It happened to me years ago. I'd never in my life seen anything so magical. "Bring in the noise, Bring in the funk". Tap Dancers, bright lights, drummers beating on trash cans. It was magic. There was this one dancer who was tall with locks that I couldn't take my eyes off. That night, it happened to me. I was moved by the magic of Savion Glover. This won't be one of my typical blog posts. Instead of my filling my text box with my thoughts and feelings about one of my favorite dancers EVER, I'm going to let his voice be heard. I must say it is an absolute pleasure to know that there are still people around that are fighting to preserve art. But I'm going to be quiet and let Savion speak.
On teaching:" I can't teach anyone to think like me."
"In order for one to learn this dance, they have to want to make it their life."
On Art: "We need historians, writers and more people who can direct and explain the artform of these great men and women."
"Young artist are more into fame than the artform...whether its painting or singing."
"It was at the St, Louis Tap festival. They were selling pictures of me (and other tap dancers) to children. That's when I realized that's not what its about. You can't sell the dance (to children)...so I became a rebel."
"What happened to spread love? What happened to the songs about being a better person?"
"Nicki Minaj....what kind of name is that?!?!?"
On becoming Savion: "I tap dance because there are some men who literally died with their tap shoes on."
"The greatest advice I was ever given was to never take anyone's advice...but I've gottn a lot of great guidance from great men and women of the art."
"Our relationship was like father, son. Big brother, little brother. I did everything with him." (Gregory Hines)
"...beyond the dance. In my personal life, these men were great. I thank God I was able to know them and love them. And they loved me." (Davis and Hines)
"They make me want to be better." (Jimmy Slyde and Gregory Hines)
"I owe it all to these men."
"When I dance, I feel like I'm praising. I feel like I'm having prayer or something."
"The dance is a voice...they taught me to speak through my dance."
"Tap dancing is cool but I don't like that. I like expressing myself."
Award winning performances: Bamboozled: "He (Spike Lee) was sspeaking to my generation through that movie. It was a wake up call for some...like 'What are you doing?'"
Bring in the noise, Bring in the funk, which won him a Tony Award for best choregraphy in 1996: "I got 'Bring in the noise, Bring in the funk from Chuck D. It was a song (Bring the noise)...Public Enemy"
"The show was very organic in the way it came together...we didn't have auditions until years later."
On the future generations:"I don't even talk to brothers who sag their pants. They have to pull up their pants before we talk...its just not cool."
" I want my son to be better than me. Before I had my child, I said I wanted him to do everything like me."
(Photographs taken by Bianca Flowers. On twitter @ChicFroznFlores) and Keenan Doanes Photography (Portrait)
