I started my professional career dreaming of being one of those gloriously talented performers busting their moves about that yellow New York taxi cab in the original movie of Fame.
So the prospect of meeting Debbie Allen, a name more than any other that is synonymous with that movie, was more than I would dare dream of.
But recently I had the privilege of interviewing this dance icon (and having the Brisbane Festival grant me one glorious hour in her presence). I discovered that she is not only a passionate advocate of dance and all it can add to a person’s life, but also one of those rare individuals who is actually changing lives for the better.
Allen will be in Australia and on stage from September 19 to 22 in Freeze Frame – a new project instigated by Brisbane Festival’s artistic director, Noel Staunton, who was moved by the realities of the troubled neighbourhoods of Los Angeles.
The show, which Allen and Staunton have been working on for about three years, will have its world premiere at the Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre.
Allen wrote, choreographed and directs the show, which will be performed by the students of her Debbie Allen Dance Academy.
“Freeze Frame is what I would call a dance-driven, dramatic narrative,” she explains. “I wouldn’t just call it a musical – because it’s not following that form. And it’s something that has been in my mind and in my heart for a long time – since I’ve been living in Los Angeles.
“Living in Los Angeles has been many things,” she continues. “The motion picture industry is there, and television [and] I’ve done a lot of wonderful things.
I’ve become a world famous choreographer [she’s won three Emmy awards for choreography] and become an actor and director. But on a daily basis a great deal of pain and injustice is happening to a lot of young people.
There is a lot of disparity – in education, in opportunity – and a lot of the young people are really compromised just by virtue of their zip code. And – there’s a gang culture that is just [she pauses for the right expression] beyond belief!”
This lack of opportunity by virtue of locality was one of the main reasons she initially established the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in South Central LA – so these kids could have access to a level of tuition that might not otherwise be available to them.
“I got the best teachers I could find and I spent all my own personal savings to start the school – and started changing lives and making a difference. That was great but I could also see that more needed to be done.
So, when I met Noel [Staunton] many years ago, we started tossing this idea around – and I said – “Wow! I could do that. I could do something really powerful that could bring in all the elements and we could hear from all sides. We have these people with something in their hearts and something in their minds – so that’s how this evolved.
“It has wonderful music, great different styles of dancing – and the dancing shifts from very contemporary to hip hop, to gospel, to classical.
But at the end of the day it is giving a voice to that unheard, wonderful, embryonic group of young people who need to be able to speak! Who we need to hear from. And this [the story] translates from race to gender to cultural transfusions – and it will speak! It is through this lens – through the voice of these young people – that the audience will feel . . . a lot!”
It certainly makes Staunton feel “incredibly inspired by the dynamic performances of these performers who are using music and dance as a creative output to share their extraordinary stories”.
For Freeze Frame Allen has collaborated with award winning Australian designers. “Noel has put me with some of the most genius creative people: Michael Scott Mitchell and John Rayment. The set is really a metaphor for the whole idea of the show.”
Allen will play a third generation gang grandmother in this production. She will share the stage with a talented group of performers and proteges whose ages range from eight years to her own.
The cast includes her daughter, Vivian Nixon (Smash), Eartha Robinson (Fame) and William Wingfield (Series 4, SYTYCD US). I ask her if some of them might find working with her a little daunting, and she chuckles.
“Ooh! – They’re used to me, now! I’m around them all the time. They hold me in great respect but I’m not precious in that kind of way because I am with them all the time.”
Allen’s own experience has fuelled her passion to help young people. As a young dancer she was denied opportunities purely because of her race
“In Houston, I couldn’t go to the ballet school – I wasn’t allowed. My mother tried to get me in when I was eight years old but they wouldn’t accept me.” She then auditioned again at age 12 and was again denied admission solely based on colour.
However a year later one of the Russian ballet instructors at the school secretly enrolled her after seeing her perform. By the time the school’s administration realized it was too late [to refuse her]. “I became the first black dancer at the Houston Ballet Foundation! From 8 – 14 I was not allowed. And then at 14, I was the only one.
“I started the Debbie Allen Dance Academy and I knew that I was going to make a difference in young people’s lives. But I had no idea how big a difference.”
She offers her understanding of how that took place: “Because I’d had the opportunity to work in television and on shows that changed lives. Fame changed the world!
Performing arts schools started everywhere – (and) they weren’t just about people wearing tights and leg warmers – but about starting to commit, and starting to get an understanding that they really could have a voice in what their future is.”
Allen was also the director of an influential TV sit-com called A Different World, which aired from 1987 to 1993, “about young blacks in college”, and tackled many issues about race. It became the second most watched show among African American households.
“That show inspired millions of people to go to college. Black, white, everything! You know – it made it not only look like fun it made it look like a place where you could get it together.”
When I ask Allen if the variety of styles of entertainment she has worked in have offered her great tools for this project, she agrees. “This production starts on screen and then it spills onto the stage and then it changes places throughout the production. I honed my skills as a director on Fame so the choreography led to a natural progression of directing.”
Allen says that Freeze Frame is giving her “a real purpose in life”. “I have had success – I have won awards – but a purpose in life is a real life!”
“It will be different,” Staunton confirms. “It’s an emotional story: we’re not talking about pretty pictures here. And it’s got an important social function and nowadays, in terms of timing, it’s got an enormous relevance.”
See www.danceaustralia.com.au/the-power-and-the-passion for Debbie Allen’s words of wisdom for teachers and students.
This article was first published in the August-September 2013 issue of Dance Australia magazine.