*If you will be in the greater Los Angeles area on Sunday, June 2, 2019, then come to “Real Talk…Real History…Real Soul Voices of…Real Soul Train Dancers” at Darby Inglewood Park in Inglewood, California from 3:00pm to 5pm.
Hosting the event, Damita Jo Freeman promises a walk down memory lane with original “Soul Train” dancers – including herself, Thelma “Davis” Martin (“Mama Soul”), Sharon Hill Woods, Freddie Maxie, Perry Brown (“Downtown Sexy Brown”), Bill Williams (“Slim the Robot Original Locker”), Alpha Anderson. The dancers will share stories about their auditions, tell untold behind-the-scenes ditties, and answer fan questions.
They will also be on tap discussing how the dancers and the show, hosted by Don Cornelius, shaped the nation – the world – with dance, fashion, and hair trends that are still coveted today in black and mainstream culture.
In a recent EUR article with Damita Jo in January 2019 (read full article here), she spoke in-depth about her “Soul Train” days to Lee Bailey and explained that she landed on “the hippest trip in America” after a coordinator for the show spotted her at a teen hotspot in Los Angeles. She was with her dance partner, Don “Campbellock” Campbell (credited with creating the ‘locking’ dance style), who was often on the show with her making their iconic moves.
“She saw me and Campbell dancing and just came up to me and said that she would like me to be on ‘Soul Train,” said Damita Jo, who was on the show from 1971 to 1974. “Well, I had never gotten to see or know what ‘Soul Train’ was all about. So therefore, I thought it was a club. A dancing club, you know. So, I just said, ‘OK. Yeah fine. Whatever.’”
And the rest is history for the Palestine, Texas native, who studied ballet throughout her youth and as a young adult. Her combination of ballet and street dance helped to make her one of the most memorable “Soul Train” dancers around.
Damita Jo pays it forward, with her own charitable organization, Dancer Jo Foundation, which gives scholarships to low-income students in performing arts. For more information on the foundation, go here.
Now, hopefully readers will dance their way over to the “Real Talk…Real History…Real Soul Voices of…Real Soul Train Dancers” on Sunday, June 2, 2019 at Darby Inglewood Park in Inglewood, California from 3:00pm to 5pm. A $5 donation is requested.
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