It seems almost too trite that Chuck Davis, 2002 Dance/USA Honors lifetime achievement award winner (also named one of America's 100 Irreplaceable Dance Treasures), answers his cell phone "Peace and Love."
Normally, I would find this type of phone greeting borderline ridiculous, but when I hear his melodious voice chiming "Peace and Love" on the end of the line, I smile - not out of some self-aggrandizing brand of skeptical humor either, but out of sincere amazement that anyone can sound so genuinely kind in two seconds. I can hear the smile in his voice, and it's contagious.
Chuck Davis, a long-time Durham resident, is renowned as one of the foremost dance figures of our time; however, Davis sees himself as an artist first and a dancer incidentally. He explained the mission of his Chuck Davis Dance Company to me in smooth tones:
"I am involved in the world of dance, and dance is the mother of the arts, and through this comes nurture. Dance nurtures all of the other art forms. I use the same energy to reach out into the community to assist in growth to help people make the connection from loneliness to joy."
Davis does not want his performances to be seen as mere stage acts, but as opportunities to "share the dancing realm" with his community. Through the physical and mental discipline of dance, Davis challenges us to explore the best aspects of ourselves and dispose of the worst.
When I asked Davis what prompted him to start his company, he answered without skipping a beat: "Tarzan."
A little bewildered by this response, I asked him to explain. His voice immediately grew deep with passion. "One day, I was watching a Tarzan movie, and it depicted blacks as dolts and savages and 'ooga-boogas'.... I just got so angry. I said, 'Let me mend some of these holes that this movie is putting into society.' I wanted the truth to be known."
He explains, "If people understand other people's culture, they are better able to accept differences. You can't base everything on what's happening here, in a particular moment."
Davis lives his belief system, financing the education of over 100 children in Africa, Cuba and the U.S. He works with young people in order to introduce them to his message of universal peace and love.
One of his primary goals is to educate children so that they can grow up free of ignorance of others. In typical Davis fashion, he poetically articulated this through metaphor: "As the twig is bent, so grows the tree. As the mind is developed, so grows the youth. If you educate that child to appreciate nothing, nothing will be appreciated."
It is clear that Davis' aim, despite his humanitarian work, is not to be appreciated, but to have his message understood. He explains that there is only one way that people need to approach his art - with an open mind. "Give yourself to it and it becomes you," he said. "As it becomes you, you become larger than life."
- Gillian Barnard
The Chuck Davis African American Dance Ensemble will perform Saturday, April 12 at 7 p.m. at the Wendell Community Center.
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