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WEEK of February 25, 2008
@BFS! archives

“Swingin’ in Time” a Five Star Performance at African American Celebration

by Joan Martin

“Swingin’ in Time,” an outstanding performance by professional dancers, musicians and vocalists, was a five star attraction at the 13th annual African American Celebration held at Brooklyn Friends School on February 8. Led by award-winning dancer/choreographer Mickey Davidson, the company interpreted the music, dance and poetry of the Harlem Renaissance. Their artistic mission was to bring audience members back to another place and time — Harlem of the 1920’s — and they did just that with exuberance, pride, and verve.

Students, teachers, parents and guests were transported from the BFS meeting house/theater to the famed Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. There two couples — dressed to the nines — danced the Lindy Hop, Jitterbug and Jive to the music of Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Billy Strayhorn. The dancers also demonstrated several audacious Lindy Hop dips and aerial lifts, a big hit with the audience. Tap and modern jazz, as well as the musical standards “Honeysuckle Rose,” “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing” completed the lively and fast-paced program. There were opportunities for audience participation, too, in which the youngest children took to the stage to demonstrate their dancing improvisations. (Lots of photos below)

The African American Celebration is a signature BFS special event and a unique schoolwide celebration of February as African American History Month. As part of the program, the upper school step team and jazz band performed, and there were presentations by the alumni drummers directed by Yuki Furui and a student dance performance of “Portrait of a Woman” taught by Marna Herrity and choreographed by BFS alumna Oshadi Kelly ’96. Prior to the big event on February 8, the Middle School viewed a PBS-produced documentary on the Harlem Renaissance and a group of students participated in afterschool workshops on swing dance.

“The evening was filled with good food, good times and great performances — by our own BFS students as well as Mickey Davidson and the Savoy Swingers,” said Mollita Muhammad, co-chair of the African American Celebration Committee. “Parent volunteers Hilda Davis, Sheila Gordon, Alisa Martin, Hyacinthia Roberts, Toukie Smith, and Cynthia Tomlinson were especially helpful for all their efforts in planning, marketing, promoting and executing this magnificent event.”