Before Revelations/Dancing in the Light
I have had two artistic passions in my life, art and dance. As a child I especially loved
rainy days because it meant staying indoors, finding a quiet corner with my coloring book
and crayons. The pleasure of making colors bounce off each other to create a beautiful
picture was my delight. Later, I would switch to sketching my own pictures and coloring
them.
Because of an after school program for art and dance I was able to take both. It was my
Gym/Ballet teacher who taught the classes for the ballet club and later encouraged me to
apply for the HS of Performing Arts that started my long career as a dancer, putting my
love of art aside for that journey. It was a wonderful journey dancing in the Alvin Ailey
Company as one of the founding members, or dancing in Donald McKayle’s Company
and later in Broadway, Television and Movies.
I must give kudos to my father. It was a day visiting him in his plumbing shop that he
asked me to read the word Bourbon on a bottle, and I read it phonetically and pronouced
it Bour (our) barn. He pronounced to me, "I think I better put you in dancing school." So my actual
dance lessons started with Mary Bruce. a prodigy of Bill Robinson. The studio was on
125th Street in Harlem, New York City.
All the while never losing sight of my other passion Art. The paintings below I call
“Dancing in the Light,” capturing what my body can no longer do, but my
hands and mind can remember, I can bring my two passions to one.
rainy days because it meant staying indoors, finding a quiet corner with my coloring book
and crayons. The pleasure of making colors bounce off each other to create a beautiful
picture was my delight. Later, I would switch to sketching my own pictures and coloring
them.
Because of an after school program for art and dance I was able to take both. It was my
Gym/Ballet teacher who taught the classes for the ballet club and later encouraged me to
apply for the HS of Performing Arts that started my long career as a dancer, putting my
love of art aside for that journey. It was a wonderful journey dancing in the Alvin Ailey
Company as one of the founding members, or dancing in Donald McKayle’s Company
and later in Broadway, Television and Movies.
I must give kudos to my father. It was a day visiting him in his plumbing shop that he
asked me to read the word Bourbon on a bottle, and I read it phonetically and pronouced
it Bour (our) barn. He pronounced to me, "I think I better put you in dancing school." So my actual
dance lessons started with Mary Bruce. a prodigy of Bill Robinson. The studio was on
125th Street in Harlem, New York City.
All the while never losing sight of my other passion Art. The paintings below I call
“Dancing in the Light,” capturing what my body can no longer do, but my
hands and mind can remember, I can bring my two passions to one.
Title: Carmen Dance/
Medium: Acrylic on Paper/
Size: w 32 x h 40
Price: Original Request/Print
