Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Link to video three of Pearl's Works
http://acceleratedmotion.wesleyan.edu/primary_sources/video/identities_stage_fruit/stage_fruit.php?vid=stage_fruit_sm&siz=sm
I Care About Pearl!
Like Pearl, I started formal dance training in my latter years. Seeing how Pearl blossomed in her gift is motivation for me to continue moving forward. Additionally, Pearl was a "jack of all trades" as she was educated in medicine sciences and social sciences. She was trained in Afro-Caribbean dances, as well as ballet and modern. Again, I relate to her as I consider myself well read in many different arenas. Researching her life has given my hope that all things work together for good. She used her life experiences and made them work for her benefit. Pearl's personal stories, beliefs, and values became real life stories on stage through movement.
The life of Pearl Primus should not be ignored because of the great impact her life had in the world of dance. Pearl brought life to African and Caribbean dancing on stage. She was apart of many other black choreographers that helped to show the rich history of movement embedded in the ancestors of African-Americans. Additionally, she meshed that movement with modern and ballet movement, which transcended her dances into another level of passionate dance. Today, more and more dance artists are using different art and movement forms to transform dance. Pearl played a big part in making this transformation come to past by giving dance the gift of African and Caribbean stage influence.
Monday, April 12, 2010
WHY DID PEARL DO WHAT SHE DID?
Pearl also contributed the native dances of African-American's descendants to dance in America. Though Katherine Dunham contributed much to African dance movement coming to America, there lies a richness in what Pearl contributes. As she travelled to Africa and the Carribean islands, she continually brought back the cultural dances and rituals of the people. She presented them not as simply sensual and primitive (or savage like) movements. Pearl brought back rich cultural ideas and presented them as a work of art on stages. The content of her work was what made her work important. Pearl was inspired by the roots of her culture, as well as the liberation of her race in America. Rather than simply protested and marching, she took the route of a using dancing as a way to connect to people. Her dancing connecting people to a culture and a cause.
Friday, March 26, 2010
What Was Going On In My World?
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Her Professional Lineage
According to Foley, she then began performing at the Cafe Society Downtown, an integrated nightclub, and in 1944 she gave her first solo recital, performing to poetry and the music of folksinger Josh White. Shortly after this performance, Primus was invited to perform on Broadway. In 1946, Primus appeared in a New York revival of "Showboat," as well as in Louis Gruenberg's opera "The Emperor Jones" at the Chicago Civic Opera.
Other works that are attributed to the success of Pearl Primus include Primus's interpretation of Langston Hughes' "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" (1944); "Strange Fruit"(1945), based on the poem by Lewis Allan about a lynching; and "Hard Time Blues" (1945), based on a song about sharecroppers by folksinger Josh White.
She formed her own company and choreographed both group and solo pieces. Primus used her previous pieces and developed ones to further shed light on the social and racial issues of the time. In 1948, Primus was given the opportunity to further her studies with a Rosenwald grant that allowed her to visit Africa to study African dance. She traveled throughout the continent learning traditional dances and rituals. Primus's later work was deeply influenced by her experiences in Nigeria, Zaire, Rwanda, and Ghana. In 1953 Primus returned to Trinidad to study dance there, and met her husband, Percival Borde. In 1958, their son, at the age of 5, joined her dance troupe. In 1979, Borde died.
Primus finished her Masters and Doctoral degrees in Education at New York University in 1959 and 1978, respectively. Using personal, educational and overseas dance experiences, Primus introduced American audiences and dancers to African dance, as well as to African dance traditions. Her performance troupe later formed into the Pearl Primus Dance Language Institute where Primus taught children and adults, and she taught dance, dance education, and ethnic studies at New York University, the Five College Consortium in Amherst, Massachusetts, and other colleges and universities. Though she was heavily involved in the teaching of African-American, African and Caribbean dances, she also incorporated her modern and ballet training in her teaching and work creating an unique blend of dance.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Who is Pearl Primus?
The choreographer and educator Pearl Primus, has been described by Carl Van Vechten as “the grandmother of African-American dance.” Though initially an untrained dancer, Primus became an astounding dancer and choreographer, as her work was characterized by "speed, intensity rhythms, high jumps, and graceful leaps."
About the Writer
Istarted dancing informally with family members, and later it became more formal for me in the form of taking random technique classes. Most of my classes were based in hip-hop and African. Later, I began to do liturgical or interpretative dance. Within the last five years, I have taken formal training in ballet, modern and African. I am currently a student in UW-Milwaukee's dance program.
I am interest in dance as a way to touch individuals and cause their hearts to be overwhelmed with hope and inspiration. I have a specific interest in reaching the hearts of youth and young adults.