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Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Malcolm-Jamal Warner carried a heavy load for Black America
There were three television characters who really mattered to me as a kid: Michael, Leroy and Theo. In elementary school, 'Good Times' was the television show that most closely resembled my family. And seeing reruns of Ralph David Carter's portrayal of a precocious young boy learning what it means to be poor, gifted and Black is what moved his Michael from fiction to family for me. By middle school, I was no longer wearing cornrows like Gene Anthony Ray, but I tried everything else to be like his character Leroy from the television show 'Fame.' For some of my classmates, the performing arts were a fun way to express themselves, and the show was inspirational. For me, it was my way out of the hood, and Leroy was the blueprint. Through the Detroit-Windsor Dance Academy, I was able to take professional dance lessons for free and ultimately earned a dance scholarship for college. But it wasn't a linear journey. Despite being gifted, I struggled academically and required summer classes to graduate from high school. That's why I connected with Theo, whose challenges in the classroom were one of the running jokes on 'The Cosby Show.' The family never gave up on him, and more importantly, he didn't stop trying. Through the jokes about his intelligence, the coming-of-age miscues (and the dyslexia diagnosis), the storylines of Theo — like those of Leroy and Michael — often reflected struggles I foolishly thought no one else was experiencing when I was growing up. It is only through distance and time are we able to see moments like those more clearly. In retrospect, the three of them were like knots I held onto on a rope I had no idea I was climbing. This is why the Black community's response to the death of Malcolm-Jamal Warner this week isn't solely rooted in nostalgia but also in gratitude. We recognize the burden he's been carrying, so that others could climb. When 'The Cosby Show' debuted in 1984, there were no other examples of a successful two-parent Black family on air. We were on television but often trauma and struggle — not love and support — were at the center of the narratives. So even though Black women had been earning law degrees since the 1800s — beginning with Charlotte E. Ray in 1872 — and Black men were becoming doctors before that, the initial response from critics was that the show's premise of a doctor-and-lawyer Black couple was not authentically Black. That narrow-minded worldview continued to hang over Hollywood despite the show's success. In 1992, after nearly 10 years of 'The Cosby Show' being No. 1 — and after the success of 'Beverly Hills Cop II' and 'Coming to America' — the Eddie Murphy-led project 'Boomerang' was panned as unrealistic because the main characters were all Black and successful. The great Murphy took on the Los Angeles Times directly in a letter for its critique on what Black excellence should look like. However, Black characters like Michael, Leroy and Theo had been taking on the media since the racist film 'The Birth of a Nation' painted all of us as threats in 1915. It could not have been easy for Warner, being the face of so much for so many at an age when a person is trying to figure out who he is. And because he was able to do so with such grace, Warner's Theo defined Blackness simply by being what the world said we were not. This sentiment is embodied in his last interview, when he answered the question of his legacy by saying: 'I will be able to leave this Earth knowing and people knowing that I was a good person.' In the end, that is ultimately what made his character, along with Leroy and Michael, so important to the Black community. It wasn't the economic circumstances or family structure of the sitcoms that they all had in common. It was their refusal to allow the ugliness of this world to tear them down. To change their hearts or turn their light into darkness. They maintained their humanity and in the process gave so many of us a foothold to keep climbing higher. YouTube: @LZGrandersonShow
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Detroit's oldest dance academy celebrates 41 years with special performance this weekend
Despite 41 years of activity and service in the community, there's a Detroit arts gem many still don't know about. Detroit-Windsor Dance Academy, founded in 1984 by Kresge Artist Fellow Debra White-Hunt, has spent decades welcoming and nurturing dancers of all ages and experience levels and will present its annual student dance concert on Saturday, June 14. The theme of this year's concert is 'Higher.' 'It's celebrating how we took this year to look at where we are, who we are, and think of what more we can do in this life, in this world,' said White-Hunt. ''Higher' was the word that came to me, so that's the word we have been working with all year, all the students and all the teachers: 'How can we go higher?' Each teacher or special guest that choreographs, they take that theme and make it their own. 'I have a beginning ballet class, and for them I'm using Stevie Wonder's 'Higher Ground.' And you know part of the lyrics say, 'Don't let nobody take you to a low level, keep on going until you reach higher ground.' The Acorn Society, a group of young dancers that we've seen some potential in — their music is 'Anxiety' by Doechii, and the thought behind that is letting go, reaching higher and letting anxiety go out. We have 38 dances; the dances aren't long, because we want to make sure they're complete. And sometimes, when you're younger, you're not ready to do a long dance, so they're short and sweet, and they keep moving.' The concert will also feature a segment of daddy-daughter dance numbers. Set to the music of Michael Jackson, students from age 8 up through 'probably somewhere near 70' will dance with their fathers in celebration of Father's Day. 'That's a very special one for me,' said White-Hunt, 'because my dad was always in it with me. For many, many years, he was always the oldest student here — when he passed away in 2016, he was 95 and still dancing. I think that's where I get my longevity in dancing. He passed away in June, and the concert was in June. The other dads were devastated because they had bonded so much. I didn't know what I was going to do, but I decided to go on and be in the dance as if he were there, and we dedicated it to him and my father-in-law.' See also: Global internet artist-activist Blcksmth goes viral with Detroit art installation See also: Detroit's 'best art show in 50 years' closing soon at Carr Center White-Hunt called the performance 'a labor of love.' 'We dance because we breathe,' she said. 'Our teachers are very passionate and dedicated to the legacy that we have started here. We have nine teachers, and seven of them grew up here. They went away to school and came back to continue to feed and grow the academy, and so for me and my husband, Bruce, it's very special to see them develop as young women and men, to bring forth the next generation of dancers. 'Sometimes, over the years, we've been so busy that I haven't really been able to smell our flowers. But one day, it hit me, (some students) were my age when they started, and now they're all grown up. So I believe that we are doing something really great for the community, and that was our vision and our mission, to establish something that last long beyond our years. We're in the fourth and fifth generations right now of students who've become teachers with us. A couple of the teachers have daughters and sons that are now old enough to take dance, and we welcome that because they are the ones that will be the next leaders." Rochelle Riley, director of arts and culture for the city of Detroit, included White-Hunt in the city's Office of Arts, Culture & Entrepreneurship's (ACE) inaugural class of Detroit ACE honorees in 2022. 'If only Detroit knew what it has had in Debra White-Hunt and her founding of the Detroit-Windsor Dance Academy 41 years ago,' Riley said. 'Her dream-turned-reality-turned-training ground has birthed professional dancers, teachers, studio owners. While more than 15,000 students owe her a debt of thanks, Detroit owes one as well to the city's oldest, largest dance academy.' The academy teaches students as young as age 2 and has no upper age limit. No dance background is required. To sign up for classes, go to call 313-872-7200, or drop by in person at 3031 W. Grand Blvd., Suite 260, during open hours. Detroit-Windsor Dance Academy will perform 'Higher' on Saturday, June 14, at 6 p.m. at Detroit School of the Arts, 123 Selden St. Tickets start at $25 and can be purchased at Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at dbeddingfield@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit's oldest dance school marks 41 years with weekend performance
