Description
Book SynopsisAdvances the study of pioneering black dancers by providing biographical and historical information on a group of artists who worked during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s to legitimize dance of the African diaspora. This title sets these seminal artists and their innovations in the contexts of African-American culture and American modern dance.
Trade ReviewSpecial Citation, Jose Rollins de la Torre Bueno Prize in Dance Literature, 2002.
"An outstanding contribution to the field of dance scholarship. Perpener's writing style exhibits rigorous scholarship combined with eminent readability, which makes for lively access to the depth and scope of information provided. Several sections of well-chosen and beautifully reproduced photographs illuminate the text with important visual information."--
Choice"A first-rate study, lucid and well-paced. Perpener provides a concise, original historical presentation of the lives and careers of eight black modern dance pioneers. His book is sure to become a standard reference work in dance history and African-American studies."--Gerald E. Myers, humanities director, American Dance Festival
" Perpener's monumental work picks up and extends the lead set by Lynne Fauley Emery. With a supreme command of the material and a lucid style of presentation, he takes us deep into the conditioning forces that shaped the careers of these artists whose work has too long been cast in shadow."--Brenda Dixon Gottschild, author of
Waltzing in the Dark: African American Vaudeville and Race Politics in the Swing Era "This valuable, well-written book fills an important niche in studies relating to dance and African-American culture. Perpener's accessible style makes his subject appealing to a wide, general audience; at the same time, even highly informed scholars have much to learn from his research."--Richard A. Long, author of
The Black Tradition in American Dance"John Perpener has methodically rescued from the archives substantial histories of unknown and unjustly neglected works by lesser known black dancers who have been largely excluded from the history of early modern dance. His book celebrates these figures while bearing witness in a nonjudgmental way to stories that are a cause for anger and sadness. Perpener's subtle insights into the way African-American concert dance developed, which underpin his account, prompt us to reconsider the contribution black dancers have made to American modern dance as a whole."--Ramsay Burt, author of
Alien Bodies: Representations of Modernity, "Race," and Nation in Early Modern DanceTable of ContentsPreface ix
Acknowledgments xvii
1. Early Influences on Black Concert Dance 1
2. Hemsley Winfield 25
3. Edna Guy, Randolph Sawyer, and Ollie Burgoyne 56
4. Charles Williams 78
5. Asadata Dafora 101
6. Katherine Dunham 128
7. Pearl Primus 161
8. 1950s-1990s: An Overview 177
Notes 225
Bibliography 249
Index 269
Illustrations follow pages 100 and 160
