Venue: Dakota Jazz Club
City: Minneapolis, MN
Date: October 4th 2017
Dance Away Clean
Bless me audiophiles for I have sinned. It has been 2 days since my last concert confession.
My only knowledge of Savion Glover for an unreasonable amount of time was from a P.O.S track. (Minneapolis rapper and one part of rap collective, Doomtree) I gathered he had something to do with rhythm and dancing (away clean). In hindsight, it's kind of bizarre that I didn't know about him considering the first time I was made aware of him was when I went on some kinda weird streak of dating dancers (the ones who keep their clothes on). A ballet dancer, a dance instructor and a modern dancer. And none of them clued me into this absurdly talented tap dancer/hoofer (Savion). Cut to two years ago when I returned back to Minneapolis and I was seeing a girl who used to be on the Milwaukee Bucks dance team. I have no idea what's with me, that city and dancers...but it's a thing. We had been on a couple dates and it seemed to be going well. I saw that Savion was performing at Dakota Jazz Club with jazz drummer Marcus Gilmore (hence why it made it into the blog). Perfect. I get to see Savion perform for the first time in an intimate venue with a former dancer. Done and done. While I was waiting for my date to arrive, I saw Savion breeze on past me on the sidewalk playing it quiet and cool in a hoodie and sweats. I respectfully let him pass without imposition; careful not fuck with his pre-performance head space. Cut to 20 or so minutes later inside. Settled into our booth, Savion and Marcus come out onto stage and get to it. They start off slow. I'm not expecting full on Riverdance mode right off the bat, but when I say slow I mean tapping with one foot for 10-15 minutes to a modestly quick jazz rhythm. Thing pick up pretty quick. Now we're getting into that bi-pedal pah-rum-pah-pah-pumping on the spring floor (I had to look that one up). The pace picked up noticeably and he and Marcus were fully leaning into it. I was entranced. About an hour and a half into without breaks, it started to feel like like a lot...for everyone...except Savion. Dripping in sweat as you might predict, that man tapped for two hours straight. Feet and ankles moving like a goddamn humming bird's wings. This seemed more natural to him than walking. He of course got a standing ovation at the end, but said nothing except for 'thank you'. Two hours of hoofing non-stop and hardly even stopping for a drink of water. That was two hour set 1 of 2 for the evening. I appreciated seeing him perform, but I think I look forward to seeing him on a grander stage where he has more room to fly. Thanks, Savion. Freakin' maniac.