Black History Trilogy returns to Flushing Town Hall
By Stephanie Meditz
news@queensledger.com
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âThe Challenge to Defy Gravityâ will feature several special guests, including The Savoy Swingers.
This Black History Month, Flushing Town Hall will once again celebrate Black history and culture with its Black History Trilogy.
The Trilogy is a series of three performances by a lineup of artists who pay homage to Black culture and iconic performers.
The first installment took place on Feb. 3 with The Chuck Berry Rock & Roll Concert Party, featuring vocalist and guitarist Keith âThe Captainâ Gamble.
The Trilogy will continue on Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. with âThe Challenge to Defy Gravity,â a workshop and dance performance presented by choreographer Mickey Davidson.
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Mickey Davidson will bring swing-era dance moves to Flushing Town Hall on Feb. 10.
âThe night will consist of a tapestry of cultural expressions that were popular at the same time as the Lindy Hop,â Davidson said. âThe title âDefying Gravityâ symbolizes the air steps that the specialized dancers who danced in the northeast corner of the Savoy Ballroom did.â
Known as the âHome of Happy Feet,â the Savoy Ballroom was a place of social movement during the swing era that cultivated the Lindy Hop.
âDance steps that migrated with the people to the big cities such as New York found their way into the Savoy Ballroom,â she said. âAs a dancer and as an African American dancer, the history of African American dance has always been important to me in finding my own identity and my own pride in my culture.â
Davidson has studied with Norma Miller, Frankie Manning and Alfred âPepsiâ Bethel, some of the most influential dancers and choreographers of the swing era.
âFor me personally, I see this period of dance as a real blending of Afrocentric and Eurocentric cultural concepts that developed here in America as a result of us all living together,â she said. âAnd the music and the dance are one, theyâre not separate. So when you do this dance, you are moving musically. Youâre listening and itâs a three-way street between two people and the musicâŠitâs part of an overall story of a people.â
The Big City Stompers, who work specifically on air steps, will demonstrate the swift movements and literally defy gravity at the performance.
Not only will audience members see these steps in action, but they will experience dancing with a partner to live music in real time.
Prior to the performance, there will be a workshop in which all attendees can learn and experience swing-era dancing firsthand, regardless of prior dance experience.
âCulturally, that was the learning process in the African American community with this type of dancing,â Davidson said. âYou come, you become part of a community and you learn on the dance floor. And so we are mixingâŠthe European process of giving directions and counts with just allowing yourself to have an experience.â
Davidson will collaborate with band leader and longtime musician, Patience Higgins.
âWeâre all performing, dancing, playing music from our hearts and from the essence of who we are as artists in the music of jazz,â she said.
Davidson is primary choreographer and director for Mickey D. & Friends, a group of artists, dancers, and musicians that explore the interlocking relationships between movement and music.
The group performs various types of African American dance, including tap, sanding, swing, modern, jazz and abstract jazz.
Tickets for âThe Challenge to Defy Gravityâ are available for $15 or $12 for members, seniors and students with ID at https://www.flushingtownhall.org/bhm-trilogy-2-2023.
âI just like to have a good party, so come out and hang out because culturally, hanging out is a big part of learning and experiencing African American culture at its best,â Davidson said. âAfrican American culture being developed in America includes all kinds of people and all kinds of expression. Thatâs what makes it a universal art. So if you like music, if you like being around people, if you like to danceâŠcome hang out and have a good time, and letâs be a community.â
On Feb. 24 at 8 p.m., the Black History Trilogy will conclude with âSoul Men: The Music of Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding and Moreâ featuring vocalist Billy Cliff.
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On Feb. 24, Billy Cliff will pay tribute to some of the most iconic men in R&B/soul music.
The lineup will feature songs from iconic soul artists in film, R&B and pop music.
âWeâre doing all this music just to commemorate all these great men who have contributed to soul music,â Cliff said.
Originally a child actor at the Amas Repertory Theatre, Cliff discovered his powerful voice and began singing in choirs.
His first professional gig was singing backup for R&B singer Angela Bofill.
âThat was really the beginning of my career. From there, I was singing background for a lot of different people,â he said. âI sang background for Maxwell, to singing lead for Kool & The Gang and singing lead for Spyro Gyra. And then ended up on a two year tour with the Pet Shop Boys in Europe and around the world.â
As a musician, Cliff is most inspired by Marvin Gaye, primarily because he wrote and produced music with a message.
â[Soul music] is about the stories and the people. A lot of it had to do with the people who made the music,â he said. âThatâs one thing about soul music: youâve always got great people doing this music that is basically a music of people who haveâŠlived through something, people who have experienced real life.â
Cliffâs music career was also influenced by his mother, Tina Fabrique, who sang the theme song for Reading Rainbow. Last year, Fabrique closed out Flushing Town Hallâs Black History Trilogy paying homage to Gospel with âThe Power & The GloryâMusic of the Black Church.â
âThe producer of the show called my mother and said, âHey, I need a guy who can really do a great tribute to soul men.â She said, âOh, my son is a great performer,ââ he said. âSo thatâs how this all came to be, pretty much.â
During his 30 years in the industry, Cliff has worked with big names such as Freddie Jackson, Ashford & Simpson, The Blues Brothers Band and Steve Cropper, who wrote â(Sittinâ On) the Dock of the Bayâ with Otis Redding.
Cliff will release an EP of new, original music in the spring.
âIâm trying to dismiss the myth that after 50 years old, you canât get out here and do something thatâs meaningful and that will touch people in the world, musically,â he said. âI want people to know that, as long as youâve got a great heart, youâve got a great mind and your bodyâs not too far away from those two, that you can get out here and you can do something and inspire folks.â
Tickets for âSoul Menâ are available for $15 or $12 for members, seniors and students with ID at https://www.flushingtownhall.org/bhm-trilogy-3-2023.
âThis month being Black music month, itâs a great time for people to come out and see and hear some of the greatest R&B and soul music in history,â Cliff said.