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Ismay Andrews was one of the earliest major teachers of African dance in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Her career started in 1929 as a stage actress, and she taught dance in community centers 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 ...
from 1934 to 1959.


Stage actor

Andrews began her career in as an actor in
stage play A play is a work of drama, usually consisting mostly of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and intended for theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Reading (process), reading. The writer of a play is called a playwright. Pla ...
s 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 Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...
s. This movement in art and culture was connected to the Harlem Renaissance and the
Négritude ''Négritude'' (from French "Nègre" and "-itude" to denote a condition that can be translated as "Blackness") is a framework of critique and literary theory, developed mainly by francophone intellectuals, writers, and politicians of the African ...
movement. Andrews taught in New York community centers from 1934 to 1959. She began teaching African dance at the
Abyssinian Baptist Church The Abyssinian Baptist Church is a Baptist megachurch located at 132 West 138th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Lenox Avenue in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, affiliated with the National Baptist Con ...
in
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), ...
in 1934. This makes her one of the earliest major teachers of African dance in the United States, along with Efiom Odok and Dafora. She also taught at
Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church The Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, also known as "Mother Zion", located at 140–148 137th Street (Manhattan), West 137th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Lenox Avenue in the Harlem, Manhattan, Harlem neighbor ...
, which was one of the primary centers of African American culture in New York City at the time. Her students included
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.'' Retr ...
,
Pearl Primus Pearl Eileen Primus (November 29, 1919 – October 29, 1994) was an American dancer, choreographer and anthropologist. Primus played an important role in the presentation of African dance to American audiences. Early in her career she saw the need ...
,
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (June 14, 1932, Manhattan, New York City or possibly (unconfirmed) Winston-Salem, North Carolina – March 9, 2004, Chicago) was an American composer whose interests spanned the worlds of jazz, dance, pop, film, ...
,, Alice Dinizulu, Alexandreena Dixon,
Eartha Kitt Eartha Kitt (born Eartha Mae Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Ba ...
,
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 Bl ...
, Bea Richards (later a prominent actress), and
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 rai ...
. Ismay Andrews never traveled to Africa, but learned African traditions through researching in public libraries.


1940s

In the 1940s, Andrews focused on the dances of
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 ...
. She founded and directed a dance company known as the Swa-Hili Dancers who performed re-constructed East African dances. They performed on stage at the Stage Door Canteen, in
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 ...
, and for the
USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...
during
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 opposin ...
. The African American community in
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), ...
strongly supported Andrews cultural work throughout her career.


Recognition

In May 1971, in a formal ceremony, the Modern Organization for Dance Evolvement (MODE), founded by Carole Johnson and others in New York, awarded Andrews their inaugural dance award for "a person who contributed lo the black experience in dance".


Death

She died in poverty in New York City.


See also

* African-American art#The Harlem Renaissance to contemporary art *
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 Ame ...
* African-American dance *
Caterina Jarboro Caterina Jarboro (July 24, 1898 – August 13, 1986) was an American opera singer. She was the first female black opera singer to sing with a major company, twenty-two years before Marian Anderson's début at the Metropolitan Opera. Biograp ...
*
Josephine Baker Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted Fran ...
*
Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African ...
*
Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on Hoodoo (spirituality), hoodoo. The most ...


Notes


Citations


References

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Further reading

* * * Dixon Gottschild, B. (1996). Digging the Africanist presence in American performance. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press * Garafola, L. (Ed). (1994). Of, by, and for the people: Dancing on the left in the 1930s. Madison, WI: AR Editions, Inc * * Long, R. (1989). The Black tradition in American dance. New York: Rizzoli International Publications. * Malone, J. (1996). Steppin’ on the blues: The visible rhythms of African American dance. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. * Maureen Needham, “Kykunkor, or the Witch Woman: An African Opera in America, 1934,” in Dancing Many Drums: Excavations in African Dance, edited by Thomas F. DeFrantz, Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2002. * Prevots, N. (1998), Dance for export: Cultural diplomacy and the Cold War. Hanover, NH: University Press o f New England. * Sherrod, E.G. (1998). The dance griots: An examination of the dance pedagogy of Katherine Dunham and Black pioneering dancers in Chicago and New York City from 1931-1946. Dissertation Abstracts International, 463. (UMI No. 9826197) * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Andrews, Ismay 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American dancers Actresses from New York City African-American actresses African-American choreographers American choreographers African-American cultural history African-American female dancers African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement African-American history in New York City African and Black nationalism in the United States African and Black nationalists American film actresses American musical theatre actresses American stage actresses American women choreographers Dance in Africa Dance in New York City Dancers from New York (state) Harlem Renaissance Musical theatre female dancers People from Harlem 21st-century African-American women singers