Eleo Pomare (20 October 1937 – 8 August 2008) was a Colombian-American modern dance

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

. 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 Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

modern dancers. He founded a dance school, the Eleo Pomare Dance Company, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, which continued after his death.

Early life and education

Pomare was born on 20 October 1937 in

Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta ("Touristic, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Marta"), is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena ...

, Colombia. His father, Tawny Forbes, was the captain of a

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

that was subject to a

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...

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

, joined by his mother a few years later. He attended

New Lincoln School The New Lincoln School was a private experimental coeducational school in New York City enrolling students from kindergarten through grade 12. History New Lincoln's predecessor was founded as Lincoln School in 1917 by the Rockefeller-funded Gener ...

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

.Interview notes
/ref> He later attended New York's High School of Performing Arts, and was mentored by Verita Pearson before graduating in 1953. At this time he also taught dance himself, to young people at the

Police Athletic League The Police Athletic League (PAL; Police Activities League) is an organization in many American police departments in which members of the police force coach young people, both boys and girls, in sports, and help with homework and other school-rel ...

(PAL).

Career

Pomare founded a

dance company A dance troupe or dance company is a group of dancers and associated personnel who work together to perform dances as a sport, spectacle or entertainment. There are many different types of dance companies, often working in different styles of dan ...

in 1958, but dismantled it to travel to Europe to study and perform with

Kurt Jooss Kurt Jooss (12 January 1901 – 22 May 1979)Kurt Jooss
Internationales Biographisches Archi ...

and Harold Kreutzberg in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

, Germany, on a John Hay Whitney scholarship. After leaving the Jooss school, he re-established the Eleo Pomare Dance Company based in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, Netherlands, and became popular in Europe. He returned to the United States in 1964, when he revived and expanded his company.Annemarie Bean, ''A Sourcebook of African-American Performance: Plays, People, Movements'', Routledge, 1999, p. 86. The company performed at the

Waltann School of Creative Arts The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

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in November 1967. In 1968 (or earlier?), Pomare, along with Carole Johnson and others, formed the

Association of Black Choreographers 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 Da ...

, and founded ''The Feet'', a magazine for black dancers.

Works

An important work was ''Gin. Woman. Distress.'', a three-part solo dance, to the songs of

Bessie Smith Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock a ...

. It depicts the slow deterioration of a homeless woman. Pomare choreographed the work for

Elizabeth Cameron Dalman Elizabeth Cameron Dalman (born 1934) is an Australian choreographer, teacher, and performer. She founded Australian Dance Theatre and was its artistic director from 1965 to 1975. She is also the founding director of Mirramu Dance Company. Ear ...

in New York during 1966, and it was widely toured by Dalman in Europe and Australia from 1966 to 1987. The work was also taught to Johnson, who performed it in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in 1972. One of the company's signature pieces developed by Pomare was called ''Blues for the Jungle'' (1966), originally titled ''Harlem Moods'', as it depicted life in

, New York. First performed in

, the work is in three parts: Underworld, From Prison Walls, and Dat Day. Other productions in the 1960s included ''

Missa Luba The ''Missa Luba'' is a setting of the Latin Mass sung in styles traditional to the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was composed by Father Guido Haazen, a Franciscan friar from Belgium, and originally celebrated, performed, and recorded in 1958 ...

'' in 1965 and ''Las Desenamoradas'' in 1967 (based on

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

's play ''

The House of Bernarda Alba ''The House of Bernarda Alba'' ( es, La casa de Bernarda Alba) is a play by the Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. Commentators have often grouped it with ''Blood Wedding'' and ''Yerma'' as a "rural trilogy". Garcia Lorca did not include ...

'' set to "Olé" by

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of br ...

). In 1986, in honour of

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

, Pomare created ''Morning Without Sunrise'', set to music by

Max Roach Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz Jazz drumming, drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in h ...

Touring

The company toured to

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, in 1972, to perform at the Adelaide Festival of Arts. Dancers on the tour were: Carole Johnson, Roberta Pikser, Jennifer Barry, Frank Ashley, Strody Meekins, Martial Roumain, Henry Yu Hao Yen, Lillian Coleman, Dyane Harvey and Carole Simpson. Pomare came to the attention of

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

activists after refusing to perform at Chequers Theatre, situated in the suburb of

Nailsworth Nailsworth is a town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, lying in one of the Stroud Valleys in the Cotswolds, on the A46 road (the Roman Fosse Way), south of Stroud and about north-east of Bristol and Bath. The parish had a popula ...

, north of Adelaide city centre. Pomare deemed it unsafe for the type of performance, and an inferior venue, and he insisted that his company be treated with respect. The powers that be ensured that equipment and props were moved to the Warner Theatre in King William Street, in time for the performance the following day. Pomare upset the box office manager by giving his allocation of orchestra seats away to some Aboriginal people who wanted to see the performance but had not been able to get tickets. The company performed ''Blues for the Jungle'' on this tour, which, according to Johnson, "really excited the blacks who saw for the first time how the contemporary arts could be used to convey relevant social messages". Johnson also performed ''Gin. Woman. Distress.'' on the tour. The company also toured to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, supported by the

Australia Council for the Arts The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

. Johnson went on to run a workshop and then start courses for

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

, and headed the Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre in 1976. CC-BY icon

Attribution 2.0 Australia (CC BY 2.0 AU)
licence. The company also toured toured North America, Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and Africa, performing in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

, Nigeria, for

FESTAC '77 Festac '77, also known as the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (the first was in World Festival of Black Arts#History, Dakar, 1966), was a major international festival held in Lagos, Nigeria, from 15 January 1977 to 12 F ...

, the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture.

Company manager

William Moore (1933–1992), African American dance critic, dancer, researcher, and founder of ''Dance Herald'' magazine, managed the company at some point, as he did the company of Joan Miller.

Recognition

Pomare was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in 1972. The borough president of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

David Dinkins David Norman Dinkins (July 10, 1927 – November 23, 2020) was an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993. He was the first African American to hold the office. Before enteri ...

, declared 7 January 1987 as Eleo Pomare Day.

Guest dancers

A November 1983 performance by Leni Wylliams as "Profit Jones" in ''Radiance of the Dark'' during the company's 25th anniversary season was reported in a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' review as being "show stopping". Other featured dancers included: * Dudley Williams * Loretta Abbott * Al Perryman * Dyane Harvey *

Charles Grant Charles or Charlie Grant may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Charles Jameson Grant (), American editorial cartoonist * Charles L. Grant (1942–2006), American novelist * Charles Grant (actor) (born 1957), American actor * Charles Grant (dancer ...

* Chuck Davis

Death and legacy

Pomare died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

, New York, on 8 August 2008. The Eleo Pomare Dance Company continued after his death. Dancer and choreographer Martial Roumain, who joined the company as a teenager, is responsible for preserving Pomare's work and for future performances of it. An exhibition celebrating his achievements, entitled ''The Man, The Artist, The Maker of Artists'', was mounted at the

National Museum of Dance The National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame, in the Saratoga Spa State Park, Saratoga Springs, New York, was established in 1986. It contains photographs, videos, artifacts, costumes, and biographies. The museum is located in the former Washi ...

from 2011 to 2012. In January 2021, Loris Anthony Beckles, a former member of the Eleo Pomare Dance Company and founder of the Beckles Dancing Company in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

, gave a talk on Pomare's legacy, entitled ''Dance as activism: Meet Eleo Pomare, a revolutionary artist''. Pomare is often considered the angry black man of

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

, although he did not consider himself angry or bitter, but that he is rather "telling it like it is". "I'm labeled...angry...because I will not do what they want from a black dancer. They want black exotics... I have something to say and I want to say it honestly, strongly and without having it stolen, borrowed or messed over." The impact of Pomare as writer, dancer and choreographer has helped many gain an understanding of the black experience.Emery (1988), pp. 298–301. Johnson's work with

dancers in Australia, helping to create

NAISDA The NAISDA Dance College (usually referred to as simply NAISDA) is a performing arts training college based in Kariong, New South Wales for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. It was established as the Aboriginal Islander ...

's forerunner in 1975, and subsequent formation of

Bangarra Dance Theatre Bangarra Dance Theatre is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance company focused on contemporary dance. It was founded by African American dancer and choreographer Carole Y. Johnson, Gumbaynggirr man Rob Bryant, and South African-born ...

in 1989, carried on Pomare's legacy. Johnson herself said that "Pomare made me the dancer that I am today... I was very technical, which he liked, but he managed to pull all my emotion out". She also said that he had a strong influence in Australia, the legacy of his 1972 visit to Adelaide.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pomare, Eleo 1937 births 2008 deaths Deaths from cancer in New York (state) American choreographers