Alvin Ailey

worldwide tours by well-known dance companies such as Alvin Ailey and the Soviet ballet. Conflicts were emerging concerning racial inequalities in the United States. Under then-president Eisenhower, there was a strong push to promote the grand image of American culture abroad, in the midst of the racial conflicts (Prevots 38). Eisenhower believed that the arts were a “powerful tool in the creation of world peace” (Prevots 2), so he sponsored the Alvin Ailey dance company to travel through Asia…

Perseverance Of Maya Angelou Maya Angelou once said There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. Maya Angelou an underprivileged woman to made a name for herself as writer,singer,dancer,playwright,and so much more. When Maya Angelou was a child she went thought a lot of hard times and she never let that stop her from what she had to achieve. Perseverance is going through a hard time and not letting that stop you. Perseverance is a quality that Maya Angelou demonstrated…

George Balanchine Russia's contribution to the great effervescence of ballet in the United States is complete and comprehensive. The master of this long alliance was undoubtedly George Balanchine, one of the greatest if not the greatest choreographer of the twentieth century. Born in St. Petersburg in 1904 in a family of artists from Georgia, Balanchine met ballet and music from the cradle. Trained at the School of Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg in the best classical tradition, Balanchine…

“I wanted to begin not with characters or ideas, but with moments…. I wanted significant movement. I did not want it to be beautiful or fluid. I wanted it to be fraught with inner meaning, with excitement and surge” (Martha Graham). Martha Graham is a famous American choreographer, dancer, and teacher of modern Graham and was an inspiration for many people, not only for a dancer. Also, Martha Graham was the first lady to brought muscle movements in dance and strong emotional story with feelings.…

in the worst places you could imagine, she did not stay there. Her performing career flourished so much that she toured Europe with a production of the opera Porgy and Bess in 1954 and 1955. She studied modern dance with Martha Graham, danced with Alvin…

Katherine Dunham was the first choreographer to integrate African American dance with modern dance highlighting the importance of African American culture. She showed the world just how beautiful African American heritage is, but did not stop there. Katherine Dunham influenced the African American culture by fighting her way into the dance community, by developing ethnographic research, and by empowering her Illinois community through the art and outlet of dance. “As an artist, educator,…

Dance, for centuries, has “been used as communication between the body and the soul,” says Ruth St. Denis, Oriental-modern dancer and mentor of Martha Graham. Throughout the widespread genres of dance, there is always a rich background and purpose. Modern dance, one of the most recently recognized genres, can take many forms, while Dance du Ventre, or belly dancing, has a more narrow variety of moves. However, both have a deep rooting in women’s history and represent the value of a woman and…

British Dance: Influential Black Dancers Made an Impact on Britain “Like Britain itself, British dance has been informed by different waves of immigration”, says dance history professor Ramsay Burt (Roy). Ballet “took root” through a determined Polish woman, Marie Rambert, and Irishwoman, Ninette de Valois (Roy). Modern dance was arranged by exiles form Germany in the 1930s and visitors from America in the 1950s and 1960s (Roy). The stories and history of black British dancers however, tends to…

success and accomplishments started to flourish from there. From 1954 to 1955 she toured Europe with a production of the opera "Porgy and Bess". Maya then started to use her talent of dance. She studied modern dance with Martha Graham, danced with Alvin Ailey on television, and recorded her first album "Calypso Lady", in 1957. Maya was very talented when it came to writing. She used her skills of writing to write poetry and song lyrics, but at the end of the 1950's she wanted to do more with her…

Racism, discrimination, and oppression have been ongoing conflicts in the world for centuries. Racism, discrimination, and oppression all connect to an intolerance of a certain culture, ethnicity, or race other than oneself. Unfortunately, there is an intolerance for one’s own culture, ethnicity, and race and that intolerance is identified as colourism. Colourism, prejudice or discrimination based on the relative lightness or darkness of the skin, has birthed these manifesting ideas of hate and…