I spent much of last week in Durham, North Carolina, for the first ever Art of Cool Festival. I commented that as a writer, I’m more like Jim Kirk– I break that notion all the time. If we get six to eight hours of sleep a night, we’re doing great! And food-wise, everyone knows me as the one who will have the snacks, bananas, granola bars, pretty much anything I can grab and throw in my bag.Recently, a fellow bar patron and photographer friend of mine said on Facebook that photographers should follow the Prime Directive- the guiding principle of Starfleet wherein one should not interfere with a developing civilization. Mendez: I love tea with ginger when I warm up my vocals, and rest. But once I saw how physical things get, we do a lot of joint movement and jumping, I started to focus on stretching and sleeping and hydrating. Lucas: Prior to being on tour, I was really into hot yoga and resistance training. What do you do to prepare for the level of exertion you throw down each night you’re on stage? It doesn’t show on stage, that’s for sure. ? Let me put it this way: If you catch me in the club, you’re gonna be like, ‘She’s a dancer!’ but in rehearsal, I always tense up. In my head, I’m a professional dancer, but in real life. Mendez: I have always been a dancer at heart. But while I always had an affinity for dance and believe it to be one of the highest forms of expression, I never pursued it professionally. Growing up, Solange and I would dance around the house and record it on tape. Lucas: I did ballet, modern, and tap at age six, and I was on the dance team in high school. “I was like ‘Are you kidding? Of course!’ ” adds Mendez. Knowles told the women that she was looking to make something very specific that reflected “a synergy, a sisterly love” with A Seat at the Table, recalls Lucas, and asked if they would they like to come on board. Also a performer, Mendez had recently returned home after months spent touring with a jazz quintet. It was around the same time Knowles called on another friend, Mendez, an army brat who splits her time between New Orleans and Rockaway Beach, Queens, where she grew up. “Two weird girls who were always on the edge of what was going on.” While they lost touch for a few years-Knowles went on to make albums, Lucas got a master’s degree in theology, religion, and art and eventually fell into teaching, all while singing for gospel artists before breaking out on her own under the artist moniker Fre Wuhn-they reconnected at the end of 2016. Lucas and Knowles grew up together in Houston. Even their placement-side-by-side, rarely behind-furthers the star and her collective Saint Heron’s ethos: Why make a statement alone, when you can do it with your sisters? In front of a color-coordinated big band that Knowles calls “my band fam,” and amid the monochrome lights-a fiery red stage gets flooded with a cleansing, deep sea blue as the album’s story progresses from “Rise” and “Weary” to “Don’t Touch My Hair”-the striking duo supports the artist’s every choreographed move, from cathartic screams to meditative, silent stares to curly-topped head bangs to grande jetés that cross every corner of the stage. ![]() If you’ve been lucky enough to see Solange Knowles perform her third studio album, A Seat at the Table, and you’re not too swept away to notice what’s happening around her, then you’ve likely already spotted two key components to the ceremonious show: Backup vocalists and dancers Isadora Mendez and Franchelle Lucas.
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