Otis Sallid has worked with a number of famous artists over the years, from Spike Lee to Patti Labelle. Now, the choreographer is coming together with Atlanta restaurateur Dave Green to open Damsel.
Green, who owns The Select in Sandy Springs, announced that Damsel would be coming to Atlanta back in March. Damsel – a 10,000-square-foot restaurant and supper club – is expected to open at The Works on the Upper Westside during the latter half of February. A cabaret will take place in the supper club, which will function as the centerpiece of the space.
In an interview at the Decatur School of Ballet’s Sams Street annex, Green said that the concept for Damsel was already well in the works by the time Sallid came aboard as the creative director. According to Green, he was standing in the hallway in the bathroom area at The Select explaining the idea to someone when a woman suddenly stepped out of the restroom and told Green that there was someone he had to meet: Otis Sallid.
The woman was Lisa Reich, owner of Chalant Productions. Green and Sallid soon met for dinner at The Select, and it was a match made in heaven.
“This is the guy,” Green remembers thinking. “How did this happen? I still wonder how it happened, you know?”
He really was “the guy” – Sallid has worked as a choreographer, director and producer for numerous projects in film, television and the theater. Notably, he helped conceive the Broadway show “Smokey Joe’s Café,” which became the longest running musical revue in Broadway history. When Sallid came onto the project, Damsel began to bloom into what he and Green both hope will be a performance experience right up there with the very best.
“The biggest turn was to turn it into a showplace, and a really fine one on the par with 54 Below … or any of those great, really serious rooms for performances,” Sallid said. “Anybody in the world could come into this space and perform and be well taken care of. That’s what we have. We have a really wonderful place.”
The show in the supper club will feature seven women dancers and one singer (Green and Sallid held a casting call in Atlanta on Dec. 2, and when we spoke they were just about to head to New York for more auditions). The show will play in increments, with short breaks in between to allow guests to eat, drink and chat in the meantime.
Sallid said the plan is to have a set performance at the show’s center, but to leave room for things to evolve or for improvisation depending on who might be at Damsel on any particular night. The theme of the performance, he said, is passion.
“It’s stories of love, lust, jealousy, and betrayal. It’s all set in a dance world – song and dance,” he said. “It’s sensual, it’s alluring, it’s beautiful. It’s real dance.”
Damsel will not only feature dancing on stage, but some dancing from the audience as well. Once the performance ends for the night, the supper club will turn into a dance club playing hits from the 70s, 80s and 90s. Upstairs, there will be a members only lounge, as well as an outdoor rooftop bar area where guests can not only eat, but watch chefs cook up their creations at interactive food carts. At midnight the rooftop bar becomes a spot for midnight breakfast, ensuring everyone gets enough to eat before ubering home. Chef Julian Parker will head up the dining room.
Green, who has a little bit of a dancing background himself, said part of what he hopes will make Damsel special – from the performances, to the dining experience, to the dance club – is the immersiveness of the experience.
“[Audiences] want more,” Green said. “They don’t want just to go out to eat. They want entertainment, they want experiences, and they want high quality experiences. I think that people are becoming very discerning in their taste, and they want things that they’ll remember.”
The performance will be immersive as well, spilling out from the stage to the audience. Behind the stage hangs an LED screen, something Sallid insisted would be necessary for the space. According to Green, Sallid was also responsible for helping to assemble the crew responsible for tech, lighting, costumes, and more.
“The really amazing thing about Otis is it’s not just Otis. It’s creative Otis – it’s this huge, huge thing with all these really talented, exceptional people that he’s surrounded himself with,” Green said. “They’ve just been extraordinary.”
Both Green and Sallid hope that Damsel will become a central culture spot for Atlanta and beyond. When talking about the potential for Damsel, Sallid remembered working with playwright August Wilson early on in his career, and something that Wilson used to say.
“He always says that if your work doesn’t have any intergenerational meanings in it, it doesn’t resonate,” Sallid said. “It doesn’t have a lasting power. So I’ve made sure that you can bring your girl, your momma, your poppa, your daughters – you can bring everybody to this show.”