Choreographer/Director/Teacher/Dancer
Ms 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, the late Steve McCall and sculptor Ousmane Gueye, to name a few.
Mickey Davidson is 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 is currently touring "DANCE! RHYTHM! DANCE!", "JUBA,JUKIN AND JAZZIN", “MELLOW MOVES PLUS ONE” and "SWINGIN’IN TIME". In September 1993 she became director of Okra Dance Company taking over the leadership from its' founding director Phillip Bond. Ms Davidson was commissioned to choreograph and direct a performance piece for the Smithonian's traveling exhibit, "Beyond Categories: The Musical Genius of Duke Ellington". This piece was performed at the Museum of the City of New York as well as thirteen public schools and community centers in the New York area.
Ms Davidson has been affiliated with Lindy Hop since 1985 when she started rehearsing with Norma Miller and her Jazz Dancers. Since Ms Miller’s relocationn, Mickey has maintained her Jazz Dancers under the name "Savoy Swingers". Not only does the group maintain Ms Miller's choreography, they perform other diverse jazz styles such as Tap and Modern Jazz in addition to floor and aerial Lindy Hop. Shows presently on tour are: "Swingin' Sisters", Swingin' In Time", "Great Dancing Ladies" and Swingin' At the Savoy". Mickey teaches special Lindy Hop and Lindy related workshops nationally and internationally. She frequently partners and assist Lindy Hop legend Frankie Manning in workshops, video("Everybody's Dancing"), TV(Swingin' with Duke, PBS) and during live performances. Ms Davidson was one of three choreographers for the European Tour of the Broadway production of "Black and Blue"; maintains the Swing and Blues choreography inherited from Mr. Manning.
Ms Davidson has enjoyed a collaborative relationship with poet/playwright Ms Ntozake Shange for over nineteen years. The most recent projects are;"I Heard Eric Dolphy In His Eyes","A Sense Of Breath", "Love Space Demands",and "Lilianne", and the 20th Anniversary Production of "For Colored Girls" in which Mickey won an Audelco Award for choreography. Their most recent collaborations being, a choreo-poem entitled ”Beneath the Necessity of Talking”, ,which premiered 1999 and the “Lizard Project” premiered 2001, both at The National Black Theatre Festival in North Carolina.. Other recent choreographic projects include: "Duke Ellington's Sacred Concert" at St. Peter's Church, N.Y. "Swingin' with Soul" for Erasmus High School performing arts group, “ Swingin’ In Time for the “Savoy Swingers”
Mickey Davidson does numerous residencies for schools (PK-12th), community centers along with staff development workshops. She has also taught Jazz Dance as an Artist-in-Residence at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut for seventeen years.