We are now way into the second half of the semester, heading toward the end, actually. I gave Jazz II their movement mid-term before spring break, teaching an extended sequence of Mahalia Jackson singing In the Upper Room. It is from a 1992 dance called On My Way.
It is an extraordinary performance. The students loved learning the movement and it holds many powerful memories for me as it was one of the dances on the first concert after leaving Zenon. One of the students in Jazz II is a passionate young woman named Kendell Miller-Roberts. She is a double major in Human Rights. There is a yearly spring break “pilgrimage” to the cities in the South that were of pivotal importance in the Civil Rights Movement – Selma, Montgomery and Memphis, among others. I gave all the students a very interesting article from the NYTimes about MLK, Mahalia and the “I Have a Dream” speech. It was published in August of 2013 and is called Mahalia Jackson and King’s Improvisation. I thought it would be great for KMR to share with her fellow “pilgrims”. According to the article, King was up until 4am putting the finishing touches on his speech at the Lincoln Memorial. He drew upon many sources including theBible, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Mahalia had been with him for many of his speeches and hear him use “I have a dream” many times. It was always powerful. As he was getting near the end, Mahalia, sitting to his side said, “Martin – what about the dream?” And then history was made. I was about to write – what a great story. It’s not a story, it’s the truth! KMR brought me the postcard of Mahalia above and this MLK pin. I love teaching.
