Dance Revolutionaries

Pearl Primus is an anthropologist and activist. Wholly but famously through the lense of dance. Originally born in the Port of Spain in Trinidad Ms. Primus and her family moved to New York City in 1921. While studying Biology  at Hunter College in 1940 with the intentions of becoming a physician, Primus faced racial discrimination while trying to find work at laboratory at NYU. She would later be hired at the National Youth Administration under the dance unit soon receiving a scholarship from the New Dance Group (1943), a dance collective with the initial belief that, "Dance is a weapon". With movement beginnings rooted in heritage, politics, and activism Pearl Primus sought to broaden her dance perspective and trained with Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey. Here is where she began to take a deepening interest in peoples relationship with dance in relation to their culture, more specifically of those who were descendants of African Slaves. Primus would go on to present numerous works at Jacobs Pillow in the 1940s and 50s that spoke to African Diasporic issues and experiences around the globe. Her fascination with world cultures led her to study anthropology at Columbia University in 1945. For the remainder of Pearl Primus's life and career she would continue to deepen this formula of using dance as a way to educate and showcase the culture of the diaspora through dance. Pearl Primus is a dance revolutionary because of her endearing love for herself, culture, and people who look like her all over the world. She used her time on this earth learning and teaching audiences about the vast arrays of blackness and the different thing that it entails in a time period full of racial inequality and discrimination.  Her works, artistic process, and dedication to dance continue to inspire artists and dancers of generations. May her contributions to dance and the world in general never be forgotten.

Katherine Dunham is a revolutionary  that took the world by storm through many lenses, but most notably dance.  known for being, a "world famous dancer, choreographer, author, anthropologist, social activist, and humanitarian",  in the end Katherine Dunham left a legacy through creation of organizations and nonprofits like; The Katherine Dunham Center For The Arts and Humanities, The Katherine Dunham Children’s Workshop, PATC, Institute for Intercultural Communication, The Katherine Dunham Children’s Workshop, as well as the Institute For Dunham Technique Certification. Born to a father with origins in Madagascar and West Africa and a French Canadian Mother, Ms. Dunham was never a stranger to the intersections of culture and blackness. Following after her philosophical brother Dunham went on to  The University Of Chicago to study Anthropology in the 1920s and 30s, it was here that she discovered dance. This discovery sparked innovative creations like the, "The Katherine Dunham Dance Company (1940), established after her 16-month fieldwork in the Caribbean. Her company would go on to become  the first internationally predominantly black touring company and few of the American dance companies (at the time)  overall to be recognized for touring 6 continents. She would also go on to create , The Katherine Dunham School of Arts and Research in New York City in 1946, which would later expand to The Katherine Dunham School of Cultural Arts in 1952.  To learn more about Katherine Dunham please visit the links in the sources tab!