For some fun and inspiration, go to the WBGO site and click down the podcast list for Doug Doyle's interviews with:

• Judith Jamison

• Savion Glover

on WBGO's Sport Jam with Doug Doyle (Jazz88FM--88.3FM)

Noche Flamenca and Soledad Barrio in "Aldaba"

photo: Alfonso Losa & Soledad Barrio

by Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Noche Flamenca and the great Soledad Barrio are encamped at the East Village’s Theater 80, midway through a two-month stand before taking their new production, Aldaba, on world tour. Once again this Spanish troupe’s dancing, guitar playing and singing are tremendous; it would be news if they were not–and that’s unlikely to be the case as long as founder/artistic director Martín Santangelo draws breath. The troupe continues to top itself, show after show, exceeding all expectations.

Aldaba’s name refers both to a stone castle’s sonorous door knocker and to life-shaking moments of awakening. Accordingly, this full-tilt production offers flamenco shorn of theatrical adornment and gimmicks, infused with titanic emotion. A handful of chairs provide the small stage’s only decor, variously reconfigured and occupied by singers Manuel Gago and José Anillo; guitarists Miguel Perez and “Chuscales” (José Valle Fajardo); company dancers Barrio, Vanesa Coloma and Elena Martín, and guest dancers Alejandro Granados and Alfonso Losa. They are all “just folks” whose costumes eschew both uniformity and showbiz glamour, tending towards the personal, rumpled and funky. Stephen Petrilli’s lighting might be more aptly called “darking.” In many scenes, heavy shadows appear to take on flesh, emit primal, heartbroken cries, and pluck liquid lines of sound from guitars. Even when fully illuminated, performers reach within themselves to draw from wells of melancholy and dark power.

Both the unforgettable Barrio and the intrepid Granados have redefined flamenco dance for American audiences. Now comes Losa in his first season with Noche Flamenco, a revelation. In the Solea por Bulerias, he seems to struggle with himself, a figure of roiling, looming danger, at times veering so far off-kilter (emotionally and physically) that he might tumble to the floor. But then he turns, rears, and with a look of gathering clarity, pulls himself together in time to launch a new attack on invisible or remembered enemies. Savion Glover’s next tap-plus experiment should include a one-on-one with Losa. Now that would be worthy match.

How wonderful to see Noche Flamenca again at Theater 80, its New York home, where the comfortable intimacy of the space and the performers’ clever use of it make an audience feel like guests at a tablao or members of the troupe’s extended family! You can catch Aldaba there through July 29. For complete schedule and ticketing details, call 212-352-3101 or click here and here.

© 2007 Eva Yaa Asantewaa

"Now I want to see 'Happy Feet'!"

"I don't want to live in a world without penguins!" (Happy Feet)

As The World Turns

Talk about the still point of the turning world!

A Yoga Class's Path to Serenity Leads Through Times Square by Dalton Walker

Times dance critic Roslyn Sulcas weighs in on Invitations to A Dancer:

Tapping Out Fusion: Is That One Tutu Too Many? by Roslyn Sulcas

And, if you haven't, please see my June 20th review of Invitations to A Dancer.

Also by Sulcas, a very nice piece on Mikhail Baryshnikov whose Hell's Kitchen Dance performs this weekend at the Baryshnikov Arts Center:

Reflections on Baryshnikov's Latest (Not Last) Legs by Roslyn Sulcas

Savion Glover’s Invitations to A Dancer

by Eva Yaa Asantewaa

The respectable part of tap genius Savion Glover’s new Joyce Theater production–awkwardly-titled Invitations to A Dancer–involves Glover and two male sidekicks mercilessly slamming diverse rhythms into three miked platforms on a stage that is otherwise bare. Rrrat-a-tat, rrrat-a-tat. Bock, bocka, bocka. Rrrrunka, rrrrunka, rrrrunka, rrrrunka. I said I would, I said I would, I said I would. Slam. Slam. Slam. No jazz combo to back them up. No recorded music. Just myriad sounds--or, to be precise, Bare Soundz, as Glover now calls himself, Marshall L. Davis, Jr., and a third fellow who’s uncredited in the program--of men making propulsive jazz with the deft, rapid movements of their heels and toes and the sides of their feet.

Sometimes the world-famous guy with the two-toned dreadlocks and tap boots that resemble kelly green M&Ms takes the middle platform and–either fiercely concentrating on his feet or looking at his mates and grinning with pleasure--dances like a demon. Sometimes Glover lets one brother or the other take pride of place or have a cool solo. Woodpeckers on speed, their amplified soundz zoom out from the stage and shake our brains loose.

Intermission. Downstairs in the Women’s Room.

Woman #1: “I’ve never seen feet move so fast! How does he do that?”

Woman #2: “You have to really lift up...”

Woman #1: “Now I want to see ‘Happy Feet’!”

Woman #2: “But that’s not the same! They’re penguins!”

All three men are fine dancers. But Glover alone is stratospheric and not this season–thank the Almighty!--hoofing to classical music, a previous Glover experiment that failed to amuse me.

Unfortunately, Glover has built a new and even less amusing concept into the second half of Invitations to A Dancer. He has invited a ballerina (Suzana Stankovic) and three modern dancers (Sheila Barker, Lauren Last and Jerica Niehoff) to perform ballet and contemporary choreography while the six feet of Bare Soundz provide the sole accompaniment. That might sound like a worthwhile challenge, but someone forgot to throw good choreography into the mix. The contemporary jazz dance passages for the barefoot modern dancers are as flimsy, tacky and cheesy as the women’s little halter-topped dresses. I became increasingly annoyed as I puzzled over why the women had to be dressed in this manner in glaring contrast to the men’s deliberately un-glamorous, comfortable and functional clothing and sturdy tap shoes.

Stankovic, dolled up in a sparkling white tutu, dances real ballet to Glover’s foot music, but then she attempts to get funky and cutesy. She pulls this embarrassing stunt twice. Well, it worked for Wednesday’s matinee audience.

SBSG–a modern piece in which Glover accompanies the willowy Barker–does have interest (as well as a lovely, flattering costume for Barker). She answers Glover’s footwork with dancing that is quick and clear, as spiky, eccentric and unexpected as Mr. Trademark’s world-class hoofing.

Glover drops a killer solo in the second half–one that made me realize it’s time to stop thinking of him as “Heir to Gregory Hines” and start wondering who the hell could ever, ever, ever take up his mantle. All the more reason to wonder why he has started messing around with concepts that don’t make the grade. It can’t possibly be boredom, can it? Tell me it ain’t so!

Without the...what should we call them? variety show numbers?...Invitations to A Dancer might possibly look and sound monotoned. The first half–or “The 1st Accent,” as Glover calls it–is basically just one thing: three guys hoofing hard all the time. But even without variety, it’s a mind-blower.

The trouble with excellence is that it tends to show up everything around it. All the more reason to make damned sure that everything around it is up to its uncompromising standards.

Savion Glover’s Invitations to A Dancer continues at the Joyce Theater through July 14. For schedule and ticketing details, click here.

(c)2007 Eva Yaa Asantewaa