ebooks Tea: A History of the Drink That Changed the World by John C. Griffiths in History

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African-American Concert Dance significantly advances the study of pioneering black dancers by providing valuable biographical and historical information on a group of artists who worked during the 1920s; 1930s; and 1940s to legitimize black dance as a serious art form. John O. Perpener sets these seminal artists and their innovations in the contexts of African-American culture and American modern dance and explores their creative synthesis of material from European-American; African-American; Caribbean; and African sources.Perpener begins with Hemsley Winfield; a versatile performer and director whose company; the New Negro Art Theatre; launched the careers of Edna Guy; Randolph Sawyer; and Ollie Burgoyne; among many others. Also profiled are Charles Williams; who directed the Hampton Creative Dance Group at the Hampton Institute in Virginia; and Asadata Dafora Horton; a native African who established himself as the preeminent purveyor of African dance and culture in America during the 1930s. Dafora's African Dance Troupe; which at one point came under the umbrella of the WPA Federal Theatre Project; was a focal point of the famous "voodoo" Macbeth; an all-black production set in Haiti and directed by the young Orson Welles. Stepping onto the path cleared by these early innovators; two important artists combined dance with anthropology to expand the reach and scope of African-American dance. Katherine Dunham and Pearl Primus both studied anthropology and engaged in extensive fieldwork that infused their dances with Caribbean and African influences. Dunham founded two ambitious training schools; one in New York and one in East St. Louis; while Primus's projects included an African Arts Center in Monrovia; Liberia; dedicated to collecting dance material; teaching; and organizing professional performances.Perpener examines the politics of racial and cultural difference and their impact on these early African-American dance leaders. In particular he documents the critical reception of their work; detailing the rigid preconceptions of African-American dance that white critics imposed on black artists. He also surveys important black dancers and choreographers since 1950; including Talley Beatty; Donald McKayle; Alvin Ailey; Eleo Pomare; Rod Rodgers; and Dianne McIntyre; and discusses how they have extended and diverged from traditions established by their predecessors.