Performance: Savion Glover's "Sole Power" Venue: Joyce Theater, www.Joyce.org Run: June 21 - July 10, 2010
Listen to Interview NOW.....
Definitely an inspiration to all young tappers and future Broadway dancers... Savion Glover takes the theater world by storm with youthful zeal as a 12 year old prodigy performing in his first Broadway show, The Tap Dance Kid. By 15 years old, Savion performs in Black & Blue, in which he is nominated for a Tony, and by 18 years of age, Savion stars in Jelly's Last Jam. By age 23, Savion solidifies his place as the "Son of Sound" (coined by our very own iDANZ Critic, Martine Quigley) by starring and choreographing his own Broadway show, "Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk," co-directed by George C. Wolf, which Savion wins the Tony for best choreography. Savion continues to perform as a featured guest artist, in addition to performing his choreography in his own full-length productions showcasing his artistry to audiences worldwide.
On Monday night, June 28, I had a chance to interview Savion Glover in his dressing room at The Joyce Theater immediately following the performance of Sole Power, an intergalactic show that pays homage to the greats such as Jimmy Slyde and Gregory Hines and showcases the versatile feet of the great contemporaries such as Mr. Glover and Marshall Davis Jr. In this interview, Savion expresses the importance of always being a student of life and developing relationships with "old people" in order to gain wisdom and constantly grow as an artist... His message, "Keep Slyde Alive!" Moreover, Savion talks about his "dark period", after which, he felt like a new man whose reasons for performing changed dramatically.
On a lighter note, Savion talks about the tap shoes he's been wearing for years and also talks about the process leading into the famous Tony Award Winning show Bring in Da' Noise, Bring in Da' Funk.
Enjoy this fascinating peek into the life of Mr. Glover! -Adrienne Jean "AJ" Fisher,iDANZ Critix Corner
Check out Savion Glover's Sole Power at The Joyce Theater June 21 through July 10. For more information, visit www.Joyce.org.
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Following in the same vein as Russell Simmons’ Tony Award winning turn with ‘Def Jam on Broadway,’ and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ big splash in Kenny Leon’s revival of ‘A Raisin in the Sun,’Shawn‘Jay-Z’ Carter,Will Smithand his wife/actressJada Pinkett-Smithare taking on the Great White Way.
Contract talks have been going on for weeks between the hip hop and Hollywood A-listers and the show’s creative team, and today Richard Kornberg, Billy Zavelson andTommy Wesley officially announced that the trio have joined the production team of the musical, ‘Fela!,’ about the life of African musician/political activistFela Anikulapo Kuti.
The glitzy partnership will hopefully bring in the same star power thatOprah Winfrey’s name did for ‘The Color Purple’ on Broadway in 2005.
Late last year,The RootsdrummerAhmir ‘?uestlove’ Thompsonappealed to two hundred of his entertainment industry colleagues via an email blast to see the sold-out limited run of the off-Broadway musical
"It’s uncut. It’s true to the vision. It’s amazing! There is no option. I expect death to be the only reason why you did not see this production," he wrote in his letter.
He closed the plea with: "Get off your ass and see this now."
Now, that the show is headed to Broadway, it has beengiven an $11 million dollar makeover and is set to open at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre on Nov. 23. Beloved Tony Award-winnerLillias Whitejoined the cast asFunmilayo Ransome-Kuti, the late Afrobeat legend’s mother. WhenSahr Ngaujah— who mastered the complex lead role when the show debuted Off-Broadway, last year — isn’t working his magic on the masses, two-time Daytime Emmy Award winner Kevin Mambo (right) takes over the role a few times a week — in his Broadway debut as the lead character.
Thompson, whose reach has only expanded since The Roots became the house band forJimmy Fallon’s late-night television show, continued to make an impassioned plea for more of his celebrity friends to invest in and support the show and it seems his calls have been answered.
The addition of Jay-Z and The Smiths could boost ticket sales, which have been reportedly low thus far.
"My job is to be the mouthpiece that can at least catch the ear of a power player for Hollywood and the industry," Thompson, who is also a producer on ‘Fela!,’ said.
Getting Carter, with whom he has collaborated with, to give ‘Fela!’ a chance wasn’t too difficult a task for Thompson — thanks to the interests of the Brooklyn MC’s superstar wife.
"This play really hitBeyoncein the gut, which in turn really hit [Jay-Z] in the gut, and he was excited about it."
Alicia Keyswas also confirmed to have seen ‘Fela!’ at Thompson’s urging.
Similarly, hip-hop starK’naan, who says ‘Broadway will never be the same now,’ after having an early look at the show encouragedMos Def— who starred in the critically-acclaimed play ‘Topdog/Underdog’ — andNasto check it out.
The show’s lead producer,Stephen Hendel, said that "these prominent celebrities are also approaching us because they want to be involved in bringing something important and new to the culture."
As previously reported, Tony Award-winning choreographerBill T. Jonesserves as the show’s creative force. According to published reports, ‘Fela!’s’ run time has also been sliced twenty minutes to two hours and twenty minutes.
"Michael Jackson's This Is It," the concert film (or, rather, concert-rehearsal film) is stitched together from behind-the-scenes footage and sequences intended as part of the backdrop to the concert tour Jackson was preparing to mount when he died on June 25 of this year. It's fascinating, and often not in ways the people behind it might have intended. It's shiny and slick and scary and cynical, and it's an epic portrait of all the contradictions in American celebrity culture and one of American culture's biggest celebrities. It comes, to paraphrase Shakespeare's Marc Antony, not to bury Michael Jackson but to praise him, to make sure the good he did lives on after him while the (alleged) evil is interred with his bones. You get all the hits; you get some amazing dancing. And you get footage where Jackson holds back and doesn't sing a line, or a whole verse, and you wonder if he's saving it for the big show or if he simply can't muster the energy to do it. You thrill at a 50-year-old man dancing so energetically and so well and then remember that Jackson died from the abuse and misuse of painkillers. Parts of "This Is It" feel like a death march cut to look like a victory lap.
And "cut" is the right verb; directed by Kenny Ortega, the director of Jackson's stage show, "This Is It" is not so much directed as it is edited, with a team of four cutters turning footage Jackson wanted shot for his personal use and preshot sequences for the concert tour's video-screen spectacle into something like a film. The preshot sequences, directed by Ortega (while constantly casting an eye to Jackson for approval), aren't just big, blown-up spectacles; they are, for good and for ill, glimpses into Jackson's mind set. There's a fairly leaden parable for "Earth Song," where a young girl falls asleep in a verdant glade only to wake up to a bulldozer-ravaged ruin and we see in an animatic how Jackson, in the final stage show, would be next to be threatened by a full-size bulldozer. The montage leading to "Smooth Criminal" (which is also, not coincidentally, the most whole and satisfying performance piece in the film) cuts Jackson into clips from classic Hollywood films like "Gilda" and "The Big Sleep" before it transitions to the superbly performed, amazingly choreographed live production number.
And that number, like many of the numbers in "This Is It," takes on a rich, ironic double meaning in the wake of Jackson's death. Jackson sings about being a "smooth criminal," and you cannot help but think of the criminal charges brought against him, and how he beat them. Jackson sings how, "It don't matter if you're black or white," and you think about how Jackson straddled black America and white America in a way like no one had since Elvis, and in a way no one ever may again. Jackson sings about "the man in the mirror," and you look at his face in the footage, altered by surgery, damaged by misfortune, tight and smiling and burning with frail strength, and you see Jackson's ageless, famous face as a blessing and a curse.
Yes, you get all the glitz and the hits with "This Is It," but you also get a look at what fame does to people in America, and what America does to people who are famous, and what people who are famous are fully capable of doing to themselves without any help or harm from any outside agency. When Jackson performed "I Want You Back" and "I'll Be There" as part of a medley celebrating his days with the Jackson 5, I felt a wave of sadness as Ortega's split-screen showed me the man onstage looking back and the boy in archival clips smiling and looking forward, and I had to confront the gap and the gulf between two parts of the same man.
You also get a glimpse of the mega-mechanics of a modern international tour: the roadies and the riggers and the choreographers and the conductors, the pyrotechnics and the hydraulics. You also get a glimpse inside a small corporation, with Jackson the CEO, whether he's instructing the keyboardist to let a musical figure "simmer" or when his choreographers are explaining the company policy of how to best perform a crotch-grab. And while "This Is It" is crafted and intended as a demonstration of, as the opening titles put it, the "passionate gift Michael was preparing for his fans and audiences of the world," it's also a way for concert-promoting conglomerate AEG to make back some of the money the canceled tour will never earn. You can go to "This Is It" as a fan and clap and sing along, to be sure, but look a little deeper and it's a movie as grim as it is glad, as complicated and contradictory as the man it mirrors and the myth it maintains.
James Rocchi's writings on film have appeared at Cinematical.com, Netflix.com, SFGate.com and in Mother Jones magazine. He lives in Los Angeles, where every ending is a twist ending.
Kat Angus -Published: Friday, October 16, 2009 on www.dose.ca
After several successful seasons and winning an Emmy award for her work, choreographer Mia Michaels announced this week that she is leaving So You Think You Can Dance.
"I am officially an adoring fan of SYTYCD... Thank U for 5 wonderful yrs," Michaels wrote on her Twitter account on Wednesday. "Thanks SYTYCD and look forward to whats ahead for me... Lookout world!!!!!"
It was a surprising revelation from the contemporary dancer, who has been endlessly praised for her unique choreography; the current Top 20 on So You Think You Can Dance had even expressed their excitement to work with her this season. However, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe released a statement yesterday, confirming Michaels' departure.
"We are thrilled to have given a talent such as Mia Michaels a platform to create Emmy Award-winning choreography," Lythgoe said. "During the auditions this season she has helped choose the best, most diverse top 20 we have ever had. She knows that she is always welcome to return later this season or next. She's chosen to move on to new challenges and we will continue to support her and wish her all the best."
The motivation behind the split is still unknown, though it appears to be amicable.
What do you think of Michaels' decision to leave So You Think You Can Dance? Will you miss her? Post your thoughts in the comments section below.
given an $11 million dollar makeover and is set to open at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre on Nov. 23. Beloved Tony Award-winnerLillias White
Written by James Rocchi, Special to MSN Movies 
Yes, you get all the glitz and the hits with "This Is It," but you also get a look at what fame does to people in America, and what America does to people who are famous, and what people who are famous are fully capable of doing to themselves without any help or harm from any outside agency. When Jackson performed "I Want You Back" and "I'll Be There" as part of a medley celebrating his days with the Jackson 5, I felt a wave of sadness as Ortega's split-screen showed me the man onstage looking back and the boy in archival clips smiling and looking forward, and I had to confront the gap and the gulf between two parts of the same man. 
After several successful seasons and winning an Emmy award for her work, choreographer Mia Michaels announced this week that she is leaving 