Tag: New Ballet Ensemble

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Bodies in Motion

NutRemix(Photo: Ziggy Mack)

The longer nights of autumn settling in signify more than just the coming of winter. It’s also the season when the performing arts ignite, stages lighting up across the city to dazzle us, beguile us, and draw us into the show as if to a primordial bonfire. This is especially true of dance companies, where the elemental combination of ritual and individual expression is taken to a high art. And the holiday season is the bread and butter of many such ensembles due to one ballet in particular: The Nutcracker. 

As research by Crain’s New York Business determined in 2013, “a production of The Nutcracker can bring in anywhere from 40 percent to 45 percent of a ballet company’s revenue.” This makes it especially important in Memphis, where the audience for dance can be especially fickle. Yet dance continues to thrive here as never before, and the winter dance season — including New Ballet Ensemble’s NutRemix, Ballet Memphis’ The Nutcracker, and Collage Dance’s RISE — is one reason why, not least because all three companies are also dance schools. Not only do these three productions put their respective schools’ youngest students onstage with world-class dance virtuosos from Memphis and beyond, they highlight the creativity and inventiveness with which all three companies approach the art of dance. The ways they’re reimagining that art are one key to why dance is thriving in Memphis as never before. 

A Dance Renaissance in the Home of the Blues

If Memphis is the “Home of Blues, Soul & Rock ‘n’ Roll,” as the city’s official slogan boasts, it’s worth pointing out the unifying subtext behind all those musical forms: dance. Social bodily movement was baked into the blues, soul, and rock-and-roll from their very origins. Of course, popular dance has not always been celebrated in the conservatories of the world, focused as they are on the Western balletic tradition, but that began to change through the second half of the last century as visionaries like Martha Graham and Alvin Ailey incorporated American folk forms into their choreography. Today, due to this city’s role as a crucible of popular music and dance, that merging of “high” and “low” terpsichorean art is accelerating — and putting Memphis on the cutting edge of innovation in the dance world.

That was underscored this August when a study by the Dance Data Project named Ballet Memphis and Collage Dance among the 50 largest dance companies in the country, with the former ranked at No. 32 and the latter at No. 46. Only one other Tennessee company, Nashville Ballet, made the list. In future years, Collage Dance will likely rank even higher, thanks to the $2 million Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant the school received this summer. Dance is becoming a financial dynamo of sorts in Tennessee.

“We’re providing full-time jobs for artists,” Nashville Ballet artistic director Nick Mullikin told The Daily Memphian, and the point applies to Memphis as well. “We’re making an economic impact in these cities and we are giving cities in Tennessee a place to attract other businesses, which increases the tax revenues and benefits to a city overall, which then goes back — ideally, if the government is doing its job — to the people.”

Meanwhile, a third dance organization here, New Ballet Ensemble and School (NBE), has also been garnering praise for years, winning the prestigious National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award in 2014, with the school’s students dancing at the Kennedy Center in a performance The Washington Post called “dazzling.” Today, some of its former students are finding fame on an international scale. 

There’s clearly something big happening in the world of Memphis dance. And although the Dance Data Project study was based on companies’ annual expenses in 2021, it indicates an even deeper truth: The success of the dance scene in Memphis owes as much to companies’ aesthetic innovations as to their finances. All three of the companies and their affiliated schools have, to varying degrees, embraced local vernacular dance forms, combining a commitment to the high technical standards of the balletic tradition with vigorous outreach programs that include Memphis’ most underserved communities. The end result not only bends in the direction of social justice, it breaks new artistic ground and puts Memphis performances on the cutting edge of dance innovation. That’s especially evident in each company’s winter showcase performances.

NutRemix

The first opportunity to celebrate the flowering of local dance will be this week, when NBE’s NutRemix, presented by Nike, returns to the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts November 17th through 19th. To say this show, now in its 21st year, is imbued with the spirit of Memphis is an understatement. Indeed, NutRemix is a testament to both the original ballet’s malleability and this city’s openness to reimagining classic forms.  

While The Nutcracker has been reinvented before, most audaciously in the Mark Morris Dance Group’s The Hard Nut (a dark retelling of the classic tale set in postwar American suburbia), there’s nothing quite like the freedom of thought, music, and movement expressed by NBE’s version. Rather than have the extended family of Russian nobility gather in a mansion in the ballet’s first act, it’s the fictive family of a petit bourgeois shop owner, his workers, and associated hangers-on around Beale Street. Transforming that locale, long known as a kind of sin city of the South, into a kind of multicultural utopia is a moving conceit that still allows considerable drama into the tale, as hard-edged urban grit enters in the form of hip-hop dance battles. Indeed, hip-hop dance, especially Memphis jookin’, is proudly celebrated along with ballet, R&B, African, and flamenco dance forms, with the globe-hopping fantasia of The Nutcracker’s second act transformed into a celebration of diversity. 

This reinvention leapt from the mind of NBE’s founder, Katie Smythe, but it didn’t come from nowhere. She’d tested the notion before she’d moved back to her native Memphis. “I was running the outreach education program through the Los Angeles Music Center. We were doing dance performances in schools, and I loved that, but how many Cinderellas can a group of Black children watch, where Cinderella is white and the prince is white, before they’re thinking, ‘Where am I in this?’ It was really stupid and I was very headstrong! So I created a condensed Sleeping Beauty. I hired black dancers, and I danced in it, too. And we made it only 30 minutes. I changed the narrative, made it fun, and put all different kinds of music in it. And the kids loved it! So that’s where I learned how to do NutRemix.”

It was also a perfect opportunity to introduce younger dance students to a more professional production, and the show’s been the centerpiece of the school’s pedagogical approach. It soon became a vehicle for older students to explore their talents. “The only way to bring those different genres into our performance,” says Smythe, “was to have the leaders of those diverse sections really lead them, choreograph them, and claim them as creators. I’ve never taken credit for NutRemix as choreographer because the truth is, the kids choreographed about 50 percent of it. John Washington choreographed the African section, Robin Sanders choreographed the hip-hop battle, Lil Buck choreographed the angel — in fact, he created that role. I also learned from a Chinese woman working for FedEx here, who wanted a place to have Chinese dance classes. I studied with her and then we made the Chinese scene more culturally authentic, using Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road music. We were undoing the stereotypes inherent in NutRemix.”

Eventually, the production gained the support of Nike, and now boasts a full-on production featuring the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Big Band and African drummers. And as professionals from elsewhere, including NBE alums who’ve gone on to successful careers, join the cast, they help Memphis tap into an international network of excellence. This year will feature two renowned NBE alums: Maxx Reed, who’s returned to serve as the show’s creative director, and acclaimed dancer Memphis jookin’ ambassador Lil Buck, who will reprise his role as the Memphis Angel. Internationally celebrated dancers Myrna Kamara and Filipe Portugal will also share the stage with NBE’s students. With so many talents involved, NutRemix is a Memphis phenomenon that shows no signs of losing its spark of innovation.

The Nutcracker (Photo: Stefanie Rawlinson)

The Nutcracker

NutRemix isn’t the only reimagining of The Nutcracker in the city. The Buckman Dance Conservatory will offer a fresh interpretation of the classic, Nutcracker: Land of Enchanted Sweets, this December 1st through 3rd at the Buckman Performing Arts Center. But the classic staging of The Nutcracker has a special place in the hearts of dance fans, and Ballet Memphis has had that covered for nearly 40 years. 

This year’s production will carry all the finery of a traditional ballet company production, with some unexpected touches that will only be revealed in the performances, scheduled for December 9th to 10th and 15th to 17th at the Orpheum Theatre, featuring live music by the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. With choreography by Steven McMahon, this season will represent an evolution of the set and costume design that will bring “renewed vibrancy to the classic story,” according to a Ballet Memphis press release. “Transport yourself to a sweetly nostalgic riverside and a confectionary dreamland through the eyes of a young girl destined for adventure. Ballet Memphis’ new production of this beloved American holiday tradition promises to delight in both familiar and unexpected ways.”

Like NBE, Ballet Memphis treats the holiday performance as a chance to mix young students of dance — and not just those enrolled in Ballet Memphis — with the seasoned veterans of the company. “The students can audition for The Nutcracker, which is the professional company’s production,” says Eileen Frazer, community programs manager and teaching artist at Ballet Memphis. “So that includes between 60 and 100 of our students getting that performance opportunity. Also, The Nutcracker auditions are open to students from other studios as well. So we get to have a little community and integration with everyone in the city, and even from Arkansas and Mississippi.”

Such student involvement is critical to Ballet Memphis’ mission, and they’ve been delighted by what appears to be growing interest in ballet among young people. “In Memphis, the ballet community is thriving. The city has several schools and companies, and I think the love for classical ballet is only growing at this stage,” says Frazer. “We saw a bit of a dip during the pandemic, as all organizations did, and we’re still growing our student body back from that, but we have students coming to us from other studios, where the focus hasn’t been classical ballet, because they want that focus on classical technique.”

Even with that as a starting point, Frazer points out, such technique forms the basis for a wide variety of dance. “We do a class in modern dance as well, but classical ballet doesn’t just mean dancing to classical music. You need that classical ballet foundation to do all types of dance, even all types of sports. We have kids coming through saying, ‘My football coach told me I had to take ballet.’”

Frazer emphasizes that, because of the company’s eclectic performance schedule, their students are not learning in a vacuum. “Being attached to our professional company, the students are seeing these incredible professional dancers, dancing to all kinds of music — classical music, or Patsy Cline, or Roy Orbison, or soul music. We aren’t just doing full length classical ballets. We’re bringing in a lot of up-and-coming choreographers, doing a lot of new work. That lends itself to doing more contemporary movement.”

RISE (Photo: Tre’Bor Jones)

RISE

All three schools are committed to balletic technique as the foundation of their teaching, even as they’re open to more modern forms. Perhaps that’s been the key to the thriving dance culture Memphis is enjoying. And the rapid rise of the most recent addition to the Memphis scene, Collage Dance, is indicative of just how primed the city is for dance education and performance, all wrapped into one.

Founded as a performance company in 2006 by executive director Marcellus Harper and artistic director Kevin Thomas to remediate the ballet industry’s lack of racial diversity, it was originally based in New York, not Memphis. Their mission grew directly out of Thomas’ 10 years of experience as the principal dancer at the Dance Theatre of Harlem. They relocated here the next year and added the conservatory to the organization, sensing that dance was not only gaining momentum but had potential for growth in Memphis.

They were onto something. That same year, in 2007, a video emerged of Lil Buck mixing ballet and jookin’ in a solo to Saint-Saëns’ “The Swan” for an NBE event in West Memphis. It went viral, helping to launch the dancer’s career and raising the profile of Memphis dance as a whole. Meanwhile, Collage worked to find its footing locally, teaching in various host locations from 2009 on, attracting more students every year. And their professional company, officially known as Collage Dance Collective, was building its reputation and touring internationally. 

Karen Nicely, Collage’s community engagement programmer and faculty teacher, has worked with the organization from the start and is not surprised by Collage’s rapid evolution into one of the South’s leading companies and conservatories. “I have been with Collage every year and it’s been amazing to see. It’s grown because of the mission that the guys have: to expand access and quality training to even more communities and especially underserved communities.” The culmination of that came in 2020 when, despite months of quarantine, Collage raised $11 million to build a dedicated dance center of its own. Soon that beautiful modernist building in the heart of Binghampton will spring to life when Collage Dance hosts the International Conference of Blacks and Dance from January 24th to January 28th — the ultimate feather in the cap of the organization that will feature performances by the Collage Dance Collective as well as other internationally celebrated companies. 

Collage’s sense of mission may explain why their most gala event of the year is not The Nutcracker (although the professional Collage Dance Collective does perform the ballet elsewhere during its touring season), but a dance created by Thomas, RISE. While it also includes a mix of the company’s professionals with students, it is inherently more politically and culturally engaged with the modern era than any 19th century ballet could be. It typically takes place during Black History Month, and the 2024 production, scheduled for February 3rd and 4th, will be no different. 

“In RISE, you see the stars of today, which are my professional company, and the stars of tomorrow, which are my students,” says Thomas. “Students are dancing alongside the professionals. So it really feels like a community. I was inspired to do this piece when I went to the National Civil Rights Museum when I first came to Memphis. It just reminded me that we have a history that needs to not be forgotten.”

The specific history evoked is that of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “I use his last speech, his ‘Mountaintop’ speech, to tell our story through movement and music, as you hear his words,” says Thomas. Though the sound design is pre-recorded, it is made all the more powerful through the music of local composers Jonathan Kirkscey and Kirk Kienzle Smith. As Thomas puts it, “We’ve used the music of these two Memphians to create a ballet honoring Martin Luther King’s philosophy, using his powerful speech which talks about the future. And the future is our kids, our students. It’s their future.” 

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New Ballet Ensemble’s NutRemix Returns to the Stage This Weekend

NutRemix dancer (Photo: Mary Gunning)

For nearly two decades, New Ballet Ensemble has been performing its take on Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker with its NutRemix. Set on Beale Street, this performance blends ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, flamenco, Memphis Jookin, and West African dance while the Memphis Symphony Orchestra puts a fresh spin on the original score.

“After a year not on our stage, a lot of our students are coming back, and the show is coming back to life and the love will emanate off the stage,” says Katie Smythe, New Ballet CEO and artistic director who conceived of the show back in 2003. “And the NutRemix is all about love, which is always needed.”

Since its inception, the production has gone through a few minor changes, but it’s always stuck to the same story. “In 2003, you had to be pretty explicit and didactic about social justice themes. It angered some audiences members, and it thrilled others,” Smythe says. “Now, we feel like people come to this show because they want to see this human tapestry on the stage. They embrace it for its diversity, and we’re going to dig deeper into the cultural diversity by bringing in experts of the art forms.”

For next year’s performance, the ensemble plans to explore Colombian, Indian, and Congolese dance. “This year is sort of a fond farewell to the genres that have been in Act II,” Smythe says, “and next year we’re gonna embrace some new genres which is a huge education for our audience, for our dancers, for our students, and for me.”

New Ballet’s NutRemix, Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, 225 N. Main, Saturday, November 20th, 5:30 p.m., and Sunday, November 21st, 2:30 p.m., $20-$45.

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Give Memphis! Great Local Gift Ideas for the Holidays

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

If 2020 has proven anything, it’s that we need to come together to support our community — the health, happiness, and longevity of our fellow Memphians count on it now more than ever. While we may not be able to gather with friends and family for gift exchanges like we have in the past, we can still lift their spirits with thoughtful presents that help our local restaurants, retail outlets, and entrepreneurs keep doing what they do. Think local this season!

A Box of Magic

Have a giftee in your life who seeks to better understand their own power, to look within and outside for growth and restoration? Give them a box of magic, or as Sami Harvey, owner of Foxglove Pharm, calls it: a Coven Box.

“I’ve always been amazed by Mother Nature’s ability to heal, and I love finding new ways to use her ingredients to solve my problems,” Harvey says. “I started Foxglove Pharm in 2017 because I wanted to share some of those solutions with my community.”

Each subscription box ($40/month) includes a rotating variety of handcrafted herbal “remeteas” (About Last Night: Hangover Tea, Out of the Blue: Third Eye Tea, and others), scented oils, Resting Witch Face skincare products, rituals, and more special items that “honor the moon, the current astrological phase, and a featured plant.”

Sami Harvey

Each month, she partners with another local maker or small business to spotlight their wares. For her Foxglove offerings, Harvey is “the only witch in the kitchen,” so the products are small-batch and made with “ethically sourced, organic, sustainable ingredients.”

Regarding the rituals included in a box (or separately on the website), Harvey says, “These aren’t like supernatural spells that will destroy all your enemies and turn Michelle Obama into your BFF. But they’re ways to meditate and channel your energy into manifesting a better reality for yourself. The real magic ingredient is you and your intention.”

Visit foxglovepharm.com to order a Coven Box and shop products. — Shara Clark

Feed an Artist

The old cliché about “starving artists” has seldom been more true. Buying art is often the last thing folks are thinking about during tough times like these, but our Memphis painters and sculptors and photographers — and their galleries — have bills to pay, just like the rest of us. That’s why this might be a great year to put a new painting on your wall, or gift someone a work of art so they’ll be reminded of you every day.

Courtesy Jay Etkin Gallery

Untitled by John Ryan

There are many fine galleries in Memphis. Here are just a few: L Ross, David Lusk, Jay Etkin, Crosstown Arts, Orange Mound Gallery, Art Village, Cooper-Young Gallery, and B. Collective. Artists featured include Matthew Hasty, Jeanne Seagle, John Ryan, Mary Long, Roy Tamboli, Eunika Rogers, Cat Pena, Yancy Villa-Calvo, Hamlett Dobbins, Anne Siems, Tim Craddock, and many, many more. In addition, many galleries are featuring special holiday shows.

End what has been a nightmarish year on an upbeat note: Buy a piece of art. It’s good for your heart. — Bruce VanWyngarden

Let Them Eat Cake

I’d be happy to receive a Memphis Bourbon Caramel Cake from Sugar Avenue Bakery, either in or out of my stocking. This is the Sugar Avenue collaboration with Old Dominick Distillery.

Just listening to Sugar Avenue owner Ed Crenshaw describe the six-inch cake makes me crave a slice or three: “The cake is four layers. Each layer is literally soaked in a bourbon caramel sauce. And then our caramel icing, which we make from scratch.”

Courtesy Ben Fant

Sugar Avenue cake

Sugar Avenue worked with Old Dominick’s master distiller/senior vice president Alex Castle to come up with the perfect blend of cake and bourbon. Old Dominick’s Huling Station Straight Bourbon Whiskey was chosen for the cake, which has “a great hint of bourbon flavor,” Crenshaw says. “We add bourbon to the icing and ice the cake with it.”

To help you get even more into the holiday spirit, Sugar Avenue Bakery recently began adding two-ounce jars of extra caramel sauce with every bourbon-flavored cake.

Memphis Bourbon Caramel Cakes are $55 each, and they’re available at sugaravenue.com. — Michael Donahue

Accessorize in Style

When Memphians need to give the gift of stylish living, they turn to Cheryl Pesce, the jewelry and lifestyle store in Crosstown Concourse. The store takes its name from its owner, Cheryl Pesce, a jewelry maker, entrepreneur, and all-around style guru.

This month, Pesce opened a second store in the Laurelwood Shopping Center, giving Bluff City-area shoppers double the chances to find — and give — stylish accoutrements. “I’m banking on Memphis,” Pesce explains. And Memphis seems ready to support Pesce. “We had a grand open house, social distancing into the parking lot, and it went well.”

Courtesy Cheryl Pesce

Handmade jewelry from Cheryl Pesce

The store opening story is just the tip of the breaking-news iceberg, though. Pesce tells me excitedly that she’s been in touch with fashion designer Patrick Henry, aka Richfresh, about his newly designed Henry Mask. “I spoke with him today and — drumroll — we will now be carrying his masks in my Laurelwood store.”

But wait! That’s still not all. The ink is still fresh on a deal for Pesce to carry Germantown-produced Leovard skincare products. “I will be his only brick-and-mortar store in the country,” Pesce says. “So there are a lot of cool things happening, most of them local.”

In the smaller store in Crosstown, Pesce sells hand-sewn baby items, masks, Christmas ornaments, and anything with the Crosstown logo — she’s the official source for Crosstown-brand goods. Laurelwood is larger and a little more deluxe. “One of the focuses for that store is local and regional artisans,” Pesce says. She carries Mo’s Bows, Paul Edelstein paintings, and, of course, hand-crafted jewelry. “That’s really my wheelhouse.

“My studio is at Laurelwood,” Pesce says, “so not only is it made in Memphis, made by me, but it’s all under one roof now. The store, the studio. You can literally come pick out your own pearls — ‘I want this pearl on that earring’ — and then I craft it for you right there.”

Cheryl Pesce is located at 1350 Concourse Avenue, Suite 125, and at 374 Grove Park Road South, Suite 104. Find out more at (901) 308-6017 or at cherylpesce.com. — Jesse Davis

Good Reads

There’s something that comes from holding the edges of a book and being taken to a distant land or wondrous world. Whether it’s due to happenstance or the crazy and confusing world in which we find ourselves now, I have been reading more and more as the months drag on. To fuel my ever-growing hunger for words and phrases completed on the page, Novel has been my go-to place.

Novel is proof that when you are doing something you love, the results will follow. The bookstore, founded in 2017, is the go-to for other local book enthusiasts, too — and with good reason. Their staff will go to the moon and back to help you find the book that fits you just right, and if you’re looking for something specific, chances are they will be just as excited about it as you are.

Matthew J. Harris

of what gift to give this season.

Many of their aisles have felt like a second home to me the past few months. And with books in every genre, it is often easier to ask them what they don’t have, rather than what they do. Personally, I love their new-this-year home delivery option, which offers a safe way to give the gift of literature this holiday season. — Matthew J. Harris

Hit the Boards

This year has given us plenty of time to learn new skills. And what better way to get your mind pumping in both a constructive and competitive fashion than with a game of chess?

The Memphis Chess Club recently opened its new café/headquarters Downtown at 195 Madison Avenue, and the three levels of annual memberships make for a great gift, whether someone is looking to seriously pursue an interest in the game or just learn a few tips and tricks.

Samuel X. Cicci

A Memphis Chess Club membership isn’t as risky a move as the Queen’s Gambit.

The social membership ($50) allows members to play chess in the café area at any time, with tables, pieces, and clocks all provided. The full membership ($100), meanwhile, affords all of the social perks but provides unlimited and free access to all classes and tournaments, which are held at the club weekly. It also offers discounts on merchandise, and members are able to check out materials from the club’s chess library, which contains old magazines and strategy books.

For whole families looking to kickstart an interest in the game? The family membership ($150) contains all full membership benefits and includes two adults and all the children in a household.

And, hey, if chess isn’t your thing, the spacious café is a great space to just hang out or study while sipping on some brewed-in-house coffee or munching on one of chef Grier Cosby’s specialty pizzas.

Visit memphischessclub.com/join for more information. — Samuel X. Cicci

The Gift of Grub

Food is fun and helps define Memphis culture. Those who make that food and fun are in trouble.

Restaurants have maybe suffered more than any small business during this pandemic. Restrictions on them have come and gone and may come again soon. Memphis restaurateurs have shown amazing resilience in these ups and downs. They’ve shifted business models, adapted to the latest health directives, and adjusted staff levels (laying off workers and hiring them back) to match it all.

Memphis Restaurant Association/Facebook

Support local restaurants — so they can stick around.

However, we forever lost some Memphis favorites, like Lucky Cat and Grove Grill. The National Restaurant Association said nearly 100,000 restaurants across the country closed either permanently or for the long-term six months into the pandemic. Nearly 3 million employees have lost their jobs. Help restaurants out and have food fun, too. This holiday season, buy gift cards from our local restaurants.

At the pandemic’s beginning in March, we told you about a national push to buy “dining bonds” or “restaurant bonds.” Many Memphis restaurants jumped in — many selling gift cards at deep discounts. For restaurants, gift cards are quick infusions of cash, helpful in tough times.

So instead of that scarf you’re kind of on the fence about, spend the same amount on a restaurant they love. It’ll be unexpected and, yes, come with some delayed gratification — delicious delayed gratification. Present it not as a gift card but as that dish they love from that place they love.

Sing it with me: “Everybody knows, a burger and some mistletoe help to make the season bright. Memphis foodies, with their eyes all aglow, will find it hard to sleep tonight.”

Gift cards are available at almost every restaurant and for almost any amount. Check websites and socials for details. — Toby Sells

Music to Their Ears

Remember when giving music was a thing? Physical things like LPs, CDs, and cassettes could be wrapped. But now that everything’s ethereal, there’s still a way to give the gift that keeps on giving: Patreon. Musicians are embracing this platform more and more, and it’s working for them. A subscription to their accounts may just be the perfect gift for the superfan in your life who already has everything.

Mike Doughty (Soul Coughing, Ghost of Vroom) relies on his Patreon subscribers for both income and inspiration. As he told the Detroit Metro Times, “Doing a song a week is amazing, and that is really what, if I had my druthers, I’d do for the rest of my life.” Patrons can subscribe at different levels, each with premiums like CDs and T-shirts, but everyone paying at least $5 a month can access Doughty’s song-a-week and more.

Greg Cravens

Other Memphis-affiliated singer/songwriters like Eric Lewis, J.D. Reager, and (coming in December) Marcella and Her Lovers also have accounts. And last month, label and music retailer Goner Records began offering Patreon subscriptions that include access to the Goner archives and exclusive music and videos.

Patreon’s site notes that “there isn’t currently a way to gift patronage,” but if you get creative, you can search for an artist on patreon.com and buy a subscription in a friend’s or family member’s name — and they can thank you all through the year. — Alex Greene

Support Arts and Culture

“A plague on both your houses!” cried the dying Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, and it seems the COVID-19 pandemic took that sentiment to heart, emptying out our theaters and concert halls and thinning out attendance at museums. But still they persisted. The organizations behind the arts we love are still at work online, virtually, distancing, and striving to keep the arts alive — especially in programs aimed at young people.

You can help the old-fashioned way by getting season subscriptions and memberships for whenever the lights come back on — and they could use that support right now. Or make a simple donation. Help keep Memphis culture alive by giving gifts on behalf of the following, but don’t be limited by this partial list — if you have other favorites, give them a cup o’ kindness as well.

Jon W. Sparks

Spring, Summer, Fall at the Brooks Museum by Wheeler Williams

Performing arts organizations:

• Playhouse on the Square (playhouseonthesquare.org)

• Theatre Memphis (theatrememphis.org)

• Opera Memphis (operamemphis.org)

• Ballet Memphis (balletmemphis.org)

• New Ballet Ensemble (newballet.org)

• Cazateatro (cazateatro.org)

• New Moon Theatre (newmoontheatre.org)

• Hattiloo Theatre (hattiloo.org)

• Tennessee Shakespeare Company (tnshakespeare.org)

• Memphis Black Arts Alliance (memphisblackarts.org)

• Emerald Theatre Company (etcmemphistheater.com)

Museums and galleries:

• Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (brooksmuseum.org)

• Dixon Gallery and Gardens (dixon.org)

• National Civil Rights Museum (civilrightsmuseum.org)

• Metal Museum (metalmuseum.org)

• Stax Museum of American Soul Music (staxmuseum.com)

• Pink Palace Museum (memphismuseums.org)

• Children’s Museum of Memphis (cmom.com)

• Fire Museum of Memphis (firemuseum.org) — Jon W. Sparks

Basket or Box It for a Gift That Rocks It

Need something sweet for your honey this holiday season? Thistle & Bee has the gift that gives twice. A relaxing gift box contains raw Memphis honey, a milk and honey soap bar, and a pure beeswax candle ($20). Every item is handcrafted and directly supports women survivors to thrive through a journey of healing and hope.

Social enterprise director at Thistle & Bee, Ali Pap Chesney, drops a stinger: “We partner with other businesses, too. Feast & Graze uses our honey.”

Feast & Graze/Facebook

Feast & Graze

The cheese and charcuterie company Feast & Grace is co-owned by Cristina McCarter, who happens to co-own City Tasting Box. Boxes are filled with goodies promoting local Black-owned businesses like Pop’s Kernel and The Waffle Iron. An exclusive limited-quantity holiday gift box, Sugar and Spice, just rolled out for the season in two sizes — regular ($74.99) and ultimate ($124.99).

Memphis Gift Basket is owned by Jesse James, who says he is rolling out a new logo this week. Along with the new logo are new products for baskets ($55-$100) that focus on diversity by including more women- and minority-owned businesses, in addition to local items with iconic names like The Rendezvous and Memphis magazine. Guess what else you might find in a Memphis Gift Basket? Thistle & Bee honey.

Now that we’ve come full circle, check out these gift box and basket businesses, as well as partnering companies, for errbody on your holiday list — including that corporate gift list.

Visit thistleandbee.org, citytastingbox.com (use code SHIP100 for free shipping on orders over $100), and memphisgiftbasket.com for more. — Julie Ray

Lights, Camera, Action

A lot of businesses have been hard-hit during the pandemic, and movie theaters have been near the top of the list. With social distancing-limited theater capacity and Hollywood studios delaying major releases into next year in the hopes a vaccine will rekindle attendance, theater chains like Memphis-based Malco have been in dire straits. The exception has been drive-in theaters, like the Malco Summer Drive-In, which have seen a renaissance in 2020.

If you want to support this local institution and give a treat to the movie-lover in your life, you can buy them a Malco gift card. Available in any denomination from $10 to $500, the gift cards can be used for movie tickets and concessions for any film now or in the future. You can also enroll in the Malco Marquee Rewards program, which allows frequent moviegoers to earn points toward free tickets and concessions.

Greg Cravens

Malco has taken extraordinary steps to ensure the safety of its patrons, including mandatory masks, improved air filters, and non-contact payment options. And if you’re not comfortable sharing a theater with strangers right now, there’s a great option: The Malco Select program allows you to rent an entire theater for a screening of any film on the marquee — and that includes screenings in the massive IMAX theaters at the Paradiso. Prices start at $100, which works out pretty well if you want to watch Wonder Woman 1984 with your pod this holiday season. And if the person you’re buying for is a gamer, Malco has a brand-new option. With Malco Select Gaming, you can bring your system to the theater and play Call of Duty or The Last of Us on the biggest possible screen. — Chris McCoy

Categories
Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Four Memphis Arts Organizations Receive NEA Grants

It’s a tough time for the arts. With performance venues shuttered by COVID-19 and the associated economic downturn hurting donations, arts nonprofits are struggling to make ends meet. Four Memphis arts organizations got some welcome relief this week when they learned they have been selected to receive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

All four grants were awarded through the Art Works program. The New Ballet Ensemble was selected for a $40,000 Arts Education grant. Opera Memphis will receive a $25,000 grant. In the theater category, Hattiloo Theatre was chosen for a $25,000 grant. And Indie Memphis will receive its first-ever NEA Media Arts grant worth $20,000.

In total, 18 grants worth $1.2 million will go to arts organizations in Tennessee. The largest is the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, which is slated for a $75,000 Our Town grant for design. The Dogwood Arts Festival and the Big Ears experimental music festival in Knoxville were also chosen. Among the 10 organizations in Nashville chosen for grants are the Nashville Children’s Theatre, the Nashville Symphony, and Vanderbilt University. By far the largest grant this funding cycle went to the Tennessee Arts Commission, which received $846,100 as part of the State and Regional Partnerships program.

In all, more than $84 million in competitive grants were awarded across all U.S. states and territories. The NEA is also supplying technical support for these organizations to help them adapt their programming to help stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.

 

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

Grand News – New Ballet Ensemble Receives $30,000 Via National Endowment for the Arts

New Ballet Ensemble

Great news for Memphis’ forward-thinking, fusion-oriented classical dance troupe. New Ballet Ensemble & School (NBES) has been awarded a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

The money awarded to NBES will enable the continuation of dance residency programs in the Orange Mound community.

“Organizations such as New Ballet Ensemble & School are giving people in their community the opportunity to learn, create, and be inspired,” Mary Anne Carter, acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, wrote in a prepared statement.

Via press materials:

“The NEA grant award will support NBES’ residency programs in Orange Mound schools, including Dunbar Elementary. NBES has been working with Dunbar Elementary since 2007, and NEA support has helped grow the partnership over the years with tuition-free, after-school classes in ballet, hip-hop, Flamenco, and West African dance. NEA funding will also support students who are moving from Dunbar into the NBES studio program on scholarship for advanced training.
In 2019, NBES will graduate three seniors who began their training at Dunbar in 2007 and advanced through the studio program. These three students collectively earned $4,138,188 in scholarships from the various colleges they applied to, and all received full scholarships to their colleges of choice, including Vanderbilt University, Christian Brothers University, and Xavier University of Louisiana. ”

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We Recommend We Recommend

New Ballet Ensemble’s Nut ReMix

CREDIT: Jimmie Hewitt

The bad news is that Lil Buck, Memphis’ international jookin’ ambassador who wowed hometown audiences in last season’s Nut ReMix, won’t be performing in New Ballet Ensemble’s retooled take on The Nutcracker this year. He’s on the road dancing with Madonna’s Rebel Heart tour and promoting a newly launched line of sneakers, Lil Buck for Versace. Okay, maybe there’s nothing bad about that news at all, especially considering the lineup for this year’s holiday treat.

Nut ReMix fuses classical performances with Memphis street style. It moves Tchaikovsky’s seasonal favorite to Beale Street and infuses the story with international flavors. The reimagined piece showcases the talents of 145 dancers including New Ballet Ensemble (NBE) jookin’ standouts Shamar Rooks and Marquez “Spider” Alexander, as well as ballerina Briana Brown, who accepted NBE’s National Youth Program Award from Michelle Obama last year. Maxx Reed, whose professional credits include dancing for Michael Jackson and playing the high-swinging title role in Broadway’s Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, will also perform.

Jimmie Hewitt

Nut ReMix

Music for Nut ReMix will be provided by the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mei-Ann Chen, who is leaving her position with the symphony in 2016. Symphony player and arranger Sam Shoup scored the ballet’s climatic hip-hop battle between the Rat King and the Nutcracker.

Reed is another fantastic NBE success story. When the company’s founder Katie Smythe saw him dancing on the street in Cooper-Young and asked him if he’d like to train with her school and company, Reed’s answer was an unequivocal: “No!” So Smythe bribed him with tickets to a dance performance at Germantown Performing Arts Center, and that did the trick. In addition to playing the world’s most popular superhero eight shows a week for five years running and being hand-picked to audition for the King of Pop, Reed has appeared in numerous commercials and music videos. Not too shabby for a kid who wasn’t the least bit interested in jumping around in tights.

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We Recommend We Recommend

New Ballet Ensemble’s FreeFall and Ballet Memphis’ The Little Prince

There are two notable ballet events this weekend: New Ballet Ensemble’s (NBE) annual FreeFall concert featuring a new contemporary ballet by NBE alum Maxx Reed and Ballet Memphis’ production of The Little Prince.

Reed was 13 years old when NBE founder Katie Smythe first saw him performing on a street corner in Cooper-Young with other dancers from Graffiti Playground, a neighborhood program offering free performing-arts training for kids. When Smythe asked Reed if he’d like to visit her studio and dance with some ballerinas, the teenager didn’t even need to think about it. “Nope,” he said. That just didn’t sound fun at all. But Smythe eventually changed his mind, and Reed’s mix of street smarts and classical training have since resulted in a number of professional dance opportunities, including a chance to perform as Spider-Man on Broadway.

Ballet Memphis’ The Little Prince

NBE’s FreeFall also features a German-inspired dance created by Elizabeth Corbett, and a French and Spanish piece with choreography by NBE flamenco instructor, Noelia Garcia Carmona. Tickets are free, but proceeds from donations support scholarships for NBE students.

Ballet Memphis launches its 2015 season in the Memphis Botanic Garden with an adaptation of The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic children’s book for adults. And where better than under the moon and stars to take in the bittersweet story of a little boy from another planet who has met many peculiar grown-ups on his way to Earth. The Little Prince will be followed by a special New York tour preview Water of the Slippery Flower Mill.

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

Most Buck: The complete interview with Jookin superstar Charles “Lil Buck” Riley

CREDIT: Courtesy of New Ballet Ensemble & School

Courtesy of New Ballet Ensemble & School

Lil Buck

If you’ve read this week’s Memphis Flyer cover package then you’ve already encountered most of  the Lil Buck interview I’m posting below. But there was a lot of good stuff that had to be cut from the street edition, and I wanted to give digital readers a chance to check out the whole conversation. It’s worth the redundancy, I promise. Especially if you’re a dance fan and want to know about the history of Jookin.

Memphis Flyer: You’re a really fantastic ambassador for Memphis. Everywhere you go you make us look good.

Charles “Lil Buck” Riley: I love it. And I love the city. It made me who I am now. And I’ve learned so much from living in Memphis. We do have so much to offer. And jookin is only one of those things. It came out of the gangsta walk and that’s been around since the 1980s. My mom used to do it. So it’s more than just a dance, we’ve made it into a tradition. And I love being an ambassador for the style because I understand it wholeheartedly.

I love being a gypsy. I love the traveling and sharing what’s so good about this city.

You’re only 26, and have achieved a level of pop star success most dancers never know. How is it that you seem so grounded?

It’s easy to be. I think it’s harder not to be grounded. It’s really simple to be grounded and stay humble. Some people try not to be. Some people gravitate toward that, and you see a lot of that in the industry. But — and this is something I don’t think I’ve ever talked about — I was born in Chicago and raised in Memphis. I moved to Memphis at a very young age. And I’ve been through so much in my life. I grew up with nothing. And I lived with my mom and my whole family in my grandmama’s basement. It’s all we could afford.
When you come from things like this, and you have so much perspective as to how your life has changed and turned around for the better, you want to do everything you can to uphold that. Because it’s more than just my skills that have gotten me to where I’m at now. It’s who I am as a person.

And, like you always say, jookers take their power from the Earth.

Well, you know, it is a really spiritual dance. It was something born here. Kids grow up into it. We use our feet and it’s predominantly freestyle, so it comes from the soul. You spend time with just you and your body, you know? You learn a lot about yourself with this style.

Jookin isn’t just a Memphis thing anymore, it’s all over the world. But it’s still growing here. There are jookin studios, and companies, and you’ve also still got folks getting together in parking lots and barber shops learning the original gangsta walk. Do you try to keep up with what’s happening at home?

Absolutely. I already know what you’re getting at. I’m coming back to Memphis on the 18th and whenever I come home, we have exhibition battles just for the fun of it. And I’ll get in and dance with anybody. I go to people’s houses and we have sessions in the garage. Those are my favorite moments and those are the things I miss about Memphis. I miss my family the most. But then I miss the old way we used to do things. All this started in streets, and parking lots, and barber shops and garages. This is where we found ourselves, and it’s the setting we were comfortable with. We didn’t need anything fancy. Sometimes I just can’t wait to get back home and in the garage with my friends where we can just go at it like we used to, and dance.

Most Buck: The complete interview with Jookin superstar Charles ‘Lil Buck’ Riley (2)

When you see your old friends after dancing with Madonna is it weird?

I’m the same Lil Buck that left. They love it when I come back because they know how much I love Memphis and how much I love jookin. People don’t get starstruck because they know where I’m from. They knew me before and I still don’t consider myself a star. I’m just getting appreciated for doing what I love.

But you have to know, you are kind of a star. We have lots of movie stars and rock stars. But pop culture only taps a few dancers every generation and you get to be one of them.

Exactly. That was my goal. Dancers used to be seen on the same platform as actors. Especially triple threats like Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. They looked good. They dressed nice. They had a passion for what they were doing and went full out 100 percent. I want to bring that back. That level of respect.

I know you’re a student of all kinds of dance, but I have to admit, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire weren’t the role models I was anticipating. But it makes complete sense.

Absolutely. These guys could dance and sing and do acting. But when they danced it was the most amazing thing ever. Dance has been watered down. People see it as a background for other artists. And it’s gone from a clean look to sweat pants and a t-shirt. And the look’s no problem, it’s a style. It’s hiphop. I just did it a little different. I did it like the guys did it back in the day.

It doesn’t seem to matter if you’re street performing or on TV with a celebrity host in front of millions, you exude comfort and confidence.

Everybody puts on their pants the same way. And street performing helped get me to that point. When I first started street performing, it was on Beale Street. When you’re street performing, you really have to develop your communication skills and learn how to be a people person. When I first moved to California, I performed in Santa Monica on the Third Street Promenade. And you’d get so many people down there and so many celebrities. If I noticed a celebrity was watching us, I’d make a joke. Everybody would laugh and they’d laugh too. And you get comfortable.

You know, you mention how dance sometimes gets pushed to the background. But great Gangsta Walkers became like neighborhood celebrities. Outside of Memphis people may not know names like Wolf, Romeo, or Lil Fred, but if you drop those names in parts of Memphis people still get excited.

Absolutely. You know there’s a reason why, back in the day, Jookin stayed so underground.

I’d always heard it was because MC Hammer came to Memphis right before he got famous and saw people doing the Gangsta Walk. People thought he copied the moves, right?

Exactly, everybody knows about the MC Hammer thing. That’s why nobody ever taught Jookin back in the day. Because it was vulnerable. People could catch onto it quicker. My first mission was to really get this dance style out there. But I was originally in the no teaching zone too. People would ask and I’d say, “I can’t teach you.” Because of the effect [the MC Hammer incident] had on the style. Which didn’t turn out to be a bad thing, really.

Okay, now this is interesting. Because I’ve always heard about how the dance went underground, but I never understood that, really. People made tapes, and they battled in public. How was it underground?

It’s because it had gotten so complex. It was extremely hard to learn without being taught by someone who’s from Memphis. Or by someone taught by someone from Memphis. Because, it’s more than just a dance. It’s the feeling you get when you listen to underground Memphis rap. It’s hard to learn how to Jook if you’re starting out with a different kind of music, basically. You really have to dig deep into the roots of it and listen to some Three 6 Mafia or some DJ Squeeky, to catch the essence.

The way it’s always been explained to me— and it has to be explained very simply because I just cannot dance— is that it evolved out of a line dance. Instead of reacting to just the bass, or just the high-hat, or just a rhythm or flow, it was an attempt to be responsive to the whole song. Getting buck was basically becoming a physical extension of the entire composition.

Exactly. And that music gave you a certain feeling that made you bounce a certain way. It just happened naturally. And it all ties into the “HUHs!” You know, how somebody hits the downbeat and everybody yells “HUH!” It’s the most incredible feeling ever.

Right.

For instance you see an actor like Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie Django. That was the most unbelieveable role I’ve ever seen. Because he captured the essence of an old school Southern guy so well. You didn’t even know it was Leo. In that way Jookin is like acting. I want to be the song. To be the vessel for that sound. It’s a challenge. It’s almost mathematical.

You’ve taught a lot of celebrities how to Gangsta Walk, from Madonna to Meryl Streep and Katie Couric. Who gets it and who needs to go home?

First of all, Stephen Colbert, he’s money. He absolutely should learn. He caught on to the buck jump so fast it was ridiculous. When you’re doing a buck jump it’s knee up, not foot down. A lot of people don’t get that. It used to frustrate the hell out of me. But Stephen Colbert caught on and he looked good doing it. So he could do it for sure. Katie Couric? She would need a lot of work, especially if she wants to keep her heels on. But I love her to death. She did alright for a first time. My friend JR the visual artist caught on pretty fast. Madonna caught on fast. She has dance background. I taught her to buck jump and to glide, and she just does it like it’s nothing. She’s a sponge for dance.

Who are some of your biggest Memphis influences?

I never really get to share about the people who really started me off and got me to this level and who gave me information that has stuck with me throughout my life and career. You know they call Marico Flake “Dr. Rico” for a reason: He’s a doctor of dance. He doesn’t just know about jookin; he’s a renaissance man who knows about a little bit of everything, from ballet to country dancing. We met in the parking lot of the Martini Room. Daniel Price is one of my biggest influences. When I sucked, he’d say, “All I can say, it don’t look gangsta enough.” And that would kill me.

Keviorr, aka “Tiptoe,” also kept it real. We used to be rivals. He was already known as an explosive jooker, because he’d been around all the old school guys and had a reputation. I battled him at the Crystal Palace, not knowing who he was, because he used to go to East End Skating rink. I was the man in Crystal Palace, which was closer to Westwood. When me and him finally battled, everybody was around. And Keviorr was kicking my butt.

He said, “You’re good. I’m not going to talk bad about you. But you’re just going too fast. Your waves are too fast and people can’t see what you’re doing. You’ve got to slow down a little, that’s all.”
To hear that from the underground master of jookin? Man! Because he was like a ninja: Battle hungry, and battle ready. If he said you were good, you were good.

Most Buck: The complete interview with Jookin superstar Charles ‘Lil Buck’ Riley

And these are all guys you met as a result of Young Jai making his Memphis Jookin Vol. 1 video?

Most of the guys I met in a in a parking lot in front of the old martini room shooting Memphis Jookin Vol. 1. That was like my big break, really. I lived in Westwood, so, you know, you see the same people every day. It was kind of far from everything else that was going on in the city. This is when I finally got in front of these guys and I got to share my style. This — not being on TV but THIS— is the point where I was nervous. I never get nervous in front of celebrities. But this was my first time dancing in front of these guys. And these guys were the celebrities back in the day, and still are. These guys moved better than Michael Jackson. I couldn’t name a person who moved better than them and everybody was in awe of MY moves. And not only were they super supportive, cheering me on when I was dancing, they actually took time out to get my number and information. We can fix you up. They molded me. That’s a priceless thing. One of the most important things that happened to me in my life.

[Editor’s note: In a text following our conversation Lil Buck said he also wanted to mention Bobo, the very first person he ever noticed Jookin at the Crystal palace. In a 2011 interview with The Flyer, Buck described the moment he traded visual art for dance: “This man was dancing, and it was so fluid it was like he was made out of liquid… Everybody was giving him so much praise. That’s when I quit drawing and started dancing.”]

The time you spent training and dancing with New Ballet Ensemble is really important, obviously. It’s where you first do The Swan and all. But this is a huge moment. I don’t know if Jai knows what an important cultural document he made with Memphis Jookin Vol. 1, by bringin together all the best dancers from the neighborhoods, and getting them all in one place.

They don’t get the recognition they deserve. Sometimes I mention them in an interview but they don’t make it into the story. I love when I have interviews like this and can talk about U-Dig Jookin Academy and Subculture Royalty.

But now lets talk about your time at New Ballet Ensemble for a minute, since it’s why you’re coming back to town this time. Also, a really important part of your style.

Me taking ballet at New Ballet Ensemble helped a lot. It was a whole different way of learning your body. If I learned one thing from Bruce Lee, It’s that I didn’t want to limit myself to one style. I wanted to learn more than one way of doing something. It’s a process of continuous growth. You’re constantly growing and expanding physically and mentally as well. So I was alway open to taking ballet, I just didn’t want to wear tights. So Katie [Smythe, NBE’s founder and CEO], said I didn’t have to. I learned so many ways to use your core, and all the similarities jookin and ballet had. I gained so much respect for ballet dancers. I got more my flexibility and grace. It makes a difference, and I love it.

Unique is a word that gets thrown around so much I wonder if people even know what it means. But what New Ballet does really is different. It’s been clumsy at times, when all the pieces were just coming together, but seems to have become one of the special places where a person can go and see something new; something that’s not ballet, or flamenco, or jookin, or modern, but some new rock-and-roll.

It is unique. They’ve bridged the gaps between different styles. And it is rare. A lot of people just don’t do that. The more places I’ve been the more I see just how rare it is. A lot of people are afraid to do it to be honest. It’s like how in karate a lot of masters don’t want you to learn a different kind of style, because it’s not “our way.” New Ballet saw the value in the fusion when Subculture Royalty and New Ballet started working together. We kind of helped open Katie’s eyes to the beaty of fusion. And she’s been on that path since, and her vision has become even more vivid. I was a part of Subculture Royalty with Terron Cook Geary when we started doing things together. This opened eyes for all of us. There’s something special here, and we can grow from this.

Most Buck: The complete interview with Jookin superstar Charles ‘Lil Buck’ Riley (3)

Now you’re a citizen of the world. You could be performing anywhere this weekend, but you’ve come back to dance with New Ballet.

Of course. Why wouldn’t I? That’s as simple as I can put it. That’s my home. I love living everywhere. It’s always fun to meet people and learn new cultures. But I love coming home. There’s beautiful and negative stuff all over the world. And in Memphis there is more beauty and negativity. It’s just the way it’s been advertised and the way we look at ourselves.

That attitude makes what you do really important, you know?

I am very aware of it. I know that with this great power I have comes great responsibility. It’s true. Corny as it sounds, it’s one of the realest lines I’ve ever heard. Whoever can dance like this, you can change someone’s emotions. When people see me dance I see them fill up. I see me with people’s emotions in their hand. You can make somebody happy in an instant. That’s so powerful and you don’t want to use that the wrong way. This is what we have in Memphis. And this is what we can be if we can just open our eyes and see the beauty. 

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Cover Feature News

Getting Buck

CREDIT: Courtesy of New Ballet Ensemble & School

New York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay came to Memphis earlier this year to learn more about jookin, a home-grown dance style he went on to describe as, “a virtuoso hip-hop descendant of the Gangsta Walk,” and “the single most exciting young dance genre of our day, featuring, in particular, the most sensationally diverse use of footwork.”

Though Memphis has produced a number of extraordinary jookers, none is better known than Charles “Lil Buck” Riley, who’s coming home this week to perform in New Ballet Ensemble’s (NBE) annual holiday show, Nut Remix.

Courtesy of New Ballet Ensemble & School

Riley, who trained for a time with NBE, appeared in Memphis dance historian Young Jai’s video documentary Memphis Jookin: Vol. I. He first achieved notoriety when filmmaker Spike Jonze posted a cell phone video of Buck performing Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Swan, accompanied by celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Buck has since starred in a series of Gap commercials, danced with Madonna, and performed with the New York City Ballet and Cirque du Soleil. In 2012, he was listed as one of Dance Magazine‘s “25 to Watch,” and he has more than lived up to the prediction. As it happens, he’s also a great interviewee.

Courtesy of New Ballet Ensemble & School

Memphis Flyer: You’re a really fantastic ambassador for Memphis. Everywhere you go you make us look good.

Charles “Lil Buck” Riley: I love it. And I love the city. It made me who I am now. And I’ve learned so much from living in Memphis. We do have so much to offer. And jookin is only one of those things. It came out of the gangsta walk, and that’s been around since the 1980s. My mom used to do it. So it’s more than just a dance, we’ve made it into a tradition. And I love being an ambassador for the style because I understand it wholeheartedly.

You’re only 26 and have achieved a level of pop star success most dancers never know. How are you still so grounded?

It’s easy to be. I think it’s harder not to be grounded. It’s really simple to be grounded and stay humble. Some people try not to be. Some people gravitate toward that, and you see a lot of that in the industry. But — and this is something I don’t think I’ve ever talked about — I was born in Chicago and raised in Memphis. I moved to Memphis at a very young age. And I’ve been through so much in my life. I grew up with nothing. And I lived with my mom and my whole family in my grandmama’s basement. It’s all we could afford.

When you come from things like this, and you have so much perspective as to how your life has changed and turned around for the better, you want to do everything you can to uphold that. Because it’s more than just my skills that have gotten me to where I’m at now. It’s who I am as a person.

And, like you always say, jookers take their power from the earth.

Well, you know, it is a really spiritual dance. It was something born here. Kids grow up into it. We use our feet and it’s predominantly freestyle, so it comes from the soul. You spend time with just you and your body, you know? You learn a lot about yourself with this style.

Jookin isn’t just a Memphis thing anymore, it’s all over the world. But it’s still growing here with jookin studios and companies, and folks meeting in parking lots and barber shops learning the original gangsta walk. Do you keep up with what’s happening at home?

Absolutely. I already know what you’re getting at. I’m coming back to Memphis and whenever I come home, we have exhibition battles just for the fun of it. And I’ll get in and dance with anybody. I go to people’s houses and we have sessions in the garage. Those are my favorite moments, and those are the things I miss about Memphis. I miss my family the most. But then I miss the old way we used to do things. Sometimes I just can’t wait to get back home and in the garage with my friends where we can just go at it like we used to, and dance.

When you see your old friends after dancing with Madonna, is it weird?

I’m the same Lil Buck that left. They love it when I come back because they know how much I love Memphis and how much I love jookin. People don’t get star struck because they know where I’m from. They knew me before, and I still don’t consider myself a star. I’m just getting appreciated for doing what I love.

But you are kind of a star. We have lots of movie stars and rock stars. But pop culture only taps a few dancers every generation and you get to be one of them.

Exactly. That was my goal. Dancers used to be seen on the same platform as actors. Especially triple threats like Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. They looked good. They dressed nice. They had a passion for what they were doing and went full out 100 percent. I want to bring that back. That level of respect.

It doesn’t seem to matter if you’re street performing or on TV in front of millions, you exude comfort and confidence.  

Everybody puts on their pants the same way. And street performing helped get me to that point. When I first started street performing, it was on Beale Street. When you’re street performing, you really have to develop your communication skills and learn how to be a people person. When I first moved to California, I performed in Santa Monica on the Third Street Promenade. And you’d get so many people down there and so many celebrities. If I noticed a celebrity was watching us, I’d make a joke. Everybody would laugh and they’d laugh too. And you get comfortable.

You’ve taught a lot of celebrities how to gangsta walk, from Madonna to Meryl Streep and Katie Couric. Who gets it and who needs to go home?

First of all, Stephen Colbert, he’s money. He absolutely should learn. He caught on to the buck jump so fast it was ridiculous. When you’re doing a buck jump it’s knee up, not foot down. A lot of people don’t get that. It used to frustrate the hell out of me. But Stephen Colbert caught on, and he looked good doing it. So he could do it for sure. Katie Couric? She would need a lot of work, especially if she wants to keep her heels on. But I love her to death. She did all right for a first time.

Who are some of your biggest Memphis influences?

I never really get to share about the people who really started me off and got me to this level and who gave me information that has stuck with me throughout my life and career. You know they call Marico Flake “Dr. Rico” for a reason: He’s a doctor of dance. He doesn’t just know about jookin; he’s a renaissance man who knows about a little bit of everything, from ballet to country dancing. Daniel Price is one of my biggest influences. When I sucked, he’d say, “All I can say, it don’t look gangsta enough.” And that would kill me.

Keviorr, aka “Tip Toe,” also kept it real. We used to be rivals. He was already known as an explosive jooker, because he’d been around all the old-school guys and had a reputation. I battled him at the Crystal Palace, not knowing who he was, because he used to go to East End Skating rink. I was the man in Crystal Palace, which was closer to Westwood. When me and him finally battled, everybody was around. And Keviorr was kicking my butt.

He said, “You’re good. I’m not going to talk bad about you. But you’re just going too fast. Your waves are too fast and people can’t see what you’re doing. You’ve got to slow down a little, that’s all.”

To hear that from the underground master of jookin? Man! Because he was like a ninja: Battle hungry and battle ready. If he said you were good, you were good.

Courtesy of New Ballet Ensemble & School

2008 production of Springloaded

And now you’re a citizen of the world, dancing your way around the world. But you still take time to come back and perform with New Ballet Ensemble.

Of course. Why wouldn’t I? That’s as simple as I can put it. That’s my home. I love living everywhere. It’s always fun to meet people and learn new cultures. But I love coming home. There’s beautiful and negative stuff all over the world. And in Memphis there is more beauty and negativity. It’s just the way it’s been advertised and the way we look at ourselves.

That attitude makes what you do really important, you know?

I am very aware of it. I know that with this great power I have comes great responsibility. It’s true. Corny as it sounds, it’s one of the realest lines I’ve ever heard.

Justin Fox Burks

NBE founder and CEO Katie Smythe with dancers

New Ballet Ensemble

Great Power. Great Responsibility. Great Dance.

Katie Smythe doesn’t know when she’ll retire, but the founder and CEO of Memphis’ New Ballet Ensemble (NBE) is looking ahead and fantasizing a little, imagining what her life might be like in the future, when she finally passes the baton to a new leader, preferably a former student who knows the school and understands the mission.

“Maybe I could call myself the Chief Creative Officer,” she says, smiling, trying on one of several new titles she might assume when she’s no longer running the show. “I could be that.”

Smythe has every reason to contemplate a happy future — 2014 has been an especially affirming year for her and for all the dancers, teachers, and students at NBE, a 13-year-old professional dance company and school that helped to launch the spectacular career of jookin ambassador Charles Riley, known to dance fans around the world as Lil Buck.

“In the beginning, I think everybody thought I’d lost my mind, even my husband,” Smythe says, recalling early responses to her business pitch. In 2001, the lifelong dancer and sometimes soap opera actress wanted nothing more than to create professional dance opportunities in Memphis, and to train as many students as possible, regardless of their ability to pay.

Smythe had a specific vision for the future, but even she couldn’t have predicted the impact that moves born in Memphis clubs, skating rinks, and parking lots could have when they were blended with traditional ballet and the various other international dance styles that would find a home at NBE.

“New Ballet sees the value in the fusion,” Lil Buck says, remembering when Terran Gary’s Subculture Royalty Dance Company first started sharing space at NBE in 2005. At first, there wasn’t much crossover between the street dancers and Smythe’s ballet students, but that changed.

In April, NBE’s reputation earned the company an invitation to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. to perform original work commissioned for the National Symphony Orchestra’s “New Moves” mini-festival. NBE’s “Harlem” was choreographed by Smythe, set to music by Duke Ellington, and showcased the talents of NBE company member Shamar Rooks.

The Washington Post described the company’s performance as, “simply dazzling, eliciting an audience response that dwarfed all that had gone before.”

Justin Fox Burks

NBE dancer Briana Brown

This month, Smythe returned once again to the nation’s capital, this time with 17-year-old dancer and student Briana Brown in tow. Brown, who started training with NBE at age 7, represented her fellow students when the White House honored New Ballet’s educational branch, alongside 11 other life-changing after-school arts programs selected to receive the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award.  

Brown, whose smile threatened to break her face as she accepted a hug from First Lady Michelle Obama, called NBE’s award, “A huge responsibility.”

NBE brings its landmark 2014 season to a close this weekend, when the company partners with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra for a very special revival of Nut Remix, the company’s locally bent but internationally flavored take on The Nutcracker. In addition to moving the company’s annual holiday show from GPAC to the Cannon Center, this year’s Remix also reunites two of NBE’s most successful alumni, Lil Buck and Maxx Reed, who spent five years web-slinging in red-and-blue tights, playing Spider-Man in the U2-scored Broadway musical, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.

Lil Buck’s unprecedented journey from relative obscurity, dancing at The Crystal Palace skating rink in South Memphis to dancing with Madonna at Superbowl XLVI, is well documented. But Reed’s quieter story is also indicative of the kind of work that happens at NBE, and his career path represents a more realistic trajectory for working dancers.

“Ms. Katie literally found me dancing on the street corner,” says Reed, who was 13 and performing at the Cooper-Young festival with other dancers from DeWayne Hambrick’s Graffiti Playground, a Midtown-based program that offered free performing arts training to young people.

“Ms. Katie asked if I’d like to dance with some ballerinas and I said, ‘Nope,'” Reed recalls. “That just didn’t sound fun to me at all.” Instead of giving up, Smythe offered to get tickets for Reed and his mother to see the Chicago-based Hubbard Street Dance Company at GPAC.

Justin Fox Burks

NBE alum Maxx Reed

“It was amazing,” Reed says, recalling how the Hubbard Street performance awakened something in him. “I used to dance competitively, but it was expensive,” he explains. “And I quit after I heard my parents arguing about a credit card. I felt like I was too much of a burden or something.”

The Hubbard Street concert changed Reed’s mind about dancing with ballerinas. If Smythe could train him to dance like the men he’d seen and there was a chance that he could someday make money doing that, he was all in.  

“Here were these incredible technical dancers,” Reed says of Hubbard Street. “These powerful men were doing all these jumps and turns. They were like bears moving through space and eating up space in this incredible display of power and beauty.” The teenaged street performer was especially impressed by the chair-jumps and spins of a dancer named Christopher Tierney.

“Here’s the crazy thing,” Reed says. “On my first day doing Spider-Man on Broadway, I went back to the dressing room to meet my castmates for the first time. It turns out I was sharing a dressing room with Chris Tierney, the same dancer that I remembered jumping up on that chair. The dancer who made me want to be like him. We shared a dressing room and both played Spider-Man for three years after that.

In addition to playing the world’s most popular superhero eight shows a week for five years running, Reed has appeared in numerous commercials and music videos. He was hand-picked by Michael Jackson to audition as a dancer for Jackson’s farewell tour, and although he didn’t make the final cut, Reed says it was an honor just to “share airspace” with the King of Pop. Not too shabby for a dyslexic, severely ADD kid who remembers an elementary school teacher telling his mother that her son would never develop the skills required to succeed in life.

Reed knows as well as anybody how difficult things can be for kids who are socialized to believe they can’t succeed. He was reminded this summer, when he returned to Memphis to teach a youth dance program at NBE. After introducing himself to a class of young students, and telling them about all the cool things he’s done, an incredulous little girl’s voice rang out from the back of the room: “But you’re from France,” she said.

Reed shook his head and assured his pint-sized heckler that he was every bit as Memphis as she was. He describes the summer class and his students’ self-choreographed performance as the highlight of his career. “I want to come back and do this every year,” he says.

Even if she’s not planning to retire soon,

Smythe has what she calls a dream scenario: “I’d love for Charles and Maxx to become my succession plan,” she says. “They could run the place, and I could graduate to chairman of the board. And I could teach ballet whenever they need me.”

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Intermission Impossible Theater

New Ballet Ensemble’s After School Program Recognized by the White House

Briana Brown (L), Her grandmother Belinda Lowery (R), and Lil Buck (C). At the White House.

I could tell you what perfect beauty looks like. But it’s so much more effective to show you. Before going any further take a second to click on the video embedded below and watch as 17-year-old New Ballet Ensemble student Briana Brown receives some very good news. Also, pay careful attention to the face of her grandmother, Belinda Lowery. It’s the best thing you’ll see all day, I promise you.

New Ballet Ensemble’s After School Program Recognized by the White House

Now that your heart is all warm and happy, here’s the backstory. Today at 1:00 p.m.CST, Brown and 11 other young people from across the country will meet First Lady Michelle Obama, to accept the prestigious National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award on behalf of their respective after school programs. The award honors programs that go beyond basic arts training to change kids’ lives.

“It’s highly competitive,” says Katie Smythe, NBE’s founding director.

The White House award is being presented just days after NBE’s most famous alum, Charles “Lil Buck” Reilly was profiled in the Wall Street Journal. Buck, and fellow NBE alum, Maxx Reed, who performed on Broadway in Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark, are both returning to Memphis this month and will dance with  Brown in Nut Remix, the fusion company’s annual, Memphis-specific answer to The Nutcracker.

Those interested in seeing the award ceremony live can watch at this link. Also, I asked Brown a few questions before she left for Washington D.C. Here’s a taste of what she had to say.

More to come. 

Intermission Impossible: What brought you to New Ballet Ensemble.

Briana Brown: I was seven years old and my mom brought me in because she had a friend whose daughter came here. My mom always wanted to keep me active and I thought it was a really cool after school activity. I started off with basic ballet training, but as the years went by I flirted with other genres like jazz, and a little bit of contemporary.

Was this your first experience with dance?

I took a little tap and did gymnastics, but it wasn’t serious. It was just something my mom tried out, but I didn’t like it.

What made New Ballet Ensemble different?

I was intrigued by how everybody was doing the exact same things together. It was different and I was interacting with people I might not even talk to otherwise. I was a single child at the time. I didn’t have that many friends or a lot of interaction with people at all.

But what is it that made dance more interesting to you than gymnastics?

It was about expression. It was a way to express yourself in a whole different way. Being onstage to tell a story instead of trying to beat someone or to win something. You’re performing and entertaining people. At the same time you’re having fun, so it’s win-win.

Was there a special moment when you knew dance was your thing?

It took a long time to realize this is what I want to do. I didn’t have my “Oh my God, this is important to me” moment until I was 12. It happened onstage, believe it or not. I was in a pose, and the curtains were closing, and I remember feeling so sad because I wanted to do more, to keep dancing. It was a performance of Nut Remix. I was snow. It felt like a movie: No, no! Don’t close the curtains! It just felt so great to be there, with the adrenaline, and the lights, and the people all around me. Wow. It was a pivotal moment for me.

What were your favorite classes in school when you started dancing?

English classes. Anything related to expression.

So dance was, for you, an extension of that, really.

Yes, it was.

New Ballet has changed a lot in 10-years. Can you look back and describe what it looked like to you through seven-year-old eyes?

When I started [NBE] wasn’t where it is now. It was still in the icehouse [on Central]. There were maybe 70 people in the room. And I think I was the only one that didn’t come prepared. Everyone had on a pink leotard, and pink tights, and ballet flats. I had on a white T-shirt and black pants. I was not ready.

The thing that’s neat is how, over the time you’ve been with NBE, the company and school has evolved into a unique place where classical and street styles mingle pretty freely. What’s it been like to watch that?

I’ve always thought that New Ballet was the kind of place that gathered people from every spectrum of our city. That’s exactly what Miss Katie [Smythe] did. She had a vision, and these people came together, and they formed relationships with each other based on their own individuality. That’s what creates things like Nut Remix. The Nutcracker is a classic ballet, but we take it to another level by setting it on Beale Street. That makes us unique. And it’s very special to me, having an opportunity to be part of a community where I can interact with so many people. So many kids don’t ever have a chance to interact with people who are different than them. Kids who go to school in Orange Mound don’t really interact all that often with people from St. Mary’s. At least not the way we do here. And the bonds we form are so strong.