Dance Exchange Gets The Green Moving

Charliece Salters. Lucy Gellman Photos.

Charliece Salters stepped down on her right leg, and began to count dancers in from the stage. With a-one-and-a-two, she brought in her left leg, then sprang back onto her right foot. She crossed her arms and half-shuffled across the stage, her feet tapping each other. In front of her, Dey Tucker leaned into the movements, and made them look as smooth as butter. 

"I call this the cookout dance," Salters said to laughs. "I don't know how else to call it." Beside her, DJ Dana Cobb worked her magic, and suddenly Busta Rhymes' "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" soared over the group, making it hard not to join in. The afternoon was young, and full of movement. 

It marked the second annual "Dance Exchange" at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, held last Thursday afternoon on the New Haven Green. For four hours, dancers of all ages cycled through contemporary, jazz, hip hop, vogue and salsa all before dinner, some learning the genres for the first time as others took advantage of a free lesson in the heart of the city. 

As they danced from early into late afternoon, filling the tent with intermittent laughter, dancers set the stage for Garba360, which performed Thursday night. The festival continues this week with dozens of events on the Green and around the city; its full calendar is available here.  

"I! Love! To! Dance!" said McEvoy after two hours, as she was planning to stay for a third.

"I think what's special about the dance exchange is just the freedom of it," said Producer Juanita Austin, smiling as contemporary dancers did a long left reach, and Janelle Monae's "Make Me Feel" sailed over the grass, weaving through jumbled lines of bodies.

"We're seeing people open themselves up and just have fun. Being able to offer dance classes of different styles for free is really important—a lot of people don't have access to dance classes. And then just being able to be on the Green ... dancing, letting loose is always a lot of fun."

As the sun soaked the New Haven Green, the afternoon started with dancer Alexis Robbins, who may be best known in the city for her commitment to rhythm tap and dance education, including in her garage-turned-studio. Thursday, she arrived to teach contemporary movement, in a one-hour class that turned into two when a teacher called out unexpectedly. 

Robbins while teaching her second hour of classes for the day. 

Working up a sweat on the stage, she talked attendees through each movement, her body in constant motion. Her long white polo shirt seemed to glow over her sweats as she swayed from side to side. Every so often, a new attendee trickled in, and hit the grass dancing. 

"Ok!" Robbins said as she sweatily beamed out at dancers. A remix of Jill Scott's "Golden" pulsed over the stage like a heartbeat. "Lil' sidestep, and then rock it out! Rock it! And again!"

As a handful of dancers fanned out beneath the tent, their limbs sailed through the air, twisting in time with the music. Arms went up and flexed gingerly at the elbows. Knees bent and bounced. Every so often, people let out a little cheer or count. 

 "This time, let's rock so that our arms"—Robbins extended her arms to their full wingspan—"Again! Sidestep! Last time.” She walked back across the stage, cheeks flushed. “Let it go." 

"I! Love! To! Dance!" exclaimed Victoria McEvoy, one of Robbins' most devoted students, after the lesson wound down and she stuck around for a hip hop class that had not yet started. "I am not by nature a dancer, but in these communities and events, one finds people of all shapes, sizes, genders, rainbow colors, all abilities. These are my people! It's like joy on legs."  

Dancers Tia Cruz and Charliece Salters.

As she rolled in to teach hip hop close to 3 p.m., Salters warmed up by a picnic table, her shoulders already bobbing from afar as Robbins moved to the music onstage. Born and raised in New Haven, Salters started dancing when she was seven, and took her first hip hop class in middle school. 

Almost immediately, "I was like, 'Ok, I could do this forever,'" she remembered with a smile. At home, she said, hip hop fit right in: Salters' mom had for years been a dancer, and hip hop lived alongside R&B that set a soundtrack to her childhood and teenage years.  

But that wasn't always her experience in the dance classroom. During her time at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School and Eastern Connecticut State University, "we didn't do hip hop at all," Salters remembered.

Instead, classes focused on Eurocentric, mostly white techniques, including a curriculum heavy on ballet and modern dance. In college, she headed up a hip hop club just to make sure she was getting her fix.

"It is absolutely a genre that has its own history, and takes its roots from many important things," she said. While she is grateful for her classical toolbox—which informs her hip hop practice—she pointed to how hip hop also informs her classical practice too. Thursday, she was excited to teach it at Arts & Ideas for the first time in her decades-long dance career. 

Like Austin, she said she sees a need for more free dance in the city, where parents aren't always able to afford lessons. When she was a young artist with hopes of dancing professionally, it was Co-Op that allowed her to keep dancing for free after lessons became prohibitively expensive for her family. 

"I'm just grateful," she said. "If I'm able to give back, I'm here for it."

As Salters and fellow dancer Tia Cruz headed to the tent, Robbins cooled down outside of it. While she performed for the festival's "Rhythm Exchange" program last fall,Thursday marked her first time teaching for the organization. She said she was glad to bring her contemporary stylings—rather than rhythm tap—to the space, because it's "a different side of me" that people rarely get to see. 

"This kind of stuff should happen more often," she said. "It can feel intimidating ... I'm proud of everyone for just going for it." 

Nearby, Noir Vintage Co. Founder and Owner Evelyn Massey arrived in a camouflage jacket and floppy sun hat, ready to move. She said she was there as both a very proud mom—Salters is her daughter—and as a lifelong lover of dance. A few feet away, Dey Tucker warmed up, and then turned excitedly to the stage for an hour of hip hop from one of New Haven’s dance educators. 

Raised in New Haven, Tucker said they came out to both support Salters and to flex their hip hop muscles. For years, they danced at Miss Dee Dee's when it was still open on Edgewood Avenue. The chance for a free dance class from one of their friends was too good to pass up.

As they moved to the sound, a smile crept over Tucker's face. They pumped their arms and spun through the space, their joints suddenly easy and elastic. They lunged and shuffled with Salters, finding the rhythm in the downbeat. It hadn't even been 15 minutes, and they were one with the music.

The International Festival of Arts & Ideas continues this week with dozens of events on the Green and around the city; its full calendar is available here.