Before the Beginning
In 2004 Cats Paying Dues was just barely a figment in the imagination of Artistic Director, Andrew Nemr. Savion Glover’s TiDii, a company of which Andrew was a founding member, was on the tail end of its existence; Andrew’s mentor Gregory Hines had passed away the year before; and Andrew was searching. Searching for what he wanted to do next, or more precisely what he should do next. Andrew was searching for guidance, and it came in multiple forms. Andrew knew that he wanted to dance with other people – the danceable ideas in his head mandated more than one dancer, and his time in TiDii cemented the positive aspects of the ensemble as an idea. ‘What kind of ensemble?’ would be the next question that needed to be answered. This was answered by Jimmy Slyde as he recounted his time with Sir Slide (Jimmy Mitchell – Slyde’s partner in the Slide Brothers) during a presentation at the Miller Theatre at Columbia University. Andrew was there to here Jimmy Slyde talk about having four-and-a-half red hot minutes…and 2 minutes in reserve, just in case the audience asked for an encore. Andrew also came across this video of the Miller Brothers and Lois, inspiring the idea of a trio. Who would the other dancers be? One of the other members of TiDii was the amazing Michelle Dorrance. She had introduced Andrew to the equally phenomenal Nicholas Young years before (Nicholas was the first person Andrew saw execute a one-footed 5-sound wing), and Nicholas was currently in the New York cast of STOMP. Andrew asked for a meeting.
The Kitchen Table in Harlem
The meeting took place with Andrew, Michelle, and Nicholas, around the kitchen table of a Harlem, NY, apartment. There was brainstorming, dreaming, and a just little dancing involved. There was excitement about the possibility of bringing something red hot (as per Jimmy Slyde’s story) to the stage. And so it began…
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