When I grew up, I loved hearing stories told to me by my parents about the shows, music and performing artists they enjoyed during the 1930's and 40's. I also heard similar tales from tap dance veterans I came to know in my adulthood. They all talked about Ellington, Ella, Armstrong, Basie, Bojangles, Calloway, Harlem venues and more, saying that those were good times. I would think, "Wish I could take a time machine back for one day to experience some of this". But these days I'm realizing that I lived through, and got involved in, some good times myself back in the 1960's and 70's. There was an avalanche of dance, music, theater, performance and art that was pretty damn good and in many ways shaped who I am today. I was reminded of this last Saturday at an event held at St. Peters Church in New York City.
Fred Benjamin was a dancer/choreographer who passed away last December at the age of 69 and the event at St. Peters was a celebration of his life. Fred came to New York City from Massachusetts in the early 1960's to pursue a career in dance and wound up studying and/or working with Talley Beatty, Claude Thompson, June Taylor, Jamie Rodgers and Michael Bennett, among others. In 1968, while performing in the all black cast version of "Hello Dolly", starring Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway (a great show that I saw), he started the Fred Benjamin Dance Company, which stayed in existence until 2006. He also choreographed commissioned works for many dance companies, choreographed for theatre and taught around the world.
I did not know him very well, but met him when his company did one of their first performances in a small midtown space called The Cubiculo, where I often ran lights for the shows there. After that, I saw him at Clark Center, a dance space where he taught and I took classes with Pepsi Bethel, Thelma Hill, Charles "Cookie" Cook and others. This was in the 1970's, when dance was exploding all over the place in NYC in performances and classes. You could see and study just about any type of dance form, and not spend much for it! Also, exciting things were happening in theater, experimental performance and the art world. Not to mention the introduction of relatively inexpensive video equipment that sparked public access TV, video art, and video documentation. In the midst of all of this, Fred was one of the many creative people doing their thing and gaining a major following.
Saturday night, many people who remember that time showed up for his special night. As I mingled among people and said hello, I would hear around me more than once a variation of, "Oh my God! I can't believe it's you!". The cliche that it often takes a funeral or memorial to bring people "out of the woodwork" to show up is really true. I could feel the energy and flow of memories around the reception room as people socialized before the actual tribute began. It was nice to see the vibrancy in all of us Baby Boomer and Beyond folks appreciating each other. There was a lot of history in that room.
The Master of Ceremony was Bruce Hawkins, who had worked with Fred. He set a tone for an evening of true celebration and remembrance....and a whole bunch of humor. Many people spoke, sharing stories about Fred (who, like all of us, was not perfect) and the people he worked with and affected. One of the things I particularly liked as the part of the evening called, "Fred and Black Choreographers" which mentioned most of the other black choreographers who were active at that time...and there were so many! The audience included some heavy weights too, like Loretta Abbott, Michelle Murray and Ty Stephens. I learned so much that night and Mercedes Ellington said at one point that many of the younger generation of performers in shows like "The Lion King" and others with predominately black casts need to know some of this history and know of the people like Fred who paved the way for them to be on Broadway.
As I sat toward the back, listening to the speakers, looking at the attendees, hearing the music in the dance clips shown and enjoying the "call and response" between the podium and the audience (this WAS in a church!) I felt full with memories, but also full of the Now. Here we were to remember, but also I believe to get a charged boost to do whatever we need to do to continue our creative and personal lives. A night like last Saturday was about more than Fred, it was to acknowledge what some many of us are trying to do. So, THiS also a good time, because we can make it so, and we will carry on and pass on what we have to offer. It is needed.
