Sammy & Candy

Samuel Coleman and Candice Michelle Franklin, aka “Sammy & Candy,” met as dance students at The Ailey School. Samuel “Sammy” Coleman, a Frankie Manning Foundation Ambassador, amassed a wealth of historical information, legacy connections, and performance chops through the swing and Lindy Hop dance communities throughout the country. Candice Michelle “Candy” Franklin, an Al Minns NGP Legacy Dancer in Lindy Hop, focused on the creation of live nu-jazz music and the contemporizing of classic jazz standards while producing Jazz Ain’t Dead®. Sammy & Candy take interest in studying the trajectory of jazz dance for its vernacular contributions, from the slave quarters to American vaudeville to swing, locking, house, and hip hop. Candy has continued her practice in both Caribbean folkloric and Latin dances such as rumba, salsa, and cha cha cha for their vernacular influences, as well as their concert dance derivatives found in Latin jazz and Katherine Dunham’s choreography. Sammy also focuses on traditional Black American urban social dances such as Chicago Steppin’ and D.C. Hand Dancing both of which are improvisational partnered dances with roots in Chicago Bop, Lindy Hop, and Western Swing.  

Sammy & Candy have performed with Jazz Power Initiative and Jazzmobile at Marcus Garvey Park, Jazz Ain’t Dead®, The Gotham Kings, and Gatsby Entertainment, and at many venues such as Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City, Dizzy’s Club at Lincoln Center, Harlem SummerStage, National Jazz Museum in Harlem, the Cotton Club, the Intrepid Museum, Yale University, and the Robert Frederick Smith Theater at Denny Farrell Riverbank State Park.   

Sammy & Candy have also enjoyed several teaching assignments with New York City’s Department of Education, Dance Education Laboratory (DEL), Cumbe of Brooklyn, and Harlem School of the Arts. Sammy & Candy have also worked with autistic and special needs children while teaching 45 classes within seven weeks for mulitple Bronx public schools. Additionally, Sammy & Candy have fostered community events with prominent New York organizations such as Harlem One Stop, the Museum of the City of New York, Jazzmobile, and the NYC Department of Aging in conjunction with Coop City JASA and East Harlem Canaan Senior Center.