A 2020 Black Lives Matter protest is revived as a neighborhood celebration in Mantua

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Iquail Shaheed, founder of the modern dance company Dance Iquail!, pulled together a protest rally and performance showcase in June 2020.

Part of the widespread social unrest that summer following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the “Art Thrives from Black Lives” rally was a march from the Community Education Center (CEC) on Lancaster Avenue to Miles Mack playground, followed by a program of mostly drill and drumline teams from the neighborhood and the Dance Iquail! dancers.

“We had a roller-skating competition. We had double-dutch competitions,” Shaheed recalled. “Anything that was artistic expression coming out of African-American culture here in Philly, is what we did.”

Now Shaheed is organizing another, similar rally, this time spotlighting Black creative resilience and community-building under the banner “Celebrate Mantua” this Saturday at Miles Mack playground.

Four years on he is trying to “keep the magic going.” Shaheed is not asking people to march in the street this time. Instead the performance festival will highlight community resources that support personal wellness, financial literacy, and voter turnout.

“The protest part of it is still there, but it looks different,” he said. “Once we raise the voice and get the attention by marching in the streets and getting our voice out there about inequity, then we’re showing you what it means to be equitable.”

Iquail grew up in Mantua and said sometimes the neighborhood does not realize its own creative legacy. He recalls vibrant arts programming at Mack playground when he was growing up. There were dance performances, film screenings, and live music happening regularly.

It was there that he danced in public for the first time, at just five years old.

“I don’t know how my mother asked me, but she was, like, ‘Do you want to dance? ‘And I said yes,” Shaheed said. “You’re talking about growing up in the 80s. I remember trying to imitate the James Brown spins and a Michael Jackson moonwalk. I won five dollars.”

Shaheed went on to attend the High School of Creative and Performing Arts in Center City, and trained with Philadanco in West Philadelphia. He briefly relocated to New York to perform on Broadway. His company is now based out of the CEC building in Mantua.

As a teenager he was surprised to discover that he was unwittingly following in the footsteps of Judith Jamison, a towering figure in Black dance who danced with and later ran Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She grew up in Mantua decades before Shaheed, on the same block.

“There is a rich legacy of arts in Mantua but we don’t hear those stories often, if at all,” Shaheed said. “It’s my organization’s mission and reason for being to make sure that we know that and celebrate that.”

One of the groups participanting in Celebrate Mantua is the West Powelton Steppers and Drum Squad, one of the most prominent and oldest continually operating drumline and drill teams in the city. Formed in the neighborhood adjacent to Mantua, the 33 year-old percussion performance troupe was part of Iquail’s original Black Lives rally in the heat of the 2020 summer.

“It was a humbling experience.,” said director Antoine Mapp. “We got to see that we can come together. We can work together. We uplifted. You should have seen how many people was giving out water to each other. There were kids looking like they were about to pass out and everybody came to each other’s aid. Everybody was there to spread a message. It was a beautiful thing.”

Four years later the event has changed its name, but to Mapp the message remains the same: to protect the fabric of the neighborhood, particularly from gentrification.

“We’re thankful that people are taking an interest in our community but we know what it really is: It’s become a gold mine and everybody want a part of it,” Mapp said. “I’m gonna appreciate it as it’s coming along, but a whole lot more work to be done. We are being taken away from our neighborhood. Yay! It’s getting beautified, but they’re moving us out.”

Shaheed invited performance companies from around the city, including hip hop, jazz, and modern dance troupes. His Dance Iquail! company will be offering ballet and modern classes during the event, as well as yoga and Pilates sessions.

“Miles Mack playground has a football field, a basketball court, a playground with a water hose,” he said. “We are envisioning kids running around in the water while adults and maybe teenagers are taking classes and watching performances. Will also have bouncy castles and face painting, some cartoon avatars for the kids to engage with. Really a full-scale community arts festival.”

What began four years ago as a protest directed, in part, at the depleted Philadelphia Cultural Fund budget, is now supported by that same fund as well as with state funding from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

With the help of community partners, Shaheed hopes Celebrate Mantua will become an annual summer event.

“That is the goal, to keep it going,” Shaheed said. “And even figuring out ways it continues as I step away, so that it really is a community-lead event.”

“Celebrate Mantua” happens from 11 a.m. –  p.m. on Saturday July 13, at the Miles Mack Playground at 36th and Aspen Street, near the Philadelphia Zoo.