Header Photo: The Revival Community Sing; Photo by Rob Underhill

“I can’t be free until you are free, and you can’t be free until I am free, and that’s why I am doing this work so fiercely”

Troy Anthony, Creative Director for The Fire Ensemble

“I can’t be free until you are free, and you can’t be free until I am free, and that’s why I am doing this work so fiercely,” says New York-based composer Troy Anthony, speaking to students and community members recently gathered to sing with him in the Mary Lou Williams Center on Duke campus.

Anthony and his Fire Ensemble singers and musicians were brought to campus by Duke Arts this January to present his original work The Revival: It is Our Duty, in Duke Chapel. He stopped by the Center for a spirit-filled singing session with members of Durham churches and United in Praise, Duke’s student gospel group.

“I was so excited to come to Duke to perform, but also to have an event that centered the student community and Durham people in a rehearsal-like atmosphere where people could just play,” says Anthony.

United in Praise president Taliyah Thomas enjoyed observing Anthony in action. ”Sometimes as busy students we get to rehearsal and just want to get it done, but Troy helped me remember to be excited about gospel music,” she says. 

“Duke Arts really helped us engage with our outer community. It was great because I got to meet alumni who were in United in Praise and other community people who might be interested in participating with us”

Taliyah Thomas, president of United in Praise

“And Duke Arts really helped us engage with our outer community. It was great because I got to meet alumni who were in United in Praise and other community people who might be interested in participating with us.”

Working with students is a huge passion of Anthony’s, and he especially tries to seek out organizations that are dedicated to Black art forms. “Being with United in Praise felt like a real gift,” says Anthony. “And I’m always reminded that I’m a part of a lineage, so being in a space dedicated to Black jazz legend Mary Lou Williams was a privilege.

“To enter Duke Chapel designed by a black man [Julian Abele] who wasn’t even able to go in there during Jim Crow times and then to perform in that space was very special to me and I don’t take it lightly.” 

Anthony sings with his whole body which vibrates with joy. He epitomizes the transmission of spirit through music, as he showed in the Mary Lou Williams Center and the next evening in Duke Chapel. 

The Chapel venue was perfect because “The Revival” is structured like a church service with traditional elements of worship: an invocation, responsive readings, a sermon, expressions of gratitude, and of course full-bodied music which included the congregation and filled the gothic chapel to its vaulted ceiling. 

Being a community catalyst by nature, Anthony felt it was important to include local artists in “The Revival,” so choreographer and longtime American Dance Festival associate Tony Johnson warmly opened the program with his invocation, and multidisciplinary artist and cultural organizer Monèt Marshall delivered a deeply moving sermon inspired by the late Assata Shakur, a powerful voice in the fight for Black liberation whose life had a profound influence on Anthony.

Anthony’s hope for “The Revival” is that the old saying in the Black Church will come true—that audiences “won’t leave the way they came,” and the concert itself becomes a call to action that will help people think about change and what it takes to break through that barrier keeping them from their own freedom. 

Monèt Marshall confirmed that Anthony’s hope was fulfilled when speaking with attendees after the show. “I spoke with one black, queer, trans friend who said he hadn’t been in a space like that in 20 years where he felt like he could be himself and show up and feel really present,” says Marshall. “I myself as a queer person who was really active in my church growing up had been missing it too. So it was a reminder of the necessity of gatherings where we don’t have to hide any parts of ourselves. I thought it was beautiful.”

I was grateful for the invitation to be in my body, to be in my wholeness and to sing songs and bring back memories. I think we need more of that and I’m always grateful when we find these opportunities that make the university a little bit more accessible to community members

Jesse Huddleston, Former United in Praise singer and Duke Community Affairs staff

Former United in Praise singer Jesse Huddleston (T’ 2010) and now a staff person in Community Affairs at Duke attended both events. “I was grateful for the invitation to be in my body, to be in my wholeness and to sing songs and bring back memories. I think we need more of that and I’m always grateful when we find these opportunities that make the university a little bit more accessible to community members,” says Huddleston.

Anthony expressed appreciation for being included in Duke Arts programming. “I was really honored to be a part of the season when I looked at such a thought-provoking variety of voices they bring to campus,” says Anthony. “What Duke Arts and Aaron [Shackelford, director of programming] have done with a small team is incredible.”