If you don’t know Mable Lee, you should! She is the late, acclaimed dance icon known as the “Queen of the Soundies”.  Lee worked and traveled extensively with Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle from a teen, until her adult years. She graced the cover of Ebony Magazine in 1947.  

After an extended run in Europe through 1951, Mable Lee returned to New York and raised $350,000 for, and starred in the Broadway revival of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake's all-Black jazz-age musical Shuffle Along (1952).  She sang "Craving for That Kind of Love'' and "You Ain't Been Vamped ‘til You've Been Vamped by a Brownskin."  and was a featured vocalist on Eubie Blake’s Song Hits: With Eubie and His Girls album (1976). 

Lee continued to captivate audiences while mentoring the next generation of female dancers such as The Bradley Sisters, Michelle Dorrance, Dormeshia and Michela Marino-Lerman. All were a part of Mable Lee’s Dancing Ladies until Lee’s  death on February 7, 2019.  Lee represents a cross pollination of music and dance genres, cultures, and styles deeply rooted in African American traditions highly deserving of preservation and celebration, according to event organizer, Brinae Ali, a Broadway performer, choreographer, tap dancer, vocalist, and activist (STOMP, Shuffle Along, Baltimore Jazz Collective). Ali was compelled to organize a dream team of Lindy Hop, Jazz, and Tap dancers, along with a mix of musicians, cultural institutions and organizations (Tapology, Eubie Blake Cultural Center, Guardian Baltimore, American Tap Dance Foundation, Collective Voices for Change, Mercedes Ellington Foundation, Peabody Institute-Jazz and Dance,  and the Black Lindy Hoppers Fund) around the world to celebrate the 100th birthday of the late Mable Lee.

“Mable Lee took me under her wings for over 20 years. After she died, I felt compelled to keep her legacy going and it became my mission to create a mentoring program in her honor.  Sweet & Able was created as a vehicle to educate, mentor, and extend the life and works of Mable Lee.  It is vitally important that she is celebrated and never forgotten.” 

-Brinae Ali, Tapology

 “For more than 50 years, the Eubie Blake Cultural Center has served as a vanguard for visual, literary and performing arts education and presentation in Maryland. Like Mable and Eubie, isn’t it fitting that Tapology and the Eubie Blake Cultural Center, with our congruent missions collaborate to commemorate Mable Lee and her impact on the world.”

-Derek Price, Chair, Board of Directors, Eubie Blake Cultural Center

EVENT AT-A-GLANCE

Mable Lee’s Centennial Celebration & Big Band Dance Party

LIVE & VIRTUAL

August 7, 2021 - 11am - 11pm

11am-2pm: @ The Eubie Blake Center (In-Person)

Live dance classes on Jazz, Tap, and Lindy Hop taught by Breai Mason-Campbell (Lindy Hop) of Guardian Baltimore, Brinae Ali (Tap) of Tapology, and Dr. Marie N'Diaye (Jazz) of Collective Voices for Change.

6pm: Cocktail Hour | Interactive Exhibition @ Eubie Blake Center (In-Person)

Mable Lee’s fabulous costumes and historical artifacts are featured in this unique exhibition. All items donated by Michael Mansfield, Mabel Lee’s son, and Jrome Andre, her godson. Both will be in attendance to celebrate the historical achievements of their beloved matriarch.

7pm: Performance and Tribute to Mable Lee & Eubie Blake

In-person/Livestream

Features the debut of a new initiative called the Charm City Big Band led by Grammy Award-winning recording artists; the Richard and Elizabeth Chair of Peabody Jazz Studies, Sean Jones along with two of Baltimore’s star-powered musicians Tim Greene (saxophonist) and Warren Wolfe (vibraphonist/percussionist). While dancers flip in the air, stomp their feet in rhythm with the sounds of the big band, singers gracing every note with joy, a live DJ curated by the multi-disciplined artist Wendel Patrick (Co-Producer of NPR Out of The Blocks, Baltimore Boom Bap Society, Assistant Professor of Hip Hop Music Production) will blend in the contemporary sounds of House, Afro Beat, and Hip Hop.

This event is a fundraiser to support Tapology’s Sweet & Able Mentorship Program and the Eubie Blake Cultural Center. Both organizations offer free and low-cost dance education and mentoring programs to historically marginalized young people in an effort to continue Mable Lee's legacy and inspire the next generation of dancers.

Buy tickets below to benefit Tapology’s Sweet & Able Mentorship Program & the Eubie Blake Cultural Center.