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dancers to interact with the guest stars. I just knew this would be my last time on Soul Train. But after that episode aired, the show’s ratings went up.

Incredible! Even Don himself said on a 1982 Soul Train tribute to Joe Tex that your performance with Joe helped Soul Train to become popular. How does it feel that you helped Soul Train’s ratings go up and became one of the show’s most popular regulars?

Damita: It was very exciting to me. I loved being on TV! I danced with Joe Tex two other times on Soul Train.

Soultrain.com: You also danced on stage with the Godfather of Soul, James Brown. How did that come about?

Damita: When he came to the show, he asked me quietly if I wanted to dance with him on stage. So after Don interviewed him and went down the steps, I went up on stage and I danced! Sometime later, Soul Train dancers Little Joe Chism, Perry Brown, Jimmy “Scoo B Doo” Foster, Pat Davis, Gary Keys, Alpha Omega Anderson and I opened for James at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

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Besides James Brown and Joe Tex, what are some of your other favorite memories of artists that came to Soul Train?

Damita: Smokey Robinson, The Dramatics, The Jackson 5 and The Whispers are some of them. A lot of the artists that came to the show already knew my name. We got to meet a lot of the artists. We even had lunch with them.

You also created a lot dances.

Damita: Yes. One of my dances was the DJ Which Way, which I named after me. It later became known just as the Which Way. I also gave nicknames to other dances such as the Alpha, The Runaway, The Whispers and the Stop & Go. I told Don Campbell to call his locking dance the Campbell Lock.

Tell us about your experience with being a dancer on American Bandstand.

Damita: It was fun. We taped three shows on Saturday and three shows on Sunday on an 11AM to 6PM schedule. The first time I was on was for a dance contest. Little Joe Chism and I were partners. It was a six-week contest in which dancers representing different cities competed. Michael Jackson, who was a guest on one show, was a judge and selected Joe and me as the winners. He referred to me as “the girl with the leg control.” (laughs) We won the second contest, too. Helen Reddy was a judge on that show. She chose Joe and me as the winners. It was funny because she said, “I choose the girl in the green,” but Pat Davis, who was also in the contest, and I both wore green that day! Eventually, Joe and I won the finals and we won a trip to Hawaii. Dick Clark asked me what dancers I could recommend for the next season, and I recommended Tyrone Proctor and Sharon Hill. They, too, won the national dance contest and won a car.

You even had the privilege of choreographing certain acts that came to American Bandstand, right?

Damita: Yes. I choreographed The Spinners as well as Shalamar when they had their first hit “Uptown Festival.”

Your popularity on Soul Train opened up a lot of doors for you in other arenas of show business. In 1973, you became a part of the Shakespeare play Two Gentlemen of Verona. How did that come about?

Damita: I had done some plays at The Music Center and someone called me about this play. I did a three day audition. Clifton Davis, who was one of the stars of the play, told me that I had the job. I acted, sang and danced in the play. Joanna Kerns, who later played on the show Growing Pains, and Katey Segal from Married With Children were also in the play. It was a lot of fun working with Clifton and the cast. I also did choreography for an episode of Clifton’s TV show That’s My Mama.

Diana Ross also wanted you and several other Soul Train dancers to be a part of her Las Vegas act in 1974.

Damita: Yes. I got a phone call from Diana and she said she wanted Soul Train dancers to be a part of her show in Vegas. So I chose Eddie Cole, Little Joe Chism and Pat Davis to perform with Diana Ross. I also chose several of the dancers to perform during a Rolling Stones concert. I was always trying to help the other dancers and open doors for them.

In 1973, you were part of a TV program called 90 Minutes.

Damita: Right. Jimmy Scoo B Doo Foster and I were trying to teach the host Cannonball Adderly how to do the Slow Motion dance step.

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On her friendship with Michael Jackson

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You have been friends with Michael Jackson and the Jackson family for many years. You were one of the first people, if not the first, to teach Michael Jackson the Moonwalk, or as it was originally called, the Backslide. How did that come about?

Damita: Michael Jackson was a good friend. Years ago, I watched a Marcel Marceau special on PBS and he was doing this mime routine called “Walking Against the Wind” in which imaginary wind would be pushing him and he appeared to be walking forward and backward at the same time. I was taken away by what I saw. So when I choreographed and appeared in Cher’s show at Caesar’s Palace, I did the routine, which would later become a street dance called the Backslide. Michael happened to be in the audience for this show. After the show, he came backstage and asked how I did that dance step. I showed it to him and then I told him I learned the move from watching Marcel Marceau. So after that, Michael began studying and watching Marcel Marceau. Other people taught him the move also. It would become his signature dance step, the Moonwalk, which he first did on the Motown 25 special. Michael always stated that he was not a creator of that dance step.

Since you were friends with Michael for many years, how did you feel when he became a megastar from Off the Wall onward?

Damita: I was so proud of him! I remember at the 1984 American Music Awards, where he won a lot of awards, I saw him backstage and all of these cameramen and news people were around him. We saw each other from a distance and we started doing locking moves and played “invisible” guitars before going separate ways.

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You were also a part of the “We Are the World” event.

Damita: Yes. I remember I was at Lionel Richie’s house and Michael Jackson came over. This was one of the nights they were writing the “We Are the World” song. At one point. Lionel had to tend to some other business and asked me to entertain Michael. So Michael and I just started telling each other all kinds of jokes. On the night of the recording of “We Are the World” at A&M Studios, I was responsible for seeing that all of the artists signed the T-shirts that were sent to the people in Africa who were experiencing starvation and famine.

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Damita Jo Freeman expressed great gratitude for the late Don Cornelius and Dick Clark:

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Damita: Don opened up many doors. He opened doors that gave me an opportunity to slip through and help to make dreams happen. Dick Clark gave me the tools once Don opened the door for me. I applaud them both.

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[Source: SoulTrain.com]

Damita Jo Freeman is currently writing and working on children’s books. We love how she took her opportunity on Soul Train and ran with it. It’s great to see her still in business and continuing her legacy.

-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view