In her essay, " African Dance is Medicine for the Mind, Body and Spirit ," dancer, teacher and choreographer Cherie Hill wrote, "The more I perform African dance, the more I discover and enjoy euphoria. When the drums are beating and the body is dancing everything fits in sync and I feel limitless and powerful." Photo by Nate Palmer Hill is honored with a portrait by Cecilia Lamptey-Botchway that's on display at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House during the annual DanceAfrica Festival . The festival celebrates Black joy and resilience and the regal power of African dance. I mark my calendar each year for the DanceAfrica Bazaar, where I often run into old friends and see familiar faces. In a Brooklyn that has quickly become gentrified, I love to see us walking tall, beaming with pride and to quote Bey, "shining, shining, shining, y
Mary J. Blige is a survivor. She's not gon' give up. The still reigning Queen of Hip-Hop Soul is also not gon' cry. She's been through her share of heartache, but the native New Yorker made it clear during her energetic and heartfelt performance earlier this month at Brooklyn's Barclays Center that she's in a good headspace. It appears she's finally found the real love that she's been searching for, and it's self love. It was also abundantly clear that this Brooklyn audience had a love jones for Mary J. The hype crowd was warmed up by a hip-hop banger set by Funkmaster Flex (in feisty Flex fashion he proclaimed that he wasn't getting paid to DJ, but he was there because he loves Mary) and opening acts Queen Naija and Ella Mai (Mai, who was joined onstage briefly by Babyface, was the more engaging and tasteful pick). But once Mary hit the stage, most of what happened beforehand quickly took a backseat. Decked out in a cropped yellow jacke