Black Modernism And Situating Revelations Analysis

Black Modernism and Situating Revelations The articles “Black Modernism” and “Situating Revelations” were written by Thomas DeFrantz. DeFrantz is currently a Professor of African and African American Studies, a Professor of Dance, and a Professor of Theater Studies at Duke University. He has done extensive research on dance studies and performance technology. In addition, DeFrantz was previously the president of the Society of Dance History Scholars, and he has been a part of Black Performance Theory and the Collegium for African Diaspora Dance. He has also written multiple books such as Dancing Revelations: Alvin Ailey’s Embodiment of African American Culture, which includes both of the previously stated articles. This book was published in 2004. In his article “Black Modernism” and “Situating Revelations”, DeFrantz addresses Black Modernism in dance and analyzes Revelations by Alvin Ailey. He begins by writing about how African aspects are utilized by many choreographers and dancers. However, many often compare black dance to modernism, and choreographers view the two as separate opposites. They pull aspects from black dance to be used in their otherwise white modern dances. In doing so, these …show more content…
In other words, it is not the fault of the black bodies if a performance fails, but it is that the performance aspect overshadowed the meaning and culture behind the piece. DeFrantz wants his readers to understand the deep message behind every movement of the black body even if they are just standing still. This quote, at least how I interpreted it, makes one of DeFrantz’s main points that to incorporate Africanist movements does not give the full picture of the Africanist paradigm; black bodies are an essential element to expressing the message behind Africanist