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."
Pearl Primus was born in Trindad and played an essential role in bringing African and African people into the faces of American audiences in a postive light. She promoted African dance as an art form worthy of study and performance. She wanted to dismiss the false pretense of Africans being savages. According to Wikipedia, "It was an effort to guide the Western world to view African dance as an important and dignified statement about another way of life. Additionally, her work provided a knowledge and meaning for dances that had been plagued by distortion of movement and excessive hip shaking of the backside."
do feel pearl took a large leap in womens rights as an African American choreographer with a new risky type of dance? Interesting that she was able to feel confident enough to create this new way of moving, do you know if she inspired other modern choreographers and/or African choreographers/dancers?
ReplyDeleteI do feel that Pearl took a leap in Women's Rights as an African-American choreographer. I believe her chief concern was push the forward the idea of Civil Rights and dance was going to be her medium! I am not sure of all the people inspried by her work, but there is an American artist named Donald McKayle that has been inspired by her. He became a dancer because of seeing one of her performances at the age of 18 during the late 1940s.
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