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Ismay Andrews
Ismay Andrews was one of the earliest major teachers of African dance in the United States. Her career started in 1929 as a stage actress, and she taught dance in community centers in New York City from 1934 to 1959. Stage actor Andrews began her career in as an actor in stage plays in New York City. These included a musical comedy, ''Great Day'', at the Cosmopolitan Theatre in 1929, ''Ol' Man Satan'' in 1932, and the operetta ''Africana'' in 1934. She also appeared in a 1932 film, '' The Black King''. Dance In the early 1930s, Andrews studied dance under Asadata Dafora. People in the United States in this era largely regarded Africans as savage and animalistic, and Dafora was part of bringing an awareness of their humanity and an appreciation for their culture. The new interest in African music and dance offered a new positive black identity rooted in ancient, pre-colonial traditions. This movement in art and culture was connected to the Harlem Renaissance and the Négr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Dance
African dance refers to the various dance styles of Sub-Saharan Africa. These dances are closely connected with the traditional rhythms and music traditions of the region. Music and dancing is an integral part of many traditional African societies. Songs and dances facilitate teaching and promoting social values, celebrating special events and major life milestones, performing oral history and other recitations, and spiritual experiences. African dance utilizes the concepts of polyrhythm and total body articulation. African dances are a collective activity performed in large groups, with significant interaction between dancers and onlookers in the majority of styles. History Characteristics Traditional dance in Africa occurs collectively, expressing the values and desires of the community more than that of individuals or couples. Although dances may appear spontaneous, they are usually strictly choreographed. Improvisation is limited as it places the focus on the individua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chief Bey
James Hawthorne Bey (April 17, 1913 – April 8, 2004)Associated Press"Chief Bey, 91 Jazz Drummer."''The New York Times'', April 13, 2004. Retrieved October 28, 2016.Jenkins, Todd S"Chief Bey: Master of African drums."''www.jazzhouse.org.'' Retrieved October 28, 2016. was an American jazz percussionist and African folklorist. He played under the name of Chief Bey. Early life Born James Hawthorne in Yemassee, South Carolina, Bey moved with his family to Brooklyn and then to Harlem, where he began playing drums and singing in church choirs. He also served in the Navy during World War II and later attended cosmetology school. Later life and career In the 1950s, Bey performed in an international tour of ''Porgy and Bess'' starring Leontyne Price and Cab Calloway. He also began a busy recording career, performing on Herbie Mann's ''At the Village Gate'' (1961), Art Blakey's ''The African Beat'' (1962), Ahmed Abdul-Malik's ''Sounds of Africa'' (New Jazz, 1961), as well as albums by Ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African-American Culture
African-American culture refers to the contributions of African Americans to the culture of the United States, either as part of or distinct from mainstream American culture. The culture is both distinct and enormously influential on American and global worldwide culture as a whole. African-American culture is a blend between the native African cultures of West Africa and Central Africa and the European culture that has influenced and modified its development in the American South. Understanding its identity within the culture of the United States, that is, in the anthropological sense, conscious of its origins as largely a blend of West and Central African cultures. Although slavery greatly restricted the ability for Africans to practice their original cultural traditions, many practices, values and beliefs survived, and over time they have modified and/or blended with European cultures and other cultures such as that of Native Americans. African-American identity wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African-American Art
African-American art is a broad term describing visual art created by African Americans — Americans who also identify as Black. The range of art they have created, and are continuing to create, over more than two centuries is as varied as the artists themselves. Some have drawn on cultural traditions in Africa, and other parts of the world, for inspiration. Others have found inspiration in traditional African-American plastic art forms, including basket weaving, pottery, quilting, woodcarving and painting, all of which are sometimes classified as "handicrafts" or "folk art". Many have also been inspired by European traditions in art, as well as personal experience of life, work and studies there. Like their western colleagues, many work in Realist, Modernist and Conceptual styles, and all the variations in between, including America's home-grown Abstract expressionist movement, an approach to art seen in the work of Howardena Pindell, McArthur Binion and Norman Lewis, among o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carole Johnson (dancer)
Carole Yvonne Johnson (born 1940) is an African American contemporary dancer and choreographer, known for her role in the establishment of the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA), and as co-founder of Bangarra Dance Theatre in Australia. Early in her career she became a lead dancer in the Eleo Pomare Dance Company, and Pomare had a profound influence on her dancing style. She is also an activist, arts administrator and researcher. Early life and education Carole Yvonne Johnson was born in Jersey City, New Jersey of African-American descent. Her father, Fred S. A. Johnson, formed a branch of the YMCA in North Philadelphia, and Carole grew up Philadelphia. The family was middle class, and she trained in classical ballet as a child. As a teenager, she studied at the Philadelphia Ballet Guild under British choreographer Antony Tudor (who founded the school in the mid-1950s, and mentored black students there). She also trained under Sydney Gibson Kin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Modern Organization For Dance Evolvement
Carole Yvonne Johnson (born 1940) is an African American contemporary dancer and choreographer, known for her role in the establishment of the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA), and as co-founder of Bangarra Dance Theatre in Australia. Early in her career she became a lead dancer in the Eleo Pomare Dance Company, and Pomare had a profound influence on her dancing style. She is also an activist, arts administrator and researcher. Early life and education Carole Yvonne Johnson was born in Jersey City, New Jersey of African-American descent. Her father, Fred S. A. Johnson, formed a branch of the YMCA in North Philadelphia, and Carole grew up Philadelphia. The family was middle class, and she trained in classical ballet as a child. As a teenager, she studied at the Philadelphia Ballet Guild under British choreographer Antony Tudor (who founded the school in the mid-1950s, and mentored black students there). She also trained under Sydney Gibson ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cabarets
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, does not typically dance but usually sits at tables. Performances are usually introduced by a master of ceremonies or MC. The entertainment, as done by an ensemble of actors and according to its European origins, is often (but not always) oriented towards adult audiences and of a clearly underground nature. In the United States, striptease, burlesque, drag shows, or a solo vocalist with a pianist, as well as the venues which offer this entertainment, are often advertised as cabarets. Etymology The term originally came from Picard language or Walloon language words ''camberete'' or ''cambret'' for a small room (12th century). The first printed use of the word ''kaberet'' is found in a document from 1275 in Tournai. The term was u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical Omani Empire and colonial territories of the British East Africa Protectorate and German East Africa, the term ''East Africa'' is often (especially in the English language) used to specifically refer to the area now comprising the three countries of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. However, this has never been the convention in many other languages, where the term generally had a wider, strictly geographic context and therefore typically included Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.Somaliland is not included in the United Nations geoscheme, as it is internationally recognized as a part of Somalia. *Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan are members of the East African Community. The firs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brunilda Ruiz
Brunilda Ruiz ( – ) was a Puerto Rican ballet dancer, teacher, and choreographer. She toured internationally as a founding member of the Joffrey Ballet and Harkness Ballet companies. Biography Ruiz was born in Rincón, Puerto Rico, and raised in Spanish Harlem in New York City. She had four sisters and two brothers. Ruiz started dancing at age 12. She attended the High School for the Performing Arts later known as Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts, where Robert Joffrey taught her ballet. In 1956, Joffrey asked Ruiz to be one of the six original Joffrey Ballet members. Ruiz was the youngest of the group, which also included Gerald Arpino, Glen Tetley, Beatrice Tompkins, Dianne Consoer, and John W. Wilson (to whom Ruiz was married from 1956 to 1967 and had a daughter Mhari Theresa Wilson). With the Joffrey Ballet, Ruiz toured the country, with her daughter in tow, performing one-night-only shows and introducing ballet as an art form to aud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bea Richards
Beulah Elizabeth Richardson (July 12, 1920 – September 14, 2000), known professionally as Beah Richards and Bea Richards, was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. She was also a poet, playwright, author and activist. Richards was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her supporting role in the film ''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'' in 1968, as well as winning two Primetime Emmy Awards for her guest roles in the television series '' Frank's Place'' in 1988 and ''The Practice'' in 2000. She also received a Tony Award nomination for her performance in the 1965 production of ''The Amen Corner''. Early life and education Beulah Elizabeth Richardson was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi; her mother was a seamstress, and her father was a Baptist minister. In 1948, she graduated from Dillard University in New Orleans, and two years later moved to New York City. She was taught dance by Ismay Andrews. Career Her career began in 1955 when she portrayed an 84- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eleo Pomare
Eleo Pomare (20 October 1937 – 8 August 2008) was a Colombian-American modern dance choreographer. Known for his politically-charged productions depicting the Black experience, his work had a major influence on contemporary dance, especially Black dance. After a tour to Australia in 1972, and the subsequent return of his then lead dancer, Carole Johnson, his style of dancing continues to influence Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander modern dancers. He founded a dance school, the Eleo Pomare Dance Company, in New York City, which continued after his death. Early life and education Pomare was born on 20 October 1937 in Santa Marta, Colombia. His father, Tawny Forbes, was the captain of a cargo ship that was subject to a torpedo attack near Colón, Panama, during World War II. Pomare was with his father at the time, aged six years old, and afterwards went to live with his mother, Mildred Pomare Lee, in Panama. In 1947, he was sent on his own to live with an aunt and uncle in N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
