Karen Ponzio Photos
Alexis Robbins, Cliff Schloss, and Dylan Olimpi McDonnell.
When Suzannah Holsenbeck and Robb Blocker were organizing a party for their children this year, they knew exactly where to turn to provide the entertainment: The International Festival of Arts and Ideas Arts On Call program.
Yes!
Last year Holsenbeck and Blocker relied on the same program to bring in Caribbean Vibe Steel Drum Band to celebrate their child Alex’s fourth birthday. This year — celebrating both Alex’s fifth birthday and the graduation of their eldest Elijah from Notre Dame — they decided to bring the trio of tap dancer Alexis Robbins, guitarist/vocalist Cliff Schloss, and musician Dylan Olimpi McDonnell to their home in Hamden for the festivities.
Holsenbeck credited her father Penn Holsenbeck, who is on the board of the festival, with introducing her to the program. “We had to take advantage of it,” she said, “and we loved it.”
The Arts on Call program was created last year in response to the Covid-19 pandemic shutting down live music venues, along with most forms of gathering and entertainment. Holsenbeck still saw it as valuable and necessary even as restrictions are being lifted. “I think they should continue it post-Covid,” she said. “it’s low key, and it brings the arts to you.”
The 4 o’clock show coincided with the start of the gathering, and the trio set up in front of the family’s home surrounded by guests on lawn chairs and children running about and playing. Robbins took a moment to let Alex know that not only did they have similar names, but that National Tap Dance Day — also legendary tap dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson’s birthday — was celebrated next week as well. It was one of many sweet moments on a day thick with humidity but light and airy with family, friendship, and joy.
The trio — who have performed together most recently at one of Robbins’s East Rock Park outdoor classes — had already performed two shows for Arts On Call earlier in the day, one in Wooster Square and one in Temple Court. Schloss called it “surreal” to be performing again for an audience but expressed his delight in returning to these outdoor events. Robbins noted that she would be offering more outdoor classes during the months of July and August, with Schloss and McDonnell joining her for those; they would also all be performing together for a rooftop show at the Arts Council building for Make Music Day on June 21.
For today’s show, the trio offered a set of eight songs that included jazz standards, some extended jams, and a couple familiar pop tunes, all to the delight of the audience and one another. Robbins mentioned they would pay tribute to Chick Corea, who had passed away earlier this year, and noted that their choice of the song “Pure Imagination” made famous by Gene Wilder in the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory “went along with” the festival’s Imagine theme this year.
The trio made their marks singularly and as a group, easily creating an interplay that expressed their delight in each other, the music, and the movement. McDonnell switched from saxophone to flute and back again, each time creating sounds that floated into the sky, the flying bugs and tree branches seeming to sway along with him. Schloss added his warm and inviting vocals to one tune, and his guitar work was as smooth and vibrant as the rays of the late-day sun. Through it all Robbins created percussion with her dancing, always responsive and always rejuvenating, as if each song was being created anew with each step.
Robbins rises above.
As the set was winding down, the trio decided to do a version of “Happy Birthday” that generated rousing applause and bountiful smiles. They ended with the jazz standard “All of Me,” originally recorded by Mildred Bailey and famously covered by such luminaries as Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, and Frank Sinatra — a fitting end to a performance that took the familiar and made it sound fresh and freeing. Robbins thanked the audience for having them.
“It’s truly been a blast,” she said. “It’s beautiful. Happy birthday, happy graduation, happy summer!”
“It’s been a day full of music,” she added, “so it’s been a good day.”
The International Festival of Arts and Ideas runs through June 27. Arts On Call artists can be booked through the Arts and Ideas website. For more information about Alexis Robbins’s tap classes and the trio’s upcoming performances visit her website.