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phone in the studio. I had to call my mom to let her know that I would be getting home late because we had no idea when we were getting out of the studio, but me and the other dancers were told we were not allowed to use the phone. I told my mom about this when I got home and she called the cops and a cop came to the set the next day and explained to Don Cornelius that since most of the dancers were minors, we had to be able to use the phone to call our parents to notify them what time we would be home. So from that time on, we were allowed to use the phone. This all happened during my first weekend at Soul Train.

Only one Coke and one drink of water all day long and you couldn’t use the phone? Soul Train was really “roughing it” in the early days!

Damita: I even told Tommy Kuhn about this and that we also had no Kleenex tissues to wipe our heads since we would be sweating after all the dancing we would do, which they eventually took care of. I remember during the second weekend I was on the show, all of the dancers had been dancing all day and were tired and thirsty. I saw two big garbage cans filled with sodas in Don Cornelius’ office at the studio. I got some of the other dancers–Perry Brown, Little Joe Chism and Scoo B Doo–to bring the two garbage cans right out on to the dance floor during the middle of a dance number and I yelled, “Break!” (laughs)

You really fought to get the dancers better conditions and treatment in Soul Train’s early days.

Damita: Absolutely! The dancers would usually be at the studio before the crew. Only the security guards would be there. The TV cameras were pointed down and the stage would be dark. The dancers who didn’t drive or didn’t have any transportation to the studio had to be at Dinker Park at 7AM so that they could be driven to the studio on a chartered bus. But the dancers would be there so early, well before the call time. No production personnel would be at the studio.

Interesting. What other ways were you able to get the dancers better conditions on the show?

Damita: I worked with Tommy Kuhn to arrange to get me and many of the dancers Soul Train ID cards so we could park in the TV studio’s parking lot.

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On how her famous performance with Joe Tex happened and why Don Cornelius was furious with her:
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How did the classic dance performance of you with Joe Tex on his hit “I Gotcha” come about? Was that planned?

Damita: He had asked me to dance with him before his performance so when the song (“I Gotcha”) started, he pulled me up on the stage and I danced. None of my dancing was choreographed. It was impromptu. I just did my own interpretation of the song through my dance moves. I remember Don Cornelius was looking at me angry the whole time I was dancing with Joe because he didn’t want the…

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