AJDPS Benefit Gala Review
by Carl Nelson
Joanna Lucero is a dancer and performer living Atlanta, GA. She performed as part of a benefit gala for a local preservation society and here is her review of the event. It is great to see these sorts of organizations keeping the dance alive and honoring old timers who helped bring us the dance. -Carl
On September 6th, I and many other Southeast lindy hoppers took part in the Atlanta Jazz Dance Preservation Society’s first annual benefit gala and performance showcase. The AJDPS is the brainchild of Atlanta lindy hoppers Michelle Postles and Nima Farsinejad.
“The Atlanta Jazz Dance Preservation Society is a non-profit, educational organization dedicated to the preservation of historic jazz dance forms of the early 1900’s through the promotion of performance, live music, dance events, educational community programs and historical archiving.” Last week’s gala honored special guest and jazz legend, Dawn Hampton.
Sosh and Joanna doing a candlestick
Each performance was preceded by a brief introduction by the evening’s MC, Jesse Gearhart, regarding the dance style to be presented, or the composer whose music we were about to hear. There were many styles of jazz dance presented; Black Bottom, 20’s Charleston, Breakaway, Tap, Blues, and of course, Lindy Hop. Some performances were tributes to some of the famed dancers of the past, such as Josephine Baker, Al Minns, Leon James, the Nicholas brothers, and Honi Coles, and some performances were recreations of vintage dance clips well known in the lindy hop community such as “After Seben”, “Day at the Races”, the “Tranky Doo”, and the “Big Apple”. Lastly, there were also many original choreographies performed.
One enjoyable performance was a ten woman chorus line of lovely flappers in teal dresses performing a 20’s Charleston routine choreographed by Gina Helfrich, Natalie Manigault, and Joanna Lucero. The Josephine Baker tribute was also a very noteable performance. Nyasha Wooling performed a dance paying tribute to the famed dancer by creating her own representation of Josephine Baker’s banana dance. Nyasha wore a very tribal styled outfit complete with a skirt of bananas and danced to “Caballo Negro” by Perez Prado. Another performance of note was a fan dance performed by Stephanie Ludwig. Stephanie is known for her work with the Dames Aflame, a burlesque dance troupe in Atlanta. This dance was, to say the least, a crowd pleaser.
Another crowd favorite was the recreation of the dance scene from “Day at the Races”. Personally, it was one of my favorite moments of the entire evening.
As a tribute to the Nicholas Brothers, Terrence Taps of Tap Dance Blog and another tapper, Tre McClendon performed a thrilling tap number to Cab Calloway’s “The Jumpin’ Jive”. The Al and Leon tribute, performed by Patrick Manigault and Terrace Ellis was incredibly entertaining. They recreated the choreography from this clip to the tune of “Walking the Dog” by Claude Hopkins. The best part about their performance was how well the two dancers captured Al Minns’ and Leon James’ mannerisms and expressions from the original clip. Watch the dress rehearsal here. The performances ended with all dancers on stage dancing the Shim Sham, led by Dawn Hampton herself. The audience went wild for her.
After the show there was a mass celebration in the theater lobby with live music by the Hotlanta Dixieland Jazz Band. There was also a silent auction for various items donated by dancers and various other supporters. All in all it was a very enjoyable evening. All the hard work put into rehearsals and organization was definitely worth it. The gala was a huge success.
Review by Joanna Lucero. Video footage by Bela Jacobson. Photo courtesy of Sosh Howell.
Interesting to know.