Debbie Allen - regina robertson

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By Regina R.
Rober tson
Photography
Kwaku Alston
WITH LIMITLES
S TALENT AND
AN UNWAVER
TO THE ARTS ,
ING DEDICATIO
DEBBIE ALLEN
N
HAS FOUND A
NURTURING TH
NEW PASSION—
E NEXT CROP
OF PERFORME
RS
Some days I wake up and think, That damn Debbie Allen,” she says
with a laugh, speaking of herself in the third person. “She always has an idea
and I wish she’d just leave me alone sometimes!” Even as she jokes about the
prospect of slowing her pace, she knows that’s not who she is, or ever was.
It’s just before one o’clock on a Saturday, one of the busiest days at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in Los Angeles. On this
particular day, however, there is more activity than usual. Just as a meeting with parents of new students is adjourning out back,
a group of preteen girls of every height and hue gathers inside to audition for The Hot Chocolate Nutcracker (BET will air last
year’s production in December). This is the fourth year that the show, Allen’s twist on the classic ballet, will play at the University
of California at Los Angeles’ Royce Hall, and news of the open call has spread like wildfire. But before any dancing commences,
Ms. Allen—as her students and faculty call her—wants to see everybody in the room. Dressed down in a white button-up top,
hot pink cargo pants and matching Nikes, she directs the girls to walk across the floor, row by row.
Step, step, walk…step, step, walk…step, step, walk…
Watching her in action is like going back in time to her days as Lydia Grant, from the 1980’s movie and TV series Fame. But
really, that was more than three decades ago. Allen, now 64, has accomplished so much since then, and it’s likely her young
charges know her for very different reasons. Perhaps they’ve seen her sit at the judges’ table on So You Think You Can Dance.
They’ve probably read her children’s books, too, and attended her stage productions. Maybe they’ve even felt the buzz
DECEMBER 2014 ESSENCE .COM 109
Sharing the gift of
the arts is a whole new
purpose in my life.
It goes beyond me.
surrounding the prime-time shows she currently stars in
and directs. All in all, it speaks to the legacy she has been
building for years.
Debbie Allen is a dancer, singer, actor and choreographer,
just as she’s a writer, producer, mentor and community leader.
She’s also a wife and the mother of Vivian Nixon, 30, and Norm
“Thump” Nixon, Jr., 27. She wears many hats, but she sticks
to a simple method for managing it all. “When I’m here, auditioning children, I’m not thinking about directing Scandal or
Grey’s Anatomy,” she explains. “But if I’m working on How to
Get Away With Murder, I don’t want to hear about anything
else, because I’m totally focused on getting that story on film.
I do one thing at a time.”
Big Dreams
Dance is her core. It’s the well from which she derives her
inspiration. But to understand the magic of Debbie Allen, to truly
appreciate the force that she is and that she brings, it’s necessary to take a look back at the people and places that shaped
her. The third child and second daughter of Pulitzer Prize–
nominated poet Vivian Ayers and the late Dr. Arthur Andrew
Allen, she was raised as a “child of the universe.” She was once
asked what religion she practiced. Her response: “I am a free
mind.” That independent spirit was her mother’s doing.
Growing up in Houston during the sixties could have been a
limiting existence, but while her father, a prominent dentist, was
teaching his children about the power of community, her mom
was exposing them to the world beyond their block through art.
“We went to museums and concerts, but because of segregation,
we couldn’t go downtown to the movies, so we’d see them later,
on television,” says Allen, who was mesmerized by musicals.
That’s where the dreaming began. “Listening to Lena Horne and
Dorothy Dandridge sing and watching the Nicholas Brothers and
Fred Astaire dance had a big impact on me. Then when I saw
Shirley Temple, I said, ‘I can outdance her. I know I can!’ ”
“Deborrah is a little lady, but she is a large spirit. In junior
high school, she joined the string ensemble and, if you can
imagine, she chose the bass violin. She had to sit on a stool so
her hands could reach the fingerboard,” Phylicia Rashad says of
her younger sister and frequent collaborator, whom she still calls
by her given name. (Allen’s first manager suggested she shorten
her name to Debbie—she agreed—and get plastic surgery on
her lips, which she vehemently refused.)
While many of Allen’s memories are peppered with laughter, like meeting her husband of 30 years, former NBA player
Norm Nixon, while filming The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (“Ooh
child, that movie was a gift and a disaster!”), there’s one experience that brings her to tears. At 17, after years of training at the
Houston School of Ballet, she auditioned for the North Carolina
School of the Arts. “I was told that my body was not right for
ballet,” says Allen, who, ironically, was asked to demonstrate
ballet combinations during the audition. Sharing the news with
her parents was difficult. “At first my father didn’t believe me,
110 ESSENCE .COM DECEMBER 2014
Clockwise from top: Wayne Mackins-Harris
(Prince), Taína Lyons (Ballerina), Savoy Bailey
(Bollywood), Ryan Phuong (Candy Cane),
Amanda Harris (Angel) and Allen.
but when I tried to explain to my mother what happened, she
said, ‘You failed.’ ” The lesson was hard, but she got it, eventually. “Mama was trying to explain that I couldn’t lay blame on
somebody whose idea it was that I was not right. It was up to
me to do something to get where I wanted to go.”
“That rejection hurt her so much that she stopped dancing
for a year. She was crushed,” recalls Rashad, who graduated
from Howard University before making her way to New York,
with Allen close behind. “I used to copy everything Phylicia did,”
Allen says, laughing. It was at Howard that she found her footing. “Girl, I was at a party and in the middle of whatever funky
dance I was doing, I did a triple turn and a layout—bam!” Mike
Malone, the late legendary choreographer and director, was
impressed. “He said, ‘You know, you can really dance,’ and I was
like, ‘Oh, hmmm, well…’ That was the turning point.”
Stay Ready
Whether she’s working onstage, on TV or in film or literature, she
puts in the effort. She’s disciplined beyond measure and as a
result, her list of credits runs long. In 1973, Broadway came knocking and Allen, a two-time Tony nominee, made her debut in
Raisin (a musicalization of A Raisin in the Sun). The poster hangs
in her office, just behind her chair. She then headed to Hollywood
for a short-lived variety show, 3 Girls 3, which ran for exactly four
episodes. Back in New York, there was more stage work and a
bit more “gypsy money,” as she refers to her starving-artist earnings. Then came Fame, the series spin-off of the 1980 film, which
ran for six seasons and not only made her a household name, but
showcased her skills as a director, producer and choreographer
as well. She also made television history, earning the distinction
of being the first Black woman to direct a single-camera drama.
“That show catapulted me into doing every special in Hollywood,”
says Allen, who later served as choreographer for the Academy
Awards for ten years. She earned a Golden Globe and three Emmy
Awards for her endeavors and inspired a generation.
“My sister Sandie and I were obsessed with Fame,” notes
Shonda Rhimes, who has enlisted Allen to direct episodes
of Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away With
Murder. “Even as a little girl, I knew that Debbie Allen was at
the center of it all, and I can still recite her ‘You want fame’
speech verbatim.” Allen herself delivered the words that made
her famous during the B-roll segment of her photo shoot.
When she looked into the camera and said, “You want fame?
Well, fame costs, and right here is where you start paying, in
sweat,” everybody smiled. Everybody remembers.
At the suggestion she’s a pioneer, she agrees with a
nod, then a smile. “I guess so,” she says, “but I’m still doing
it, you know? My career feels like a continuum. I’ve still got
my hands on the plow.” Years before she made her historic
mark on A Different World as showrunner, she was sharpening
her directorial skills on prime-time favorites Family Ties, The
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and The Sinbad Show. The seeds she
planted back then bloomed again when Rhimes called upon
her to direct Grey’s Anatomy in 2010. “Chandra Wilson and
I talked about having more women of color directors on the
show,” says Rhimes. “Debbie seemed like an exciting choice,
but I assumed she was too busy. I was so excited when she
said yes.” Soon after she began helming the series, Allen was
invited to join the cast as Dr. Catherine Avery, the overbearing mother of Dr. Jackson Avery, portrayed by Jesse Williams.
Members of the cast of The Hot Chocolate Nutcracker
DEBBIE ALLEN DANCE
ACADEMY FACTS
āŏ đŏIn
January 2001, DADA was founded by Allen and her
husband, Norm Nixon, in Los Angeles. Their daughter,
Vivian, currently serves as associate artistic director and
dean of the Early Birds (boys and girls ages 4 to 7).
ĂŏđŏDADA offers instruction in tap, jazz, modern, hip-hop,
ballet, salsa, flamenco and African dance.
ăŏđŏDenzel Washington, Quincy Jones and Suzanne de Passe
112 ESSENCE .COM DECEMBER 2014
“Debbie has taught me that there are no throwaway lines or
moments,” he says. “She can be unpredictable, even in the
most predictable circumstances...and she’s funny as hell!”
Keep Dancing
During an interview with bet.com last summer, a reporter
inquired about the difference between present-day fame
and that of yesteryear. Allen responded, “Technology has
made people famous that are not really gifted or talented.
They are famous for what—eating a frog, for losing weight,
for acting badly?” She continued, “I don’t know when it
changed. It used to be about your being able to do something or bring something to the world.” But more than just
talking about it, she has been doing her part to uplift the
next generation.
Since teaming up with her husband to launch the Debbie
Allen Dance Academy (DADA) in January 2001, she’s made
it her mission to expose as many young people as she can
reach to the arts. “I know what it’s like to have a dream and feel
that you can’t get to it because you don’t have the training,”
she says of her motivation for starting the nonprofit organization. Her work is making a difference in the Crenshaw District,
where DADA is housed, and other neighborhoods have taken
notice. In fact, on the day of her ESSENCE interview, she’d just
returned from Nickerson Gardens, a housing complex on the
border of Watts, where she’s been asked to start a dance program. “Sharing the gift of the arts is a whole new purpose in
my life. It goes beyond me.” Wayne Mackins-Harris, 17, is one
of many to excel under her tutelage. He just so happens to be
portraying the young Nutcracker, too. “Ms. Allen is my artistic
mother,” he says of the role she’s played during his nine years
of study at DADA. “Our instructors really push us to take that
extra step. This is a tremendous experience, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity.”
When Allen reminisces about her creative journey, there is
pride in her eyes. There have been successes, but the disappointments have been a great teacher as well. “It’s important to know
that it’s not always up to you,” she says of weathering the highs
and lows of her chosen path. Her words ring true for life, too.
“You’ll win some, you’ll lose some, but it’s up to you to come back
and play tomorrow. You’ve got to stay in the game.”
Regina R. Robertson (@reginarobertson) is ESSENCE’s West Coast
editor. She’s currently at work on her first book.
are among DADA’s esteemed board of directors.
ąŏđŏFrom the start, Berry Gordy, Gil Cates and Wallis
Annenberg have been major supporters. To honor their ongoing contributions, all have dance studios named after them.
ĆŏđŏEstablished in 2010, DADA Ensemble is the performing
arm of the academy and features the most gifted dancers
from every level of training, each selected by Allen.
ćŏđŏFor more information about enrollment and
open classes, call 310-280-9145 or visit debbieallen
danceacademy.com. —R.R.R.