#dance studies

her grace... one could even say its bewildering ... . ..

-Wings (PIXY)

sun naps in seattle

Some dance studies from Jimin’s “I Need You” Solo Stage at MMA 2019.

Let’s start our re-education with Pearl Primus! Internationally famous choreographer and anthropologist Dr. Pearl Eileen Primus (1919-1994) was one of the most important figures in dance scholarship. She extensively studied African dance, as well African diaspora dance in the Caribbean and the United States. She made her own dance technique, using the “Africanist presence” (a term coined by Brenda Dixon Gottschild, another important dance scholar/choreographer). Her scholarship is still quoted and referenced in the field of dance studies, and it was the work of herself and two other black women (Brenda Dixon Gottschild and Katherine Dunham) that lead to the creation of the incredibly important field of study: black performance theory.

what a life, what a dancer

Katherine Dunham! An anthropologist, dancer, choreographer, writer, educator (and so many other things), Katherin Dunham (1909-2006) is, to this date, one of the most successful and important black choreographers of the modern era. As a student in ethnology at the University of Chicago, she traveled to the Caribbean and studied the dance taking place in the area. Afterwards, she left academia and pursued dance full-time and created her very own technique of dance, Dunham technique.  "What Dunham gave modern dance was a coherent lexicon of African and Caribbean styles of movement—a flexible torso and spine, articulated pelvis and isolation of the limbs, a polyrhythmic strategy of moving—which she integrated with techniques of ballet and modern dance” (Arthur Tod). 

Part 2 of my world dance studies! This time, various european dances. Check captions for specific dance names + country of origin. ;)