Thursday, March 20, 2014
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
Youngstown
"Symphony in Step” might seem like an unlikely collaboration.
Yet somehow it works.
The show blends traditional classical music by a live orchestra with the rapid African-American dance form known as stepping.
Audiences see a lively and distinctive performance that is tied together musically by the percussive sounds made by the dancers.
“Symphony in Step” was composed by Randall Craig Fleischer, music director and conductor of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra.
Step Afrika of Washington, D.C., is the troupe for which he wrote it. The group is the first professional performance company in the world that is based on stepping, an art form that began in black college fraternities in the early 20th century.
Both ensembles will team up this Saturday for the Youngstown premiere of the show, which will be at Powers Auditorium.
“Symphony in Step” premiered in Anchorage, Alaska, in 2011, and also was performed last spring in Washington.
In the show, nine dancers perform in front of the orchestra, making music with their feet and hands. A chamber orchestra — woodwinds, brass, strings and percussion — creates a rich melody that weaves in and out of the dancers’ rhythm.
Fleischer is always on the lookout for a good collaboration, but his introduction to Step Afrika was serendipitous.
“I was picking up my daughter at her ballet class, and in the waiting area of her studio there was a copy of Dance magazine,” said Fleischer. “I was just casually reading it when I came across an article about Step Afrika. The article was so glowing that I [searched the Internet for] them when I got home and was blown away by them.”
Shortly after that day, Fleischer contacted Brian Williams, founder and director of Step Afrika, and the wheels started turning on the project.
The result is a mash-up that has never been done before. “Symphony in Step” is the only orchestral work ever written that features stepping.
“My goal was to write a compelling piece that truly merges the two art forms,” said Fleischer. “The piece is written like a combination of a percussion concerto and a dance piece, since stepping is precisely that — body percussion plus dance. Sometimes the orchestra is accompanying the percussive rhythms of the dancers, and sometimes the dancers are moving to the music, and these elements continually intertwine.”
Williams, of Step Afrika, said the opportunity to work with a classical orchestra was a great experience. “We have collaborated with jazz, rock and gospel music groups, but this was the first time with a symphony,” he said.
Step Afrika sent videos of four of its existing works to Fleischer. “He so brilliantly was able to write a score around it and made it so much more beautiful,” said Williams, adding, “Maestro Fleischer was absolutely incredible.”
Williams noted that “Symphony in Step” honors both traditions.
“These art forms had not yet met before,” he said. “That’s what is so wonderful, making music together. It was a different way to experience what is normally an a cappella tradition. We were like nine additional members of the symphony.”
Williams said his troupe has improved the performance since it first premiered, so the Youngstown audience will see the best yet.
Joining the orchestra and dancers at Saturday’s show at Powers Auditorium will be opera soprano Kishna Davis, who has won critical acclaim throughout the United States and Europe.
Also appearing on the program will be the Symphony in Step Gospel Choir, directed by Robert Mitchell Jr. and Carol Baird, and comprised of members of area church choirs.
Williams got his introduction to stepping when he was a student at Howard University, where he pledged a fraternity.
“Stepping goes back to early 1900s,” he said. “When African-Americans started attending colleges, we were on the campus but could not take part in groups, so we formed our own, and this became one way of expressing pride. The fraternity system was crucial in the development of stepping.”
After graduating, Williams went to central Africa where he saw striking similarities between the native dance and stepping. That is also where he formed Step Afrika. Today, dancers from across the nation audition for his troupe.
Education is also a large element of Step Afrika, and the troupe will perform and teach young people at several Youngstown locations during its visit to the city this week.
Today, Step Afrika will visit the Oh Wow! Children’s Center, downtown, at 10 a.m., and Chaney Visual and Performing Arts High School at 1 p.m.
On Friday, it will go to Youngstown Community School at 10 a.m. and Mahoning County High School at 1 p.m.
On both days, Step Afrika will present a workshop to Harambee of Youngstown students at the New Bethel Baptist Church.