Mickey D & Friends

Mickey D & Friends, photo by Susan Ragan

Mickey Davidson’s performing experiences include affiliations with Sounds in Motion Dance Company, Norma Miller’s Lindy Hoppers, Charles Cookie Cook, Savoy Swingers, Roots of Brazil, Okra Dance Co., Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Sharon Freeman, Ahmed Abdullah, Jeanne Lee, Oliver Lake, Frankie Manning, and the late Steve McCall, to name a few. Davidson was primary choreographer for her own company MICKEY D. & FRIENDS, a group of dancers and musicians which explores and performs the interlocking relationship between music and dance. The company toured “DANCE! RHYTHM! DANCE!”, “JUBA,JUKIN AND JAZZIN”, “MELLOW MOVES”  and “SWINGIN’IN At the Savoy.” From September 1993-2013, Davidson was director of Okra Dance Company taking over the leadership from its’ founding director Phillip Bond. She was one of three choreographers for the European tour of the Broadway production of “Black and Blue”. Davidson set and maintained the swing and blues choreography inherited from Frankie Manning. Davidson enjoyed a collaborative relationship with poet/playwright Ntozake Shange for over twenty years. For the 20th Anniversary Production of “For Colored Girls” she won an Audelco Award for choreography under Shange’s direction. As a veteran of arts in education (1977-2014) serving NYC, NJ, and CT school systems, through performances and residencies in African American dance styles and their connection to American history. Okra Dance programs, added multi-cultural connections to the organizations’ foot print. Besides teaching at the College of Old Westbury in the 80’s, Ms. Davidson has held joint appointments with the Dance department and African-American Studies at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT. Currently she does workshops at Princeton University, Hofstra University, and other institutions. Recently Davidson has taught for Jazz Power Initiative in Washington Heights. She has taught jazz dance at the Louis Armstrong Jazz Camp in New Orleans for the past twelve summers and the Gloster Arts Project in Mississippi.

Visiting The Past To See The Future
In Visiting The Past To See The Future Mickey Davidson re-explores with the community two former pieces to physically re-discover the past to respect the future by facing the present. Mickey Davidson is a 2023 Black Artist Space to Create Resident Artist.