Weidman leading a rehearsal of Lynchtown. Photo by John Daughtry, Courtesy DM Archives.

Lynchtown (1936)

Charles Weidman’s Lynchtown depicts a mob hunting an outsider and surrounding him like vultures, an experience that Weidman himself witnessed as a child. The piece was part of a larger suite of works entitled Atavisms.

How Long Brethren? (1937)

Helen Tamiris choreographed a suite of eight pieces called Negro Spirituals, a protest of the discrimination against African Americans. The most famous was How Long Brethren?, which shed light on the lives of unemployed Southern blacks.

Strange Fruit (1945)

Pearl Primus’ Strange Fruit is a commentary on the panicked culture of lynching as seen through the eyes of a woman who witnesses the brutal event.

Southland (1951)

A two-part work about lynchings in America, Katherine Dunham’s Southland premiered in Chile, shocking the American embassy. It had only one other performance, in Paris. The U.S. government denied funding for future works by Dunham for her negative portrayal of the U.S. at the height of the Cold War.

Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder. Photo by Rosemary Winkley, Courtesy DM Archives.

Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder (1959)

Donald McKayle’s dramatic masterwork reveals the frustration of oppression and aspirations for freedom of a chain gang toiling in the American South.

Blues for the Jungle (1966)

A signature work that came to the stage in the Civil Rights era, Eleo Pomare’s Blues for the Jungle shed light on struggles like the Harlem riot of 1964.

Ceremony of Us. Laurie Gruenberg, Courtesy DM Archives.

Ceremony of Us (1969)

Following the Watts race riots in Los Angeles, Anna Halprin choreographed Ceremony of Us. She developed choreography for dancers from Studio Watts, an African-American arts organization, and separately for her all-white dance company, the San Francisco Dancer’s Workshop. The groups came together for a short rehearsal period before performing.

Cry (1971)

Alvin Ailey created Cry for “all black women everywhere—especially our mothers.” Judith Jamison, who originated the role, wrote: “She represented those women...who came from the hardships of slavery, through the pain of losing loved ones, through overcoming extraordinary depressions and tribulations...she has found her way and triumphed.”

Deep South Suite (1976)

Dianne McIntyre’s Deep South Suite shares realities of the 1940s South, set to Duke Ellington’s music.

Creole Giselle. PC Leslie E. Spatt, Courtesy DM Archives.

Creole Giselle (1984)

Frederic Franklin’s restaging of Giselle for Dance Theatre of Harlem sets the work in antebellum Louisiana, where Giselle can’t marry Albrecht because of her family ties to slavery. 

Last Supper at Uncle Tom’s Cabin/The Promised Land (1990)

In this three-hour work, Bill T. Jones, then known mostly for pushing the avant-garde, dealt directly with his black heritage, confronting slavery and racism.

Minstrel Show (1991)

Donald Byrd created Minstrel Show in light of the slaying of Yusef Hawkins, a Brooklyn teenager killed by a white mob. Byrd reworked the piece in 2014 as The Minstrel Show Revisited after Trayvon Martin’s death and George Zimmerman’s acquittal.

Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk (1996)

Savion Glover’s musical revue showcased a history of African-American men from slavery to present day (the mid-’90s), with numbers like “The Chicago Riot Rag,” “The Lynching Blues” and “Slave Ships,” as well as a parody of Shirley Temple and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson.

Invisible Wings. PC Alan E. Solomon, Courtesy Jacob's Pillow

Invisible Wings (1998)

Joanna Haigood’s site-specific Invisible Wings is set on the grounds of Jacob’s Pillow, illuminating its history as a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Come home Charley Patton (2004)

In the third part of The Geography Trilogy, Ralph Lemon focused on various sites from the Civil Rights period, with a recording of a James Baldwin lecture about race.

Walking with Pearl (2004–05)

Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founder of Urban Bush Women, created an homage to Pearl Primus in Walking with Pearl...African Diaries and Walking with Pearl...Southern Diaries, which received a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie).

Mr. TOL E. RAncE (2012)

Camille A. Brown’s Mr. TOL E. RAncE looks at intolerance and the modern dance minstrelsy.

What did we miss?

Share which dance works about racism and social injustice have spoken to you. Write to us on Facebook or Twitter @Dance_Magazine.

Rachel Meyer of Ballet BC. Photo: Michael Slobodian, Courtesy Ballet BC.

Think you have to choose between going to college or heading straight to auditions right out of high school? Think again. More than ever dancers are pursuing bachelor degrees without putting their careers on hold. And the focused time pays off. Dance Magazine talked to five dancers at the top of their game who opted for college degrees and performing careers.

Ballet BC’s Rachel Meyer decided to pursue her BFA in dance and in doing so widened her range as a dancer. “When I graduated high school I was training with St. Louis Ballet and thought that I might want to go into an apprenticeship. But I didn’t feel like I was quite ready,” she says. “I needed more training and experience.” Meyer was interested in joining a major ballet company after school, so she looked for a college that had a strong ballet department. University of Utah’s stellar faculty and classical focus drew Meyer to Salt Lake City.

In addition to a range of technique classes, Meyer took kinesiology and dance history classes, as well as anthropology, absurdist theater, literature, and early childhood education courses. “I met all kinds of people, not just dancers and artists. It helped me grow and to understand what I wanted in a career.”

After college, Meyer joined the contemporary company Dominic Walsh Dance Theater in Houston. In 2011, she moved north—far north—from Texas to the Vancouver-based company Ballet BC. (If her photo looks familiar, it’s because she is the poster girl for Jacob’s Pillow this summer—literally.)

Gary Jeter. Photo: Sharen Bradford, Courtesy Complexions.

Unlike Meyer, Gary W. Jeter II of Complexions Contemporary Ballet didn’t know what sort of dance he wanted to focus on when he entered college, so variety was a driving factor in his choice. “When I visited the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, there was a focus on modern and jazz, and a lot of other opportunities throughout the city.” Born and raised in Atlanta, the former competitive gymnast had only danced for a year and a half before he graduated high school, “so I felt like I needed that extra time to hone my craft.”

Taking a wide range of courses has been beneficial to his career. “The non-dance classes gave me a different outlook and different things to be inspired by, not just movement. My art and literature classes helped me to understand how art is an imitation of life and that it also works the other way around.”

A lyrical mover who packs a punch, Jeter also benefited from guest artists like Mia Michaels and the late Fernando Bujones. His training with Bujones was invaluable. And, he says, “the main reason that I became a ballet major was that I understood that most dance forms have a basis in ballet. I wanted to have the clearest foundation of my own personal technique.”

Leah Morrison, at right. Photo: Yi-Chun Wu, Courtesy TBDC.

Going to college was always the path that Leah Morrison, a willowy, Bessie award–winning member of the Trisha Brown Dance Company, planned to take. “I didn’t even consider going straight into a dance career,” she says. “College was needed for me as a period of gestation and to develop myself as a dancer and get to know who I am as a creative artist.”

Morrison says SUNY Purchase gave her a strong technique, but “getting to work with Neil Greenberg was a game changer. He was teaching Klein technique and Body-Mind Centering. He gave me a whole different awareness to thinking about moving. That aspect was really important for me, particularly in going for the Trisha Brown movement style.”

She feels that Purchase prepared her well for the professional modern dance world. “Choreographers and dance companies aren’t just looking for those with technical ability; they’re looking for someone to contribute to their creative process. In college, you learn to improvise, experiment with making your own work, be engaged in other people’s processes, and be engaged in your own creative process.” At Trisha Brown, Morrison says, “we’re asked to give a lot of our own creativity and our own opinion in the process of making work.”

Sykes, center, in Motown. Photo: © Joan Marcus, Courtesy Motown.

Similarly for Ephraim Sykes, a wiry and chameleon-like dancer in the current Broadway hit Motown, he was interested in college as a way to expand his craft and his sense of place in the world. He was drawn to the Ailey/Fordham BFA program because “the company has a lot of dancers that I looked up to, black dancers like myself with technique and artistry. It gave me something to shoot towards.” He had the opportunity to take class with the lead Ailey dancers who inspired him, like Desmond Richardson and Matthew Rushing. During his junior year, when Sykes joined Ailey II, he had the chance to perform alongside some of them as well.

Sykes says he became a well-rounded dancer by learning “how to speak with the body and how to initiate every movement. That’s what makes you understand why you move, and how deep it goes.” The program has a strong modern focus on Horton and Graham techniques along with jazz, hip-hop, and ballet. While Sykes was not training specifically to be a Broadway performer, his time in the program laid the foundation for success: “I have the technique to do eight shows a week and do a range of choreography.”

Sykes affirms that going to college isn’t just for the physical training, but also for the “opportunity to extend the mind.” He studied philosophy and theology in addition to his dance courses. Those classes, he says, “gave me a great understanding of how the mind and spirit work and why we move the way we move.”

Ebony Williams. Photo: Eduardo Patino for Dance Spirit.

Ebony Williams, a fierce and captivating Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet dancer, attended The Boston Conservatory. You wouldn’t guess that she ever had career doubts, with the confidence she exudes in her roles— whether it’s center stage in Cedar Lake or alongside of Beyoncé in her music video “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).” But she fought the notion of being a professional dancer for years. “I hadn’t danced for six years before I went to the conservatory,” she says. “As a kid, I would always say that I wanted to be an architect or anything other than dance. Maybe it was fear, but I didn’t think it was what I wanted to do or was supposed to do.” But upon recommendation from a dance teacher she met through the Boston Arts Academy during her time off, Williams decided to dive back into dance in the conservatory setting. “I was ready. I think I needed that break from dance to realize how much I missed it.”

Williams says she became a completely different dancer at TBC. “I was such a bunhead when I was younger, I did a little jazz and hip-hop with my girlfriends but was focused on ballet. There’s nothing like getting training from some of the best teachers in the world to open your eyes up.” Williams says of former Limón dancer Jennifer Scanlon: “She is one of the best teachers I ever had.” In her work with Cedar Lake she carries with her what she learned. “She taught me how to use my body in a holistic way, from my center, not just my limbs.”

Williams also cites the business side of the dance world that she learned at TBC: auditions, presentation, contracts.

And Williams, who has aspirations of teaching or directing a school someday, feels that having a solid higher education will help her to stay in the field longer. “It’s key for future endeavors that you may want to pursue when you’re not dancing anymore or if you’re injured. You can educate young people,” she says. “There’s nothing like having a degree.”

Emily Macel Theys is a contributing writer to Dance Magazine and is the communications and development director of Dance Exchange in Washington, DC. 

BodyCartography Project, coming to Walker Art Center in October. Photo by Gene Pittman, Courtesy WAC.

This fall, a vibrant mix of voices will be “heard” onstage through movement, memorials, and mile-markers. From an array of world premieres hitting theaters across the U.S., to tantalizing festivals celebrating major anniversaries, to a wealth of international work, autumn is the perfect season to cozy up in a dance theater—or venture out on a dance-viewing road trip!

One of the most interesting imports promises to be “Voices of Strength,” which brings together fierce women choreographers from across Africa and its diaspora. The program includes a duet by Kettly Noël (from Haiti and Mali) and Nelisiwe Xaba (from South Africa) that shares stories and reunions; a solo by Maria Helena Pinto of Mozambique with a large sculptural set; and works by Bouchra Ouizguen of Morocco and Nadia Beugré (formerly of Compagnie TchéTché) of Côte d’Ivoire. The project tours to the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago (Sept. 13–15), New York Live Arts (Sept. 18–22), Seattle Theatre Group (Sept. 28–29), the Kennedy Center (Oct. 4–5), the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (Oct. 10–13), and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in the Bay Area (Oct. 19–20).

Hofesh Shechter’s choreographic voice is loud, in-your-face, and refreshing. Political Mother, his first full-length piece, is touring worldwide this year, including U.S. stops at BAM (Oct. 11–13) and a co-presentation by University of Minnesota’s Northrop Dance and the Walker Art Center (Nov. 13). The Israeli choreographer (and former drummer) describes the work as having the atmosphere of a rock concert, and critics have called it an “audiovisual marvel.”

BAM Next Wave 30th-anniversary season kicks off with multi-media maven Jonah Bokaer, whose collaboration with visual artist Anthony McCall, ECLIPSE, premieres Sept. 5–9 as the first work at BAM’s new Richard B. Fisher Building. The festival includes a slew of world, U.S., and New York premieres. Australian choreographer Lucy Guerin’s Untrained pairs two male dancers with two male nondancers and lets the chips fall where they may (Nov. 27–Dec. 1). Nora Chipaumire’s Miriam (Sept. 12–15) draws from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, interviews with Miriam Makeba, Christian prayers, and original text by Chipaumire. And Brazil’s hyperactive Grupo Corpo brings two pieces (Nov. 1–3). The festival offers a chance for artists to come home again too, like Garth Fagan Dance, returning to BAM for the first time in more than 20 years to premiere a new work with music by Wynton Marsalis (Sept. 27–30). Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch returns with Bausch’s final work, “…como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si…” (…like moss on a stone), which is the last of the “World Cities” series, made in Santiago, Chile (Oct. 18–21, 23–24, 26–27). BAM’s DanceMotion USA ambassador program gives space for a collaborative performance between Trey McIntyre Project and an Asian dance company to be selected from the company’s international tour. This work premieres Nov. 14–17 in the Fishman Space.

At right: BAM Next Wave Festival presents Pina Bausch’s last piece in the “World Cities” series, made in Santiago, Chile; shown here, Anna Wehsarg and Rainer Behr. Photo by Bo Lahola, Courtesy BAM.

“Judson Now,” the fall-season platform of the Danspace Project, marks 50 years since the start of Judson Dance Theater, that incubator of postmodern dance. It welcomes rebels-turned-masters Steve Paxton Sept. 8; David Gordon Oct. 25–27; Yvonne Rainer Nov. 1–3; and a work by Deborah Hay performed by Roz Warby and Jeanine Durning Nov. 29–Dec. 1.

New York Live Arts (formerly DTW), taking a page from Judson, is presenting dance artists with a wild streak. RoseAnne Spradlin’s beginning of something returns to NYC in all its naked-women glory Sept. 26–29; the outrageous Keith Hennessy brings “improvised happening and political theater” in his Turbulence Oct. 4–6; the always enigmatic Tere O’Connor give us a world premiere Nov. 27–Dec. 1.

For the third year, New York City Ballet has added a welcome fall season. Stretching from Sept. 18 through Oct. 14 at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center, it focuses on the groundbreaking Stravinsky/Balanchine collaboration. It also includes a premiere by corps member Justin Peck.

At left: NYCB’s Orpheus with Wendy Whelan and Ask la Cour. Photo by Paul Kolnik, Courtesy NYCB.

Beyond NYC, audiences from Houston to Milwaukee and Boston to Seattle get to be the first to see the following world premieres: Michael Pink makes Milwaukee Ballet dancers the “unsung” heroes in his full-length ballet take on the Puccini opera, La Bohème (Oct. 18–21). St. Louis Ballet brings in NYC contemporary choreographer Pam Tanowitz to create a work on the company, which premieres on a mixed bill including premieres by local companies such as aTrek Dance Collective, MADCO, and Common Thread Contemporary Dance Company (Oct. 5–6). Jorma Elo, resident choreographer of Boston Ballet, makes his eighth work for the company Oct. 25 to Nov. 4. And in a program entitled Women@Art, Houston Ballet gives Aszure Barton’s light a chance to shine in the south with a world premiere. Barton’s cohorts for this program include Tharp’s The Brahms–Haydn Variations and Julia Adam’s Ketubah (Sept. 20–30).

The Minneapolis presenter Walker Art Center has commissioned Miguel Gutierrez’s And lose the name of action, an evening-length “séance” (Sept. 19–22); and the BodyCartography Project’s dance/performance/installation Super Nature (Oct. 25–27), an ecological melodrama. After participating in the Judson Now program at Danspace, Deborah Hay will have an encore at the Walker in “Hay Days: A Deborah Hay Celebration” Dec. 5–8.

Over in the Windy City, the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago showcases such artists as Kota Yamazaki/Fluid Hug-Hug in (glowing) Sept. 27–29 and Gallim Dance Oct. 11–13. At Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Marc Chagall’s America Windows stained-glass artwork will come to life in a world premiere by Alejandro Cerrudo Oct. 18–21. Later in the season, Hubbard Street will bring Mats Ek’s Casi-Casa, Aszure Barton’s Untouched, and Cerrudo’s Blank and PACOPEPEPLUTO Dec. 6–9.

At right: Meredith Dincolo of Hubbard Street in Untouched by Aszure Barton. Photo by Todd Rosenberg, Courtesy HSDC.

Pacific Northwest Ballet turns the big 4-0 this year. To celebrate, their November programming features four world premieres. After opening the season in September with Kent Stowell’s beloved Cinderella Sept. 21–30 (and a special one-night-only performance of Circus Polka, with Patricia Barker as the Ringmaster, Sept. 21), PNB performs new works by company dancers Andrew Bartee, Kiyon Gaines, and Margaret Mullin alongside a premiere by Mark Morris (Nov. 2–11).

ODC Theater in the Bay Area is highlighting collaborations this fall. LEVY Dance has invited NYC choreographer Sidra Bell to spend eight weeks making a piece together, to premiere Nov. 15–18. The following week Garrett +Moulton Productions (Janice Garrett and Charlie Moulton) work with local musicians to come up with an evening of dance theater on “themes of wonder and enchantment.”

Paul Taylor will have his work seen as part of the Sarasota Ballet season. His company performs The Uncommitted as guest artists Oct. 26–28. Then Sarasota Ballet dances his Company B, along with Wheeldon’s There Where She Loved (Nov. 16–17). Miami City Ballet performs Taylor’s Piazzolla Caldera on a mixed bill that also includes Ashton’s Les Patineurs and Balanchine’s Apollo (Oct. 19–21, Oct. 26–28, and Nov. 30–Dec. 2).

For classic story ballets, there’s a spate of Giselles. Pennsylvania Ballet’s version goes up Oct. 18–28, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s is Oct. 26–28, and Ballet Arizona’s is Nov. 1–4. Nashville Ballet awakens The Sleeping Beauty Oct. 19–21. The nation’s capital will have a chance to escape election overload by diving into classics remade, like the Mariinsky Ballet in Ratmansky’s Cinderella at the Kennedy Center Oct. 16–21, and San Francisco Ballet in Helgi Tomasson’s Romeo & Juliet Nov. 13–18.

At left: Mariinsky Ballet’s Daria Pavlenko in Cinderella. Photo by N. Razina, Courtesy Mariinsky.

Surely you can find something that speaks to you in this diverse lineup. Celebrate the new season by challenging yourself to see a style of dance you haven’t seen before.

Emily Macel Theys, a former associate editor of Dance Magazine, is the communications and development director for Dance Exchange in Washington, DC.

The girl who brought tap to SYTYCD is also a B’way baby.

When Melinda Sullivan leapt into the TV spotlight as the leggy tap dancing beauty on Season 7 of So You Think You Can Dance, it was clear that she could, indeed, dance. She excelled in a multitude of styles, not just her hoofing routines—though she showed the judges and America that tap belongs on the TV stage as much as any other genre. Born on  Long Island, New York, and raised in Southern California, she’s performed in national Broadway tours, on hit TV shows like Glee and Dancing with the Stars, and in the company of some of the best tappers on the scene, including Jason Samuels Smith and Chloe Arnold. While her commercial work keeps her busy in Los Angeles, she was a hit at the Career Transition For Dancers gala in NYC last fall, and she’s been involved in developing The Jack Cole Project, a musical that opens this month at Queens Theatre. Emily Macel Theys spoke with Sullivan in February about tap, musical theater, and the illustrious Ann Miller.

How did your tap career start? My parents put me in a local dance studio when I was 4. I had great teachers, particularly Betsy Melber. At a tap festival she took me to, I saw Lynn Dally’s Jazz Tap Ensemble. That was the first time I was exposed to rhythm tap and I auditioned as soon as I could for the Caravan Project with Jazz Tap Ensemble. That’s where I learned the history of where the art form came from.

Who have your mentors been? Jason Samuels Smith and Chloe Arnold—they’ve taught me to never get comfortable as a tap dancer, always be pushing yourself and reaching. I went to Jason’s Monday night tap classes at Debbie Allen’s studio. Laura Klein pushed me towards musical theater. She told me you have to learn how to sing and act and be a storyteller, you can’t just be a technician. [Although he wasn’t a mentor,] I really look up to the way Gregory Hines made his mark in TV and film and live theater.

What did you learn about yourself as a dancer from being on SYTYCD? The experience was very challenging, especially physically. I’ve never rehearsed so much, been pushed so hard. I was proud to be there as a tapper—you’re already unique because it’s a contemporary-heavy­ show. I love doing TV, theater, and film, but I love saying I’m a tap dancer.

Are you doing more commercial work as a result of being on the show? It’s helped me get teaching gigs, but being on that show is not a golden ticket. I still audition all the time, still get rejected all the time, still knock on doors and send e-mail after e-mail to get myself out there.

How did your involvement in The Jack Cole Project come about? Ray Hesselink is a consultant on the show and was asked by [creator] Chet Walker to put together one of the Ann Miller numbers, “I’m Gonna See My Baby.” Ray asked me to help him re-create that scene.

Were you familiar with Ann Miller’s work before? This past year I worked on a film project with Dante Russo called Shakin’ the Blues Away that pays homage to Ann Miller. It’s very similar to that Ann Miller style but has some of the Jack flavor to it too—the pressed arms and the pictures he would make with the angular body. There’s a fantastic tap scene and turn sequence. No Ann Miller dance ever happened without a turn sequence! In the beginning it’s sort of like a wartime song and then it goes into this rapid-fire, machine-gun tap number.

Sullivan paying homage to Ann Miller in the short film Shakin’ the Blues Away. Photo courtesy Imagiland Productions.

How did you research Ann’s work? For my own project, I watched a lot of Ann’s stuff on YouTube. She was fiery, confident, showy, over-the-top—the epitome of a Hollywood diva.

Are you still doing other dance work besides tap? This week I’ve been doing hip hop on a show for Nickelodeon. I don’t like being pigeon-holed, I like having options and being able to work a lot, so I’ve always kept up with different styles of dance. I still take jazz and tap and ballet classes. I still cross-train and do Pilates. I keep up with my acting classes. You never know what to expect, so I like to be as prepared as possible.

At top: Melinda Sullivan. Photo by Galen Hooks, Courtesy Sullivan.

Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards’ tap shoes spit out sounds a mile a minute. She builds a percussive plotline to any song and fills the musical gaps seamlessly with her own riffs and rhythms. All the while she wears a calm countenance punctuated by a sly smile when she hits a particularly satisfying beat. She is smooth, soulful, sultry, and sexy. Sumbry-Edwards uses tap to converse, tell stories, show emotion, and continue a legacy of all the great hoofers who came before her.

Though she’s too humble to tell you about the impact she’s had on generations of tappers, others will. “She’s the best female tap dancer alive,” says fellow tapper Michelle Dorrance. “She’s a technical powerhouse and a beautiful musician. She has an incredible attack but also so much grace and swing and funk and fun.”

Jason Samuels Smith takes it a step further. “To me, she’s the greatest tap dancer/hoofer alive right now,” he says. “She’s on top in terms of her all-around versatility and her wealth of knowledge and experience with the masters of tap. As a woman, she can present her work in a softer approach or to come strong. Most of the time when you see a tapper on television or film, it’s usually a man and there’s something particular about a man’s energy that can attract an audience. But to see a woman sustain the same energy but then bring the femininity and grace to it too—whoa!”

As the youngest of three daughters, Sumbry-Edwards, a California native, had recognizable talent from early on. “When I was 3, my sister Benita was in a dance program at school. She’d come home and be doing the warm-ups and I’d be down on the floor doing them with her.” Her family noticed that when music was playing, she would clap right on the beats. “They would look at me like, Oh the girl has rhythm! Let’s put her in a dance class.” So they did. Sumbry-Edwards started taking classes with Paul and Arlene Kennedy at Universal Dance Designs, where she studied ballet, jazz and tap. But it was the tap that stuck.

Aside from the Kennedys, she counts hoofers Jimmy Slyde, Lon Chaney, and Ralph Brown—all of whom she worked with in the revue  in the late 1980s—among her mentors. She was all of 12. “They would pull you to the side and show you something or say something about your dancing as they’d walk by. And certain things you didn’t get right away, but then a week later they hit you like a ton of bricks,” Sumbry-Edwards says. “Being around them and seeing them perform as older men and the love and respect they had for the dance, I absorbed some of that energy.”

By the mid-’90s, a sort of boys club of the next generation of tap dancers was gathering steam. Savion Glover’s rise to fame enabled him to create Bring in ’Da Noise, Bring in ’Da Funk on Broadway, showcasing some of Sumbry-Edwards’ peers, including Omar Edwards, Derick K. Grant, and Baakari Wilder. A year into Noise/Funk’s run on Broadway, Glover called Sumbry-Edwards, who had gone back to California after Black and Blue to finish school and to teach. (They had met when Dormeshia was a child in a tap production in Rome, then worked together again in several projects, including Black and Blue, through the years.) “A couple years had gone by and I hadn’t had any sort of contact with him,” she says. “I answered the phone and he said, ‘Yo, what up D? How you feel about coming out here to do this show?’ ”

Sumbry-Edwards, now 35, was the only female tap dancer in Noise/Funk and at first was performing dressed as a man. “The guys were…I don’t want to say afraid of me…but there was a sense of respect as far as my dance was concerned,” she says. When the show was revived for touring, she was allowed to drop the drag and perform as a woman, and in heels!

“She totally revolutionized the field by reappropriating heels in a more contemporary way,” says Dorrance. “Her movement, technical ability, and her sound in heels set her apart.” Sumbry-Edwards says of her choice to wear heels in Noise/Funk, “I only wore heels where it absolutely made sense. But it blew people away. We were performing all over the world, from Los Angeles to Japan, and people would come backstage and tell me how amazed they were that I could do it in heels.”

In 1998, she married fellow tapper Omar Edwards and opened a studio with him in Harlem. They have three kids: Jeremiah, 11, Eboni, 10 (who has been performing in Billy Elliot on Broadway since it opened in 2008!), and the youngest, EmilyBalee, was born last October. Sumbry-Edwards appeared onscreen in Spike Lee’s Bamboozled and Michael Jackson’s music video “You Rock My World,” starred in the independent tap movie called The Rise and Fall of Miss Thang, and competed on the TV show Superstars of Dance (where the judges were hardly connoisseurs of tap). She has performed and taught in countless tap festivals, most recently at the Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s Winter Tap Jamboree in Chicago. In March she shared an evening with Dorrance at the Danspace Project in New York that broke some barriers between the “downtown” audience and the tap audience.

Sumbry-Edwards cites Jason Samuels Smith’s production Charlie’s Angels, which premiered in 2008, as a highlight of her career. Inspired by jazz musician Charlie Parker, the intensely intricate choreography challenges the three-woman cast to embody the bebop music. Sumbry-Edwards is a natural, exuding coolness while nailing the complex rhythms, and it’s no surprise that she was, in large part, the inspiration for the piece. Samuels Smith says he watched Sumbry-Edwards during their time together in Derick K. Grant’s Imagine Tap! in 2006. “Every night her execution was incredible. She hadn’t been featured as a star performer in any production I’ve seen, so I felt like it was way past due. Charlie’s Angels was one of my answers for that.”

Another influence in Sumbry-Edwards’ life was the late, great, Michael Jackson. Their professional relationship began shortly before she joined Noise/Funk on Broadway, and continued up until the November before his death. Her teacher, Paul Kennedy, had begun one-on-one lessons with Jackson, but when Kennedy fell ill, he turned Jackson over to Sumbry-Edwards. “Michael was curious about tap dance,” she says. “He loved rhythms. He was an absolute perfectionist. We would work for three hours on two bars!” She remembers how intensely he’d watch her dance. “He would lay down in front of me like a kid and ask me to tap and tell me, ‘Slower, slower, slower,’ then ‘Faster, faster, faster!’ Then he’d look up at me and say, ‘Can you show me how to do that?’ ”

Now, she’s turning her time with Michael Jackson into inspiration for her choreography. She prepared a section of this for her Danspace performance in March. “It’s kind of like closing a chapter,” she says. “It’s a tribute to Michael Jackson but it’s also for Paul Kennedy. Both of them are gone now.”

Sumbry-Edwards hopes that tap will gain more widespread popularity. “I believe that tap can be put in any situation. If you want to break into a dance number in a show or a movie, it doesn’t have to be jazz, it doesn’t have to be ballet. It’s OK to walk into a jazz club and see somebody tap dancing, so why can’t it happen in movies and musicals?”

What’s on Sumbry-Edwards’ dance card for the year? Imagine Tap! is headed for New York this fall, and Samuels Smith is working with a creative team on a new expanded Charlie’s Angels; Sumbry-Edwards anticipates performing in both. She’s also in the midst of recording a tap album called Once Upon a Timestep that she hopes to release this year, and working on her full-length Michael Jackson tribute. On top of that, she’ll be teaching a lot. “I was fortunate enough to learn from some of the greatest tap dancers who ever lived. I feel it is part of my responsibility to keep the information going. If we don’t talk about it and don’t teach our young ones, how do we expect it to stay alive?”

Dianne Walker, who was featured in Black and Blue, praises her for her desire to move the field forward. “With her talent she could be doing it all for herself, but she shares, she gives back. She’s an extraordinary example for the young dancers.”

Samuels Smith treasures her generosity. “Dormeshia is one of the last in my generation that got that hands-on experience from the masters. She found the art and the art found her. She’s inspired me and countless other dancers in our generation. I don’t think she realizes how important she is,” he says. “She’s one of our silent leaders who we’re gonna hear a lot about in the future.”

Emily Macel Theys is the communications manager for the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.

Top: Photo by Matthew Karas. Bottom: A career highlight: Jason Samuels Smith’s Charlie’s Angels; Dormeshia in center, with Michelle Dorrance and Chloe Arnold. Photo by Debi Field.

As Martha Graham put it, a dancer is an “athlete of God.” There’s no denying that dance is just as athletic as any sporting event. Professionals in both fields train intensely, depend on muscle memory, and have to be on when the lights go up. Dancers will never make the gobs of money that athletes do, but we can learn some valuable lessons from the success of sports. Read on to see how the dance community is stepping up—toe-to-toe—with professional athletes and infiltrating their advertising market.

For some, the similarities between sports and dance are apparent. Tune in to any sporting event on TV and notice that the way an athlete moves on the field resembles what you’re doing in the studio. “A parallel second-position plié is the same stance as a free throw in basketball,” says Ailey dancer Guillermo Asca, “or a lineman’s stance in football, or a batter’s stance in baseball.” Asca, who grew up playing soccer and trained in karate, continues, “A golfer’s swing is like the turn-the-back in Graham technique. The other day I was watching tennis player Rafael Nadal and he hit the ball right at his feet and did a single tour with his arms down in fifth. I see dance in sports all the time.”

But ultimately Asca believes that dancing is tougher. “Our season is all year round,” he says. “In sports, the downtime is greater because the season is usually only a few months long. Their practices tend to run three hours, with massage after and then some weight lifting. Our days are seven or eight hours long, and then you’re going to gym, Pilates, or the pool before or after the actual rehearsal and performance.”

Some athletes have integrated dance into their training. Football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann, who has been called the Baryshnikov of football and even appeared with Gene Kelly, Peter Martins, and Twyla Tharp in a 1980 TV special, has long championed the benefits of dance. He studied ballet, tap, and jazz for years. “They helped with body control, balance, a sense of rhythm, and timing,” he acknowledges. Many athletes have gained a newfound appreciation for dance through Dancing with the Stars, including NFL wide receiver Chad Ochocinco, NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith, Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno, Olympic figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, and IndyCar driver Helio Castroneves. And they’ve proven their skills on the stage: Many of the sports stars have taken home first-place finishes, adding a dance trophy to their collection.

Dance medicine has gleaned wisdom from sports medicine. Dr. William Hamilton, orthopedic consultant for the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, also works with members of the New York Yankees and New York Knicks. “We’ve gotten a lot of training tools from athletes that dancers use. In sports medicine there has been a great deal of attention to proper nutrition and cross-training, and that has spilled very much into dance medicine.”

Hamilton says sports medicine is older and more experienced than dance medicine. “One of the most common acute injuries in both,” he says, “is the sprained ankle. The treatment of this injury has been studied extensively in the sports medicine field.” He advises dancers with a severely sprained ankle to see a sports medicine doctor if a dance specialist is not available.

While dancer and athlete injuries may be similar, Hamilton says dancers tend to heal more slowly. This is partially due to the fact that dancers have to be 90 to 95 percent healed to get back onstage, “so it takes a lot longer to get back to that edge.”

There’s no hiding bulky bandages and braces under uniforms; dancers must look pristine, showing off clean lines, muscular backs and legs. As Dance St. Louis put it in a recent ad campaign, dance is “the most beautiful sport in the world.” The presenter partnered with the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Rams, and St. Louis Blues on visuals aimed at representing the high-powered athleticism of dance. “We were trying to make dance more available to the public so it’s not so elitist,” says Michael Uthoff, artistic and executive director of Dance St. Louis. The ads paired Julie Tice of Paul Taylor Dance Company with linebacker Chris Draft; outfielder Rick Ankiel with Emily Ramirez of BalletMet Columbus; and Mei-Hua Wang of Armitage Gone! Dance with defenseman Erik Johnson. The campaign was recognized with a Mid-America Emmy Award in 2009.

Pilobolus also got to show off their athleticism when they were hired by the National Football League to make promotional pieces for featured NFL matchups. And Fort Wayne Ballet in Indiana distributed baseball playing cards that feature their dancers as well as local baseball players with the phrase “Everybody Dances!”

And remember how excited Nigel Lythgoe was to announce on So You Think You Can Dance that this year, for the first time ever, Gatorade is featuring a dancer in its ads? Lauren Froderman, winner of this season’s SYTYCD, is featured as the sports drink’s first dance athlete, putting dancers in the same league as Usain Bolt and Derek Jeter.

Dancers aren’t just showing up in ads, they’re also performing alongside athletes. “We believe that audiences need to have a wealth of experiences with the art,” says John Michael Schert, dancer and executive director of Trey McIntyre Project. When TMP set up shop in Boise, Idaho, they were bringing contemporary ballet to an area that had little, but had plenty of sports because of the state university. They’ve built relationships with local basketball and football teams, and have sponsored the Treasure Valley Rollergirls’ season. “They help promote TMP as a member of the community,” says Schert of the teams. “We further that by performing at their events from time to time. Usually their crowds are not the type to sit in a theater and watch a dance performance. But we found they are so excited by what they see that we’re able to reach this whole other audience.”

TMP has taken it a step further by borrowing the age-old tradition of tailgating before a sporting event. “We invite audiences to experience the performance like they would a football game: They come and hang out in the parking lot with their friends and relax. That way they have a comfortable point of entry.”

ODC/Dance in San Francisco also pairs up with their athletic counterparts. For the past four years, they’ve held a competition called Toe to Toe that pits ODC dancers against University of California athletes to see who is faster, stronger, and more agile. ODC’s record is 3–1, beating out basketball players, the water polo team, and track-and-field athletes, among others. Events run the gamut from three-legged races to obstacle courses to jousting. Elizabeth Farotte Heenan of ODC, who has competed for all four years, says, “I think people were surprised the first year we won. But this year we were surprised when we won a couple of the relays against the women’s soccer team!”

Dancers have the strength, endurance, muscularity, devotion, and prowess of any sports player. And they have another dimension, too. As Hamilton says, “Dancers are athletic artists and not artistic athletes.” It’s the artistry that raises dancers up to the status of gods in Martha Graham’s eyes. After all, we aren’t just playing a game.

Emily Macel Theys, a writer based in Washington, DC, is the communications manager for the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.

Pictured: ODC dancer Elizabeth Farotte Heenan with a member of the University of California’s track-and-field team. Photo by RJ Muna, Courtesy ODC.