Prelude: The Legacy of Garth Fagan Dance

- [Announcer] Funding for this program was provided by Nocon and Associates, a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC, committed to programming that advances the arts.

The Jane K. and Robert C. Stevens Fund for New Programming.

The Gouvernet Arts Fund of the Rochester Area Community Foundation, expanding access to the arts in the Rochester Finger Lakes region.

(static crackling) (fast drum beat music) - [Garth] I started with a vision with no manager, with no money, with no studio, but wonderful, wonderful dancers.

(strong beat music) If you are going to be creative, it's almost necessary that you can't go along with the establishment way.

(music continues) Great artists, you expose more of yourself.

You have to be more vulnerable.

You have to give out more and you have to take in more.

You have to love more fully.

So you hurt more fully.

It's a total commitment (strong beat music continues) I would like for it to be said in history that in this day and age, in the 80s and the 90s, that there was this company of beautiful dancers, intelligent and articulate people who represented their art form and their race very profoundly.

I want us to be an international household word.

You know, it's a lot to chew off and I don't guarantee that I'm gonna do it, but I'm gonna try like, hell.

(strong beat music continues) (chimes tinkling) Okay, are we gonna get started?

My brother Virgo.

I know how you Virgos are.

Everything has gotta be just in place.

Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

(birds chirping) (radio static) (radio dial turning to classical music) (radio dial turning to lively music) (radio dial turning to djembe music) - Natalie and I both joined the company when we were, I was 28, Natalie was- - I was 19.

- Natalie was- - coming out of her teens.

- Natalie was 19.

- 19.

- I was coming out- of my teems.

- There was a huge company here.

There were plenty people to watch and everybody knew what the deal was.

You know, everybody understood that, you know, this is more than just dance.

You know, it's about sense of self, and how you can grow as a person by, discipline is freedom, you know, and putting yourself through that.

- Well, I mean, you know, when you came in, Bill, there was an immediate awareness from all of us, that you had this maturity.

You recognized what it was that we hope these new auditionees will recognize it.

- Right.

Well, as you know, we do things so differently.

You know, when we have an audition, it's not that one day.

We ask for three days, we ask them- so they have to get a place to stay, or we help them with their place to stay.

But the fact is, it's a progression.

It's accumulated, because we wanna see their stamina.

You wanna see if they can focus for a long time, - Long stretches of time.

and not just one time.

But how are you gonna focus for three days, and you're gonna get sore.

And that's where we are going to see the champions.

And you go, okay, that's a keeper.

You know this one is fighting that tension, you know.

Or you see the people just give up (djembe music) and say, "I really can't."

You know, and they sit it out.

Okay, that's fine, you know.

(djembe music continues) - This was definitely like, a wake up call a shock.

You're here, You're learning.

How can you dance barefoot still be on time, and still be as expansive, and as expressive as you can.

(strong beat music) (strong beat music continues) - I come from a very balletic, a very Horton based technique.

So that had to go all out the window very fast.

It was a lot of relearning and trying to figure out what the Garth Fagan technique entails.

- The tricky part was, "No, don't go talk to that person.

Don't ask them.

We want you to get it for yourself."

And that was an amazing push.

Like, I thought it was like, "Oh my God, mom, I don't know what to do."

I'm crying and everything, but it was amazing.

It really made me feel like I can trust myself more.

- [PJ] Okay dokie, that'll do it for this afternoon.

Thank you.

(all applauding) - Bravi, bravi eccezionale.

(applause) Dancers with technique and line are a dime a dozen.

They can touch the stars with their feet, fine, nice.

But I want the dancer who knows why they're touching the stars with their feet.

(drum beat music) I could jump.

High ballon.

And at the same time I could could be still and hold a pose.

But I was a big, huge, immense social dancer.

No one wonder my hip's out of place now.

(laughs) Chat-a-cha, dat-dat-da, uh.

Bum-bu-bum-bu-bum-bum, oh my God.

And I'd win all kinds of surprises.

You know, mambo, cha-cha-cha, and we'd go to Cuba and come back to Jamaica and party.

Growing up in Jamaica, we lived in Cherry Gardens, which is one of the nicest places you could ever live.

My daddy's an Oxford man and a Virgo, and tough as nails.

Everything had to be done just so, but I loved him to pieces and he made me the man I am.

My mother was nourishing and a Leo, and could cook, and could bake, and get between us when necessary.

(laughs) This wonderful, wonderful, superlative Jamaican woman, Ivy Baxter, was my teacher in high school.

(audience applause) And she got me involved in dance.

And I went and took classes and she says, oh, you got talent, stick around.

Her company traveled around the world.

And they had the latest in clothes and lovely cars.

So all kinds of shallow teenage reasons is what influenced me, you know.

She showed us a film of Martha Grahams, a dancers world.

And that's the first time that I really saw men dancing with strength, virility, and passion.

And that really impressed me.

You know, they weren't princes chasing swans or any of that.

They were just men.

When we went to Cuba and we danced outside on a stage with gazillions of people and they went bananas.

And I said, "Hmm, this is interesting."

You know, there's a possibility here.

I just knew I wanted to go to America 'cause you're in Jamaica, little island, (chuckles) and America was this big, wonderful, fabulous place.

And Motown was big in the 60s when I came to America.

- My name's Jackie Davis.

Garth and I have been good friends since we were in college together at Wayne State University, in Detroit.

Garth was already there and a participant in the Wayne State University dance workshop.

He came to Detroit with his Afro-Caribbean roots in dance, along with his traditional modern dance experiences.

And he melded that together and created works that were performed in the dance workshop performances.

I came to Brockport in 1969, because I was a dance education specialist.

Rose L. Strasser knew from what she could see going on nationally, that she wanted to have a dance department and a dance major.

Lucky for Rose that I knew Garth, from college.

So Garth was brought to Brockport to teach for one summer.

And I'm telling you it went so well, the students were focused.

The students learned discipline.

They were dancing.

Clearly he had a vision, by the end of that special summer program, to continue to work with these dancers and build a company.

(piano music) (piano music continues) - Have you had dance training?

(Jackie laughing) You look like you've had some dance training.

- A little - Yes.

- A little, with you.

- Maybe.

(kiss smooching) - Mm, this is nice.

- She danced in my first dance, "Life Forms/Death Shapes," and lots of the people are gone.

And she was a lovely- - And we're here.

sweet girl.

(Jackie chuckles) - Okay.

- So when you came to Brockport, were you already thinking of having a company?

- Yes, yes.

- That was part of your vision.

- Part of my vision.

I wanted to see people moving in this way with the precision and the speed and the accuracy of ballet, but I needed more fluid backs, more fluid backs.

And more interesting things with the arms, that you weren't getting.

It started with students and the word spread.

- Mm hm, 'cause you were performing with them too.

You performed in the community.

- Yeah.

- They had just come, they weren't enrolled at Brockport, They just come.

- Cause you were offering it as an open class, - Right.

- At the EOC, in the gym that they tried to not let you use for the first year.

- Right, right.

- And what did you call yourselves then?

- "Bottom of the Bucket But...".

And it was dot, dot, dot, after But.

- Because in that day and age, if you didn't have ballet, you have no business being on the stage.

And I said, "Well, okay.

Watch us.

We are 'Bottom Of Bucket But...'" - I met Garth at Brockport in the summer of 1971.

We were in awe.

Here comes Garth (funky music) with this massive Afro, a green sports car, leather jacket, and talking more stuff than anybody could ever know about.

And we just didn't see people like Garth in the world that I came from, there was no Garth Fagan.

Just being in a room with him, you know, stirred things up, because he was a force.

And he still is a force actually.

I took classes in the company, but I never danced in the company.

There's a lot of reasons for that.

For one I couldn't dance.

That's probably the main one.

(laughs) But Garth just, you know, creates a vortex and you get caught up in that vortex.

So I became the company's videographer, a position that I hold almost 50 years later, I'm still shooting video for the company.

(group chattering) - I just wanna say, Carvin, that you have done a magnificent job at capturing the spirit and vitality, of this beautiful company and exquisitely, spiritually attuned company.

- The biggest challenge, is the challenge that the company faces now, as a result of COVID.

February 14th of 2020 was the last real performance of Garth Fagan dance, before the pandemic.

The company that exists now is not that company.

- Once COVID hit and we lost what-?

- We lost.. - Initially we lost 3- - 3, 4, 5.

Oh 6.

- We lost - And Sarah, seven.

- Yeah.

We lost seven.

- Oh that's the company.

- That's half the- - We basically lost - That's what I'm saying.

- the company.

So we're in this position of, like you said, starting over, because that was most of the company.

So totally unique.

And that's why I kind of flipped and said, look, this has to be a new way of doing things now because this is totally unusual.

What did Garth do in 1970?

- Right, - And that's what I keep - that's what you were saying.

- going back to.

What did he do?

And he had to hands on, train them, just like P is doing.

Twist your body here, do this.

These are the counts.

This is the- You know, constantly.

Until we get back to the point where people can follow people.

(energetic music) - I like the fact that they made time to come here.

They learn new stuff, they try different stuff.

I saw the problems they had, and I saw how they addressed them, and how they fought them.

And some of them won.

- I just wanna welcome you on board.

We're a sort of a professional family, very tight, very close knit, but we demand a hundred percent from everyone.

And starting with Mr. Fagan himself.

He expects that from all of us.

And whatever we are doing, whether it's administration, dancing, teaching, it's a hundred percent.

- I'm excited for what the future has to hold.

- Lovely, lovely.

We will make you look good, don't worry.

(student laughing) - I love a challenge.

I love learning.

I love growth and I'm grateful.

- Yep.

And you're an earth sign like me.

- Yeah.

Okay.

(high five slapping) - You know, we don't play.

(both chuckle) - Boom.

- Right, but thank you so much.

We love you.

- Love you to.

(both laughing) - You stepped on a right leg.

Right?

So the minute he comes around, step on your left leg.

Nice.

Beautiful.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

Okay.

Can I please (upbeat music) have the full thing from the beginning?

(upbeat music continues) - [Garth] And the gentleman who is my rehearsal director, my assistant and "Lion King" and keeps the company going when I am not around and is gonna keep it going when I am gone to the great beyond, Norwood Pennewell.

(audience applauding) - I didn't really know much about concert dance.

And so I never thought that I would be good enough to be in a professional dance company.

I felt a little bit more passionate about dance, when I first saw Garth's original company, which was called "Bottom Of The Bucket But..." These people were just super, super intelligent, super talented people.

Garth is asking them to ride along with him while he develops a new technique that he can use to facilitate this new choreography that he wants to develop and show to the world.

It's easier in a sense now because the vision has become crystallized.

So everybody knows, okay, this is Fagan technique.

This is a Fagan sensibility, this is a Fagan style.

But in the beginning when he was developing it with, you know, sometimes people that didn't have formal dance training, it must have just been just monumental for him to just be able to corral these people that were completely committed to that vision.

- [Garth] And then move towards the working leg fellas.

- The way he teaches and the attention that he gives us, is so much from the heart, that I think that a parent should raise their child the way he teaches.

- He's my mentor.

He's my friend.

He's my sponsor.

He could be a number of things, all and everything.

Whatever you need at that particular time, you can talk to Garth about.

- He's hard to work for because he expects everything from you.

He expects you to be clean technically.

Then he expects you to try to go beyond yourself, all the time.

Because that's what he does to himself.

And he assumes that- his assumption is that you are as committed to the dance as he is.

- [Interviewer] So it's more than dance.

- It's much more, much more than dance.

- Beyond the fact that he's given me a true sense of artistry with his work.

He's also given me a sense of self worth.

- We admired him just because of how, just his presence, you know, we got that he was somebody.

But then working, you know, putting your body on the line for somebody is a completely different thing.

And we got that from that early group.

You know, we got that they were willing to follow him wherever and do whatever they had to to get that product out.

- The name is Steven middle initial F Humphrey.

And I have been with the company now for 51 years.

When I would see Garth coming in, first I would see him driving his little 90- what was that?

'94, TR6 Triumph, green, convertible.

And you know, you just wonder who was this black man that was driving this sports car.

I didn't think I had the flexibility to do some of these moves of a scene.

But that's how Garth discovers you as a human being to see whether this could be your life or not.

The dancers at that time were so illuminating and interesting.

It was easy to want to be around them.

That's a talented group up there.

The women were really incredible.

They were definitely better than the males.

Both top and bottom members.

You know, I learned so much from them.

Even the little baby now, you know, she's not dancing, but she's got her own two little girls.

It can make you kind of sad, but then the memories of, when we're dancing and touring with the groups man it was- we really made an impression on the audience.

- The work comes from within us.

So actually it's a joy, I mean, a real joy working with him as a director.

And he has been my only teacher and only director.

- I'm Celia Ipiotus, the creator and producer of a television series that aired on PBS called "Eye on Dance".

How thrilled I was doing "Eye on Dance" at the time that I did.

The dance world in the 1980s was simply explosive.

That was a time that was called the dance boom.

When dance just exploded in New York City, particularly modern dance, but ballet as well.

- [Narrator] Once upon a time, there was a festival, in Brooklyn.

(Djembe music) A celebration of American Black Dance.

(audience applauding) - [Celia] New York city was introduced to Garth Fagan primarily through the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Dance Black America festival in 1983.

Garth was one of the artists that appeared on that program.

- It was a shock.

It was a shock.

It was a shock.

- [Celia] It had like all the seminal artists.

It was one of the most ruckus festivals.

D.A.

Pennebaker, who's a famous documentary filmmaker, recorded it and it was aired on PBS.

- Ladies and gentlemen, we're starting in four minutes, please take your seat.

- We're gonna break a leg.

- We're gonna break 20 legs.

("From Before" music) - [Celia] When they came out on stage, it was just exhilarating.

(audience applauding) The magnitude of their physicality was like none other.

(steel drum music) They have an internal musicality that, I always felt, regardless of what music they were performing to, it was a jazz sensibility.

To me, jazz, you know, it has this sort of abstractness, angularity, and ideas are buttressed one against the other in unexpected ways.

And that's exactly what his dances looked like.

(steel drum music) (audience applauding) - Alvin greeted me once I got off stage with tears in his eyes and he said, "Do you hear that?

Do you hear them applauding?

That's for you and your work.

Go out there and take another bow."

(laughs) Frankly, I was gonna stop in Rochester and go on to Alvin Ailey, but I had a back injury.

And I had dinner with Alvin and Alvin said, "Garth, what you're talking about doing.

How you see movement, how you see music is something that's not in any stage, any place."

Alvin gave me money to start the company, because he understood where I was going.

'Cause he said, "Garth, with all these trained dancers around, why do you want to start with untrained dancers?"

I said, 'cause I didn't want to have to waste the time to un-train them.

In those days, people paid more attention to newspapers and reviews, and photographs would always tell this great story.

You know, and we just dropped the bucket, 'cause we weren't at the bottom of the bucket anymore.

- When he decided to put his name on it.

I think that's when he decided that this was going to be a company that's to be reckoned with.

(jazz drumbeat music) - We just became one of the most acclaimed dance tickets to get around the country.

And then around the world.

- Germany, France.

- Harare, Zimbabwe.

- France was on their feet.

Right away.

They wouldn't stop clapping and the curtain calls kept going over, and over, and over again.

- We went to Turkey.

We went to everywhere in Europe.

- Austria was memorable because we did "Griot New York" in Austria.

And in Austria, instead of standing up doing a standing ovation, they would stomp their feet.

- You know, thousands of people, it was loud.

(chuckles) Okay.

- We did a show in Alexandria, which is like the intellectual capital of Northern Africa.

It was just incredible.

That trip completely blew my mind.

(upbeat guitar music) - One of the most beautiful things about when we went overseas, or when we go anywhere with Garth Fagan Dance, is Garth always made time for us to see where we were at.

- [Natalie] If there was a museum or exhibition of any kind of a famous artist, we would go.

- Ladies and gentlemen.

(speaking foreign language) We go to the Pompidou now.

- [Bill] He wanted us to be educated and informed because as educated and informed dancers, we could inform our artistry.

That's the thing that made touring with the company really special.

It was about the whole experience of being wherever we were at.

(upbeat guitar music continues) - In addition to the work we are also ambassadors for the country, right?

We're also become ambassadors, touring the continent of Africa on behalf of the Us government.

So we are representing the country.

To see how proud people were, that we have some relationship between people who are African and people who are African American.

Right?

So to see that relationship confirmed was just really extraordinary.

(practice noises) (audience applauding) - The gentleman, that's the right hand of Garth Fagan Dance.

In teaching, administration and getting everything done.

My bad, bad, bad son, William Ferguson.

(audience applauding) (funky music) - I met Garth in Kansas city.

My instructor, Deborah Lee said that Garth Fagan Dance is coming into town And I should go to that master class.

I had never taken a dance class that felt so much like me.

It was like putting on a old shirt, or old shoes, or gloves that you've been wearing for years.

It just felt like me.

I wasn't gonna go dance with anybody.

'Cause nobody was doing anything that I thought was worthy of my time.

I was gonna find something new.

And I said, "Well, he's got something sort of new here."

So I said, "Well maybe I'll do this for a couple years."

32 years later, I'm still with Garth Fagan Dance.

(sentimental music) It's through being with Garth Fagan Dance, that I met Nicky, the love of my life, the mother of my two children.

I'm the man I am today because of her.

- Thank you for the setup.

(both laughing) Okay, here we go.

So where do I start?

Right.

2008, when I became pregnant with my first child, who is now William Donovan- 12 years old, I can't believe it- - 12 years old, wow.

- Here I was in this company, World acclaimed company and I get a solo created for me and my growing belly.

Unbelievable, right?

Not only was I able to perform six months pregnant with my first child, all these new feelings, feeling great, feeling wonderful, at the Joyce Theater.

One of the foremost theaters for dance, in New York City, where I grew up.

On the same night that our first African American President was elected President of the United States.

Oh my God!

Like, I mean, I was making history for myself, for the company, for other women in the audience.

Barack Obama was making history in the United States, in the world.

I can't thank Garth enough for that experience.

I mean, I don't know anybody else who can say that.

Like, that is mine.

That is what I share with Garth.

I share that with my son, W.D., and I share that with Barack Obama.

(laughs) (sentimental piano music) (audience applauding) - [Garth] A lady who assisted me when I worked on "The Lion King."

An amazing, amazing dancer, Julliard grad, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

My excellent angelic daughter, Natalie Rogers.

(audience applauding) - I am the assistant rehearsal director, the school director, the acting development director and principal dancer at Garth Fagan Dance.

That's it right?

Yes.

(laughs) That's enough.

Oye, okay.

(laughs) I originally from Trinidad and Tobago, I came to New York to pursue a career in dance and become a star.

And I started out pretty well.

I went to Julliard and decided, "Oh boy, this is fun.

I think I'll do this for a living."

But I didn't see a company that I felt I could really dance with, that I felt could challenge me.

I did dance with a lot of people, but it was not until I saw Garth Fagan Dance, that I went, "Yes, this is it for me."

I saw him as the world's greatest choreographer, but because of his warmth and his natural fatherlyness, it was such a relief for me.

That's why I left New York.

I didn't have that.

Now I come into this environment and here is the mentorship.

Here's the parenting that I wanted so badly.

(upbeat jazz music) That was it.

I packed up and left, and came to Rochester.

having been dancing for so long, I understood the risk they were taking.

The technical necessity to execute this choreography was astounding to me.

It needs to be said like the ballet technique, like the Graham technique, this is a bonafide technique.

(warm up music) It has a purpose to form the body in a certain way.

It also can have dancers dance well into their 60s.

And that's how it works because it heals and it helps the body get stronger, less injuries, longevity, all of that.

The warm up goes through without speaking, without any direction.

Everyone learns the movement from watching and that creates a focus that's required.

The talking happens, and not a lot of it, When you go across the floor.

And the only talking would be to correct you.

- Nice, Aria.

Just don't bring your back up.

Right?

Keep your back down.

Right?

- We also don't use mirrors and that's to make you sensitive, as a student and a dancer, to what's around you.

You have to have that trust in the teacher, not the mirror, the teacher, who is the experienced one.

(warm up music continues) (singing gibberish) - I just remembered some parties we had in this room.

- Oh yeah.

- Oh boy, oh boy.

- I could get lead astray.

- Oh boy.

- There are pictures of those parties.

- That's right, yeah.

Before I was even born.

("Prelude") All right, here we go.

- [PJ] Oh Wow.

Fireworks.

- Whoa.

- Yeah.

That's a good point.

- It's that quality.

- [Garth] Prelude.

very simple.

No story, no problems.

Just the divine human body, moving through space.

The subtitle to the piece, "Discipline is Freedom," that's exactly what it is.

If you study hard and you come to the studio every day with some talent and some commitment, you can do a prelude.

("Prelude" continues) - It's the technique study.

This is basically giving you a primer on how we move, how Garth places things on the stage, the poly rhythms.

And you get a chance to see how the individuals work as a unit, but you can still distinguish between each one of them.

So it's not like- - [Garth] Carbon copies.

- Not like carbon copies, right.

Yeah.

("Prelude" tempo increases) - If you were to factor out Garth's work in the way that a musician will factor out their work by the albums that they produced, Garth has probably produced over 75 record albums.

If you compare that to a music producer.

The dances may be in the thousands, right?

And these are the ones that we have access to.

Not even the ones that were done before it becomes Garth Fagan Dance.

("Daylight Savings Time") - [Natalie] Wow, look at this.

- [PJ] Oh wow.

This is my first solo, which in and of itself was a nightmare, count wise.

- [Natalie] Yeah.

- Lot of fives.

Lot of threes.

- Ugh.

- Yeah.

That music is not giving you any- - Oh no, no.

- No, no, no.

- help at all.

- So this came outta your mind, Garth.

- [Garth] It did.

- What was your impetus for this dance?

- Just that anything I gave him to do, he could do.

I had no boundaries.

It was keeping the concentration going.

- [PJ] This was one of the first times you really, you know, forced me to concentrate.

- [Garth] Yes.

- 'Cause there was no- you couldn't lapse in concentration for one second.

- My best award winners sure show up.

(all laughing) - Yeah.

That's right.

- If you didn't know they got a best award, you would have figured it out.

(all laughing) - Like those two.

- [Garth] Yeah.

- [PJ] Right, Right.

- It's easier to do things on my own, but good partnership can push you and give you (jazz music) different visions.

(jazz music) - Whatever field you're in, you always are trying to make connections.

And what makes a work rich is the complexity of relationships.

- [Natalie] The most beautiful piece Garth has done, is "Griot New York" Because of the collaboration with two different artists, musician, and a sculptor.

All of our ins and outs are in there.

Love, pain, death, birth, everything is in there.

It's so wonderful to see.

- My relationship with Garth.

Oh my goodness.

You know, I can't- it goes so far back, I don't even remember when I first met him.

- She did "Cry" by Alvin Ailey, and that's one of the most exquisite dances I've ever seen, any place in the world.

And I saw it all over the world.

I did the last solo she performed, called "Scene Seen."

("Scene seen") - I remember looking at it and going, oh, I can do that.

And then I don't even know if I got through an entire class of his.

Hard as it could be.

It is so difficult, but you've gotta put your hat on understanding, "This is another technique."

Right?

"This another technique," you have to think of it that way because it is.

His work requires that you can stop- as other techniques have- that you can stop on a dime.

But you might have to stop on the dime leaning over all the way over here, some place.

(laughs) I'm going, like, "Oh no."

(laughs) It was probably one of the hardest solos I've done, because of its stillness.

There was a lot of stillness and because of positions of balance, that was very difficult for me.

But you could see his dancers, (fingers snapping) stop on a dime.

And I wanted to be able to (snapping fingers) stop like that.

("Scene Seen" continues) - Oh, "The Lion King."

Well, Julie invited me over to her apartment, in New York, and grilled me.

- I went to the Joyce Theater (fast-paced music) and I saw Garth Fagan Dance Company.

And a lot of what I saw was isolation movement.

Being able to move your head, your shoulders, this part of the body, that he really worked on the articulation of the body.

And when you watch animals, that's what you're looking at.

You're looking at how they can make a sharp look that way and their eyes will go.

And then the ability to freeze.

It was a really spectacular use of articulation and isolation in the body.

And, you know, I knew that I would like to have something that would also, maybe street dance, in the hyena section, that I wanted to have a kind of urban feel to those characters.

But I also knew that African dance could be a part of it.

("The Lioness Heart") - I wanted to say, yes.

We wanted something that Broadway had never seen before.

- He said to PJ, and I, "Let's see what you can do with African based movement."

We worked on some stuff.

Then Garth came in and started to just twist it, and add counts and turn it into something, and add things that he liked, and so on.

And he created these phrases and that's what we started to teach the dancers.

- My name is Aubrey Lynch.

I joined "The Lion King" as an original cast member, and was there 11 years, total.

I mean, who knew?

(laughs) I went to an open call and my life changed.

- The audition.

Right?

You had a line going around the block.

Okay.

So they knew who Garth Fagan was.

They knew he was a modern dance choreographer.

He's not a Broadway choreographer.

- The very first audition he said, "You're gonna watch Natalie do this solo and you're going to perform it.

You're gonna watch it.

You're not gonna move."

So she did this dance.

It was a bar minute, two minutes long, it was a long piece of choreography.

And when she stopped, he said, "Okay, everyone just go and try it."

We all stood there dumbfounded.

People left, walked out.

(laughing) It was hilarious.

- By the time we had the second call, this was the creme dela creme of what we had seen.

And oh my God, the room was exploding.

- It was just cutthroat.

It was just so the- I mean the room was just thick with like anticipation and we want to do this.

And we wanna get into this show.

- At the fourth callback.

He said, "Remember the first day and the first combination you learned?

We're gonna show it once, now do it."

And somehow I remembered it.

I wanted that job so bad, I remembered that combination.

He wanted dancers who were smart, who were disciplined, who were unafraid, and who would try anything.

- [Julie] There were Alvin Ailey dancers.

There were Fagan dancers.

There were dancers from the dance world.

And that meant Garth had the ability to really push the boundaries of what anybody had seen on a Broadway stage.

- My name is Lindy Dlamini, I've been in the show since the beginning, which is almost 25 years, now.

The first thing he said to us, when he introduces himself, he said, "Hey, singers, you're gonna dance today."

So... (laughs) But he said, "I don't want perfection, but I want to know that you've tried."

Coming in as a singer, we didn't expect that we're supposed to dance.

And first, when we looked at the costumes, how are we gonna dance in these costumes?

The hyena costumes have four legs, how am I gonna dance in that?

But as singers he made us so comfortable, you know, to be able to dance.

And then we started dancing from the first scene to the end of the show.

("Lion King" music) - I cannot believe that we rehearsed this in five or six weeks from scratch.

We all roll our eyes 'cause we don't think we could do that again.

But we did it.

And what was thrilling was I would have a five minute break.

I would go off to the choreography room.

I'd sit there and I watch.

And then he would have time and he would come to see what I was doing.

So there was a lot of cross pollination and collaboration and really excitement.

- So we were in rehearsal in New York City for about six weeks.

And then went to Minneapolis to put the show up.

This show had never been done before.

It wasn't this phenomena.

It was just kind of a show.

And puppets, and silk, and the moving stage, and the makeup, and the costume- I changed costumes 19 times.

So by the time we got to the very first preview, the very first audience we had never gotten through the show without stopping.

We couldn't run it.

We tried to run it and it never workED.

And I will never forget when the audience, you know, Nants ingonyama and the audience roared.

- And you couldn't hear the "Circle of Life.

It was such a volume of shouting, of glee that we, we just sat there in a row weeping.

- It was so incredible to just see it all come together and then just be able to sit back and just take in the whole experience.

- This is amazing.

Oh my God, I'm so proud that I was involved, you know.

- That very first night was an incredible night of theater.

Incredible.

And we know we're in something really, really special.

- Yay to "The Lion King" and yay to the legacy of Garth Fagan Dance, and the Fagan technique that's now on Broadway.

- Come Tony time, I remember we were being compared to the other great shows and they were saying we weren't really a show, we were spectacle.

Like we're some kind of a circus or something like that.

And so now at the Tony's, (audience applauding) we are at Radio City Music Hall, I remember when that first, Tsidii went Nants ingonyama again the audience roared.

Nants ingonyama Bagithi baba And we said, ("Circle of Life" playing) we're gonna give them what "Lion King" is.

They were telling us we're not a show.

We're not a Broadway show.

We're gonna be, whatever we are, the best that thing is gonna be.

It doesn't matter what happens.

We have given them the best of Broadway, the best of concert dance, the best of theater, the best of humanity.

It doesn't matter what happens now.

We went back to the dressing rooms.

People were like just going home, just going home because okay, it was over.

And we won.

(laughs) (audience applauding) - And the 1998 Tony Award for Best Choreography goes to, Garth Fagan for "The Lion King."

(audience uproars) (audience applauding) - Wow.

First of all, I'd like to thank Julie Taymor for a great, great, great creative inventing spirit.

I am from the not-for-profit world, as you know.

That's where I rehearsed this occasion, with my fabulous dancers from Garth Fagan Dance and my assistants, Norwood Pennywell and Natalie Rogers.

I'm extremely proud of this moment.

And as we say in "The Lion King," be prepared, feel the love every night, and fill yourself with a circle of life Thanks.

(audience applauding) (lighthearted music) I cared very much and I was thrilled with it.

- I jumped onto the PJ.

I was like, "We did it!

We did it!"

He just spun me around until I was dizzy.

- Like thank you everybody.

God, Moses, Muhammad, everybody, thank you.

- He put his post modern avant garde, beautiful choreography and art on stage, and it worked and won a Tony.

It's just the most beautiful moment I can think of.

- I'll be bringing my grandchildren to watch "Lion King."

So (laughs) yeah, I think it's gonna be here for a long, long time.

("Grassland Chant") - [Interviewer] What's the first thing you wanted to do after "The Lion King"?

- Oh, (laughs) Go on a vacation.

And I also wanted to be back with my dancers.

You surround yourself with strong hardhearted people.

Hardhearted not in the negative sense, but in the positive sense of doing things right.

And doing things with exuberance, and doing it to the best of your ability again, and again, and again, ("Two Pieces of One: Green") till you get it right.

- [Natalie] This was right after "The Lion King" yep.

This is the first piece after "The Lion King."

It was so complex, and so not Broadway.

I mean, I don't know about you P, but when Garth started with this, it refocused me.

'cause from "The Lion King", it was so distracting and so much.

- [PJ] Yeah.

- For me I was so relieved, that I could gather everything again.

And I had not have to think about, you know, "The Lion King," and Disney, and the show, and the costumes, and the...

I really, really loved doing this.

At that point.

("Two Pieces of One: Green" continues) - When Garth returned from "The Lion King," we were a mature company then.

All of us had been together 5, 6, 7 years.

All of us had been dancing 20, 30 years a piece.

So we were ready for Garth to come back.

Everybody was ready to work.

It was clear to us that we were part of the creation of a legend.

- He's a star.

And I mean, he is a presence.

He has weight, he's gravitas, and he's fun, and he's human, and he's loving, and he's disciplined.

- It just takes so much to make this your life and the things you have to give up to be available, to be doing this work at all hours.

It's really hard.

And very few artists of his level are able to combine their own creative work with this ability to interact with others in a real, genuine, caring way.

- He's very much interested in the exchange, which I always call sacred, that happens between dancer and choreographer.

And when you hit, as he's hit so many times, the right people, wow.

He comes out with brilliant, brilliant work.

- He just believes in dancers so much.

And he treats us like superheroes and expects us to be super humans.

And if you work with him long enough, you will be, for sure.

- And I've been blessed, you know, truly blessed.

Thank God I did what I did.

(laughing) Thank God.

Thank God.

Thank God.

(audience applauding) (dancers chattering) - When I retired in 2003, because I wanted to start a family, I officially became the school director and started to really get into the educational part of how to share this technique with kids who may not necessarily have an opportunity to do it.

That was the main goal, was to get as many children as we can to experience dance the way we teach it.

- One of the most exciting things about, you know, my job at the moment is working with the student ensemble because they are just so lively and so talented and just so eager to learn.

- It is a breeding ground.

We are very, very open about it.

It's great for us to do that.

And I think it also makes the people who want to join us more comfortable.

So they see what we're about.

And they'll say, "Yes, I'll move to Rochester and dance with Garth Fagan Dance, yeah."

- I was pushed mentally, physically and emotionally, but I love it.

I love the discipline.

You're moving your body in ways that seem impossible.

You're not moving like that in ballet, tap, or hip hop.

You're not.

- It's about sustaining the company and the legacy of Garth Fagan Dance.

So if we have to grow the school to do that, then that's what you do.

(excited music) - The Theater at Innovation Square is our new home for our winter season.

We're sort of like a whole new company and everybody's getting a chance to see what it's like to dance for the company for the first time.

- I'm a 51 year veteran and I am performing with dancers that have danced with us for six months.

I'm just this, you know, this one little part that can still represent the old Garth Fagan or the "Bottom of the Bucket", 'cause it's a tradition.

You know, I'm the only one left.

So I just figure, it's kind of responsibility.

- I'm feeling nervous and excited.

There's a lot of pressure because this is Garth Fagan Dance.

So we have to represent the name well and we have to represent the legacy well.

- Afternoon dance lovers.

(audience applauding) Welcome everybody.

- [PJ] I feel that I bring a history of training, living, experiencing all that is Garth Fagan Dance and hope that I'm an example that young people can come and emulate.

- [Natalie] When I heard that, okay, you know, Garth's gonna take a backseat for now.

I was like, "Okay," I had no issues whatsoever.

No fear.

I knew everything that needed to be done, and I knew the three of us could do it.

- I hope for them having worked with me that it'll be easier for them to do my job.

I might be up there singing with the angels, but they can refer to me.

How would Garth handle this?

(audience applauding) And they know the deep place of passion and love that all of the work comes from.

- [Bill] As much as Garth is my father Garth, Garth is my mentor, Garth is our leader.

Where I'm at now, it's time for us to take that weight off of Garth.

It's time for us to lead.

(uplifting jazz music) (uplifting jazz music continues) (uplifting jazz music continues) (uplifting jazz music continues) (uplifting jazz music continues) (uplifting jazz music continues) (uplifting jazz music continues) - Funding for this program was provided by Nocon and associates, a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC, committed to programming that advances the arts.

The Jane K. and Robert C. Stevens Fund for New Programming, The Jane K. and Robert C.

Stevens Fund for New Programming, of the Rochester Area Community Foundation, expanding access to the arts in the Rochester Finger Lakes region.

(WXXI tones)