LaDeva Davis obit

LaDeva Davis, beloved Philadelphia dance teacher at CAPA, music producer, and entertainer, has died at 78

Ms. Davis was a fierce advocate for children — “not just making sure they knew about dance, but that they knew about life,” said her friend and classmate Judith Jamison, the dancer and choreographer

 

She was not on the list.

LaDeva M. Davis, 78, a legendary Philadelphia teacher, choreographer, dancer, producer, and entertainer, died Thursday, Sept. 8, of a stroke at Cooper University Hospital.

A founding educator at the famed Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, Ms. Davis was a full-time, active teacher there until her death. Her teaching career spanned 57 years.

Ms. Davis lived several lives, all of them fascinating.

As a child growing up in South Philadelphia, she made weekly appearances on the Parisian Taylor Kiddie Hour Radio Show. Later, she sang in supper clubs. In the 1970s, she hosted What’s Cooking?, a WHYY show, which grew so popular she became the first Black woman to have a nationally syndicated cooking show and was included in a Smithsonian Institution exhibit about food television. She was a kung fu master, and loved deep-sea fishing. She was nominated for a Grammy for her role as coproducer of the 2007 Dixie Hummingbirds album Keeping It Real: The Last Man Standing.

But Ms. Davis’ life’s work was dance, and a testament to that is CAPA, and the thousands of young people whose lives she shaped, whose careers she launched. Ms. Davis’ students have gone on to dance on Broadway, to form their own dance companies, to teach and to work for such noted dance troupes as the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and the American Ballet Theatre.

Ms. Davis, who was a longtime resident of Levittown, joked that she had thousands of children, but no stretch marks. She had many nicknames, but perhaps none so popular as “Mama Dee.”

“She was an icon, she was a legend, but she believed in students more than anybody I’ve ever met in my career,” said Joanne Beaver, CAPA’s principal. “She pushed to bring out the very, very best in every child. She never ever gave up on a kid, ever. None of us will ever know the magnitude of the lives she touched, people she changed.”

Judith Jamison, the iconic American dancer, was a friend — the two attended Germantown High together, and then what is now the University of the Arts. Jamison said she will remember Ms. Davis best as a fierce advocate for children — “not just making sure they knew about dance, but that they knew about life.”

Jamison remembers Ms. Davis as a talented piano player. “Really, she could do anything. And she was an all-around nice person, and giving. She had a great sense of humor, a terrific laugh.”

Shawn-Lamere Williams, artistic director of Eleone Dance Theatre and a 1987 graduate of CAPA, appeared at a 2015 event at the school honoring Ms. Davis’ 50 years in education. If a teacher’s success is measured in the accomplishments of his or her students, Williams said at the time, Ms. Davis was peerless.

“LaDeva has always been supportive of me, no matter what,” Williams said. “I remember in 12th grade, she wrote in my yearbook, shows may come and go, but our friendship will be forever, and it’s been 30-plus years.”

avis starred in What's Cooking?, a nationally syndicated PBS cooking show that was first broadcast on January 21, 1975. Davis was not a professional chef prior to the show but was recruited for her charisma and humor. What's Cooking? was produced by Lynn Lonker and featured low cost, nutritional meals that could be made usually for no more than $2.25. On being the first African-American woman to have her own nationally syndicated public TV cooking show on PBS, Davis said, "There was no black woman cooking [on TV]. There were no black cooks period."

In 1976, she was a repeat guest on the American daytime talk show The Mike Douglas Show to demonstrate her cooking.

Davis was featured in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History's exhibit "Food: Transforming the American Table 1950-2000” exhibit.[12] Some of Davis' aprons are in the Smithsonian collections as well.

In 2015, Davis was awarded the National Council of Negro Women's Mary McLeod Bethune Award for leadership, excellence, and achievement in education.