SHAKER HEIGHTS — “Dreams are often. And dreamers are few.” Poet Kelly Harris delivered these lines in front of a rapt audience at Shaker Heights High School Sunday evening. She was one performer in an evening full of music, singing, dancing and inspirational speeches that made up “In-Concert with Ludlow.”
The concert celebrated the spirit of the Ludlow Neighborhood, which 50 years ago was one of the first integrated communities in the United States.
That dream has been under assault in recent months, since the vicious New Years attack of white Ludlow lawyer Kevin McDermott by six African-American Cleveland teens.
But on Sunday evening, the few dreamers came to be counted. And they were many.
The genesis of the concert came from Sabatino Verlezza, artistic director of the Verlezza Dance. He wanted to put on a concert to commemorate not just the attack, but afterwards.
“Too often the community brings these elements together whenever there is a crisis. We want to speak poetically. But by then, it’s too late,” he said. “We should sing about the community before to teach the right thing to young people.”
Verlezza Dance pulled together with The Shaker Arts Council and the Ludlow Community Association to put on a concert that would benefit the Ludlow Community Association. Through the concert, they raised more than $8,000. They plan to launch youth programs in Ludlow and the Cleveland neighborhoods bordering it.
As a positive response to the attack and afterwards, the concert was an artistic display of community, inclusion, catharsis and healing.
Highlights from the concert include performances of Americana music by Shaker Heights High School Orchestra, local musicians and performers.
Broadway Performer William Clarence Marshall traveled from Washington, D.C. to sing “Ol’ Man River.” He also sang “Bess, You is My Woman Now” as a duet with Soprano Marla Berg, in which the black and white performers clenched each other in an embrace.
The Shaker Heights High School Acting Ensembles sung “Give Light,” which was based on the sayings of Civil Rights leader Ella Baker. Verlezza dance performed “Tobi Roppo,“ a frenetic dance piece with the themes of tragedy and rebirth.
The Shaker Heights High School Orchestra String Quartet performed a “Prayer for Peace.”
Diversity
Verlezza Dance also had many pieces involving people of various ages and abilities, including a dance titled “Angel,” which included the Euclid Adult Activities Center Dancers, who are made up of individuals with developmental disabilities.
Verlezza said that
the show of diversity is part of our country’s
fabric. “The beauty of America is our immigrants
and diversity,” he said. “We need to embrace
that. Because the other choice is division.”
