In chapter two Pioneer Women, this chapter discusses how the different types of dance such as vaudeville, burlesque and others featured women as the main display of the concert. The reasoning for that is because a convention had assumed that the female…
February is well known as Black History Month, but when we think of Black History Month we think of famous African Americans like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. In the world of dance, another African American woman is just as prevalent. Jeni LeGon, one of the first African American women to establish a solo career in tap dance, is one of the tap dance pioneers in America. Tap dance originated in the mid 1600’s from Scottish and Irish laborers brought to the New World. Slaves that resided in the south learned to imitate the rapid steps and combined them with African dance styles. The two styles combined and formed the American tap Hybrid.…
Alvin Ailey, Jr. was an African American modern dancer, dance teacher and choreographer, who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Ailey was a gifted creator of dance expressing the African American cultural experience and history. His choreographic works live on in performances by the company he founded. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater toured extensively and regularly in Europe and Asia during Ailey's lifetime, making Ailey a familiar name worldwide. His works continue to inspire, uplift, educate, and communicate brilliance to all who witness them. One of his best known works, the choreographic masterpiece,…
It is obvious that Katherine Dunham transformed American dance in 1930’s. By studying the foundation and roots of black dance and rituals, she was able to transform them into artistic pieces of choreography. She introduced the use of both ethnic and folk dance and is a prominent founder of the anthropological dance movement. At that time, dance was heavily influenced by Europe, but Dunham was able to create an impact in the dance world by bringing Caribbean and African…
Hill, Constance. Tap Dancing America A Cultural History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.…
Other dances that were performed are the ‘Fallen Feather’ dance, the Two-Step dance and the ‘Social Dance’. Out of all these dances,…
The rebellious flappers rebelled against the usual image of a Victorian women by cutting their hair short, wearing make-up, wearing short dresses, smoking, drinking, and going to parties. One of the things largely associated with the flapper is the Charleston, which is a form of dance that became popular in speakeasies all across the country during the 1920s. The image of the flapper along with the dancing and the music of the Jazz Age really demonstrates the care-free lifestyle of the flappers after the war (“Flappers Do the…
In the article “Clean Up the Dance Halls” Elisabeth Perry examines the age of the Progressive Era and the efforts by the reformers to get rid of unregulated dance halls. Perry adds how dance halls that provided “stylish drinks” and guaranteed popularity influenced many innocent girls to leave their households to embrace a life of alcohol, unmoral dancing, and eventually sexually relations with strangers. Perry also adds how the girls could not resist a man's love despite it meaning that they would loose their “girlhood.” One of the prominent reformers during this time was Belle Israels who sought to protect girls from being “played with” and sought to put an end to dance halls. As a result, the Progressive Era stirred together different social issues which usually led to controversy and tension as seen in the dance hall reform.…
The Charleston was originally developed by Kathryn Wilson. The Charleston is most frequently associated with flappers and the speakeasy. Here, these young women would dance alone or together as a way of mocking the citizens who supported the Prohibition amendment, as the Charleston was then considered immoral and provocative. “A fast fox-trot named after Charleston, S. Carolina, popularized in NY, 1922, in a song by Cecil Mack and Jimmy Johnson” (Michael Kennedy and Joyce Bourne). “The Charleston is characterized by outward heel kicks combined with an up-and-down movement achieved by bending and straightening the knees in time to the syncopated 4/4 rhythm of ragtime jazz” (Charleston). The Charleston is significant in this time because, women didn’t have any rights in the 1920s and weren’t respected; so for Kathryn…
Throughout the late 1920 's an important theatrical movement developed: The Workers ' Theatre Movement. In the end, it diminished around the middle of the 1930 's, and one of the developments aiding the decline of the Workers ' Theatre Movement, was the creation of the Federal Theatre Project. The Federal Theatre Project was the largest and most motivated effort mounted by the Federal Government to organize and produce theater events. Once the government took on the duty of putting people to work, it was able to consider the movement. The Federal Theatre Project 's purpose was "to provide relief work for theatrical artists that utilized their talents and to make their work widely available to ordinary Americans, thus democratizing high culture." (www.answers.com) Furthermore the FTP tried to present theatre that was relevant socially, politically, and had popular prices, such as free shows. The majority of its famous productions, although not all of them, came out of New York City. New York had many units, such as, a classical unit, Negro unit, units performing vaudeville, children 's plays, puppet shows, caravan productions, and the new plays unit. The Federal Theatre Project was "the only fully government-sponsored theatre ever in the United States". (Witham 16)…
When the U.S. government formed Bureau of Indian Affairs, one of the bureau’s functions was to limit communication between the groups of native people. The reason was to prevent these nations from organizing greater resistance and attacks, but an indirect result was preventing “cross fertilization” of music between these nations. This means that the grass dance style spread across North America, but then began to evolve with tribes and nations in isolation. This resulted in different styles of grass dances, one of the main differences being the Northern and Southern styles, which were first, observed in the 1920s (Browner). Although grass dances began as war music, in modern times they are more functional as an important part to pow-wows (Gay).…
Black Americans, segregation, and slavery. Most of the people who have studied American history recognize the inhumane actions towards people of color during the 1960’s and 1980’s. Yet, people often are not aware of the similar acts perpetrated on the Native Americans during the same period of time. The Native Americans had to suffer their past of external shame imposed on their culture and tradition by the White American society, followed by a coercion of White American culture due to the government proposal of the “Indian problem.” Nevertheless, the Native Americans maintained their pride in their identity and culture internally, within their tribes, and carried out such acts as Ghost Dance, valuing their own tradition. While it may seem paradoxical, both shame and pride of culture and identity simultaneously resonate in Native Americans today as a means of letting go of the unpleasant past and moving on to the future with a new hope.…
The period of the 1930s and 1940s is known as the Swing Era. Big bands like Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Artie Shaw, and others became household names and music icons ("Jazz History- Swing"). Swing music was a trendy style of jazz, while swing dancing was very popular and performed in many dance halls. As they became more widespread, both became a vital part of America.…
Feather, Fran Dancing, and Rita Robinson. Exploring Native American Wisdom: Lore,Traditions, and Rituals That Connect Us All. Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page, 2003. Print.…
The 1960s were a time of great change in America that led into the 1970s where even more changes continued to take place. President Kennedy in the early 1960s brought many new programs to the country; one of them was the Peace Corps. His assassination in 1963 caused turmoil across the country. The next president, Johnson, brought this country the War on Poverty and at the same time America’s involvement in Vietnam was continuously increasing. The Vietnam war continued until 1975, and in 1973 President Nixon was impeached from office. During these years America also saw Civil Rights movements and Women’s Liberation Movements. Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated…