Hitting ‘A’ Home Run…

Now that this past weekend’s Braves v. Phillies match in celebration of the Civil Rights Game is over, I can get my mind right all over again. But don’t worry; I’ll come back to that experience in just a few.

I think back to when I first heard the “Welcome to Atlanta” sketch on OutKast’s 1994 classic debut, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. I was a 12 year old South Carolinian captivated by the sound of the MARTA train beeps and the voiceover from the conductor talkin’ of the city’s sports teams, infectious music scene, clear blue skies, the Georgia Dome wavin’ the Confederate battle flag and directing “tourists” to Decatur and East Point. Of course along the way, I’d watched Gone With the Wind too many times on TBS and heard the Sugarbakers on Designing Women speak of Atlanta without even leaving the house. Not to mention, I owned ALL of the LaFace Records products (even the Christmas album) along with the insular bass ‘n’ crunk sounds on my Sony Discman I begged my mother to get me for Christmas. Now add in there the heyday of the Freaknik, the Atlanta University Center, the World of Coca-Cola and independently reading a wealth of material on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Seventeen years later, my first experiences with the ballet allowed me to see and hear Atlanta being celebrated and documented in a different light.

Here’s the skinny. I caught three performances – an Apr. 29 sneak preview, a May 12 dress rehearsal and the May 15 encore performance – of “Home in 7,” one of three choreographed segments courtesy of the Atlanta Ballet’s latest production, Ignition: New Choreographed Voices. Courtesy of award-winning spoken word laureate Marc Bamuthi Joseph, accomplished contemporary violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) and famed choreographer Amy Seiwart, “Home in 7” is Joseph bearing his soul and paying homage to the ‘A-Town.’ Not quite a monologue or soliloquy, Joseph magnificently performs as a journalist, narrator, tour guide, griot, sportscaster, a hopeless romantic, a social activist, an anthropologist and possibly a government official. If you ask me, it was quite a joy to experience the Morehouse College alumnus’ interdisciplinary tendencies in Technicolor at the Alliance Theater.

On stage, Joseph brings everything ATL and life in the South before our very eyes – raving over Southern cookin’, showing love to the SWATS (Southwest Atlanta Too Strong!), mentioning LaFace Records, stopping in the West End, worshipping at Ebenezer Baptist Church, remembering the ’96 Olympics, taking a stroll through Piedmont Park, watching the Real Housewives, heading northbound to Stone Mountain, going sightseeing in Centennial Olympic Park, kissing Southern belles (i.e. NeNe Leakes, Phaedra Parks and Blanche Devereaux from The Golden Girls), hearing the Alpine speakers quakin’ out the whip, lickin’ his fingers from sweet potatoes and yams, mourning the 1979-1981’s Atlanta Child Murders, driving over the Chattahoochee River, tokin’ the potent marijuana and steppin’ in the famous Red Clay. The dancers all graciously move across the stage – forming lines, running, gripping each other’s hands, taking bows, arching their bodies into geometric shapes – as DBR morphs his violin into seductive lush melodies, improvised concertos and sonatas, a Roland TR-808 drum machine loop, a Larry Graham or James Jamerson bass riff or even a Jimmy Page or Carlos Santana guitar solo. Yes, DBR even had six strings instead of four.

“It’s what’s ahead and quite a process to get there,” John McFall, Atlanta Ballet’s Artistic Director, says. “It’s a HUGE adventure for the dancers – the electricity and the energy. It’s an engaging process. We dance a lot. We talk a lot. This is unlike anything I’ve ever done; they’re amazing. They’re courageous and having a good time; there’s no better fit for this. It takes the strength of the dancers and fearlessness.”

Considering this was also the same weekend as the Civil Rights Game, Joseph’s love for the Atlanta Braves sorta “hit” close to home. As he acknowledges Hank Aaron’s career-defining home run that shattered Babe Ruth’s record with the two hippies chasin’ him on the field and runs down a bit of the team’s roster and starting lineup, DBR played some incredible slap funk licks with his bow. The male dancers perform this routine that recalls the players running onto the field. The dancers mock the players’ toe taps on bases, arm swings, pitch-like gesturing, stern faces and rhythmic movements all perfectly timed to Joseph’s wording and phrasing. I could almost flashback to watching the game at Turner Field early that Sunday afternoon with both teams rockin’ the vintage ’74 throwbacks: the Braves with the white and royal blue lettering trimmed in red without the names on the back while the Phillies had powder blue with the burgundy ‘P’ across the chest. How cool is that?

At the kickoff party at Edgewood’s immaculate Whitespace Gallery the Tuesday prior to showtime, Joseph spoke briefly before an intimate crowd…with no microphone. “This is where I grew up,” Joseph proclaims. “Home in 7’ codified a sense of self and community here.” As DJ Anne Tyler, another one of the Atlanta Ballet’s distinguished members, was spinnin’ electronic and ambient sounds, I checked out a photo exhibit in another section of the gallery that featured images of Joseph and DBR in black and white, courtesy of another Atlanta Ballet dancer, Jonah Hooper. It was so organic to see “Home in 7” all come together as the dancers were caught in mid air with random flashes. What an honor to see the development and progress towards the encore! The show was so good by the last performance, there was just no comparison to everything I’d experienced prior to Sunday evening.

McFall was right; “Home in 7,” along with the rest of Ignition was MAGIC. “To collaborate is absolutely beautiful,” he says. “It’s about sharing ideas about the community now and in the moment.”

Rehearsal photos courtesy of Charlie McCullers

Stage production photos courtesy of Kim Kenney and Charlie McCullers