{"id":1201296,"date":"2024-02-21T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/?p=1201296"},"modified":"2024-02-21T18:10:28","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T23:10:28","slug":"african-american-theater-dance-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/african-american-theater-dance-history\/","title":{"rendered":"African Americans’ Historic Contributions to Theater and Dance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Throughout U.S. history, African American theatermakers and dancers have used their talents to educate, entertain and empower audiences. In D.C. \u2014 from dancer, director and visionary Mike Malone to the District-based arts company Step Afrika!<\/a> \u2014 theater and dance have intersected in a revolutionary and culture-shifting way, that continues to challenge injustices and strengthen society.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cArtists shift culture,\u201d said District native and theatermaker ChelseaDee Harrison, who has spent more than two decades navigating throughout D.C.’s theater and dance communities. \u201cArtists make us confront the reality of our connectedness. Artists encourage societies to remember that we are interconnected- our pasts, present, and future are all bound up together.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH),<\/a> the founders of Black History Month, is celebrating \u201cAfrican Americans and the Arts,\u201d acknowledging Black artists\u2019 contributions to overall culture.\u00a0Black theater and movement makers in the District and nation have historically proven to be cultural curators, paving paths for new ideals and promoting positive change.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As theater and dance influence culture at large, the work of many local, Black theater and movement artists \u2014 with legacies beyond the nation\u2019s capital \u2014 highlight African Americans\u2019 contributions not only to art but to the progress of this nation and world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Intersection of Theater and Dance as Experiences, Black Art Shaping Narratives<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Often using physical action as a means of tapping into the work, Russian theater practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski (1863-1938)<\/a> described acting as \u201cexperiencing.\u201d Similarly, African American dancer, choreographer, and visionary Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) <\/a>described dance, saying, \u201ceach movement is the sum total of moments and experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

True to their art forms, historically, Black theater and dance artists have emphasized the importance of  experiencing truths through art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through theater, African Americans are \u201cseen as all kinds of people as opposed to just one kind of person\u2019s representation,\u201d explained D.C. native and multi-hyphenate artist Roz White, who plays Zelma Bullock, Tina Turner\u2019s mother, in the Broadway national tour \u201cTina-The Tina Turner Musical<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many white artists tried to make a mockery of African Americans for white audiences through minstrel shows<\/a> \u2014 using blackface and shucking and jiving \u2014 Black theatermakers and dancers worked to reveal truths about the world through their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1821, the African Grove Theatre<\/a> was founded in New York City by William Alexander Brown, the first published Black playwright<\/a>.  Though there are no records of the company after the early to mid-1820s, the African Grove paved the way for Black artists nationwide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Timeline of D.C. Black Theater and Dance: From the Howard Players, Black Arts Institutions, Stepping, to Today<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By the early 1900s, local Black artists were intentional about theater-and-movement-making.  In 1907, The Howard Players<\/a> were formed, and by 1919 the university began offering dramatic art courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the \u201cNew Negro Movement,\u201d of the 1920s and 30s,  D.C. also proved as an important location for Black artists to work, network, and thrive. The U-Street corridor was coined Black Broadway for all of its African American performance venues, including the historic Howard Theatre and Lincoln Theatre which still stand today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Training institutes such as Bernice Hammond\u2019s Northeast Academy of Dance, founded in 1934, and Jones-Haywood Dance School<\/a>, celebrating more than 80 years in business, created safe spaces for Black youth to learn more about dance, themselves and the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were perfecting a technique that wasn\u2019t created with African bodies in mind. To learn the technique from Black ballet dancers \u2014 dancers who loved and advanced the art form \u2014  taught me how to see and feel beauty even in spaces not intended for me,\u201d multi-hyphenate artist Harrison told The Informer, recalling her time at Jones-Haywood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As African American sororities and fraternities, founded in the early 1900s, evolved at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), so did traditions. \u201cGreek Sings,\u201d when sororities and fraternities showcased sacred songs, began incorporating movements. By 1976, Howard presented the first \u201cGreek Show,\u201d which included the art of stepping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200b\u200bStep Afrika!<\/a> founder C. Brian Williams<\/a>, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity<\/a> and Howard graduate, noted stepping as a distinctly Black art with African origins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStep was really a product of the African American experience in this country,\u201d Williams told The Informer. \u201cFrat brothers and sorority sisters, chose to use their bodies as an instrument to express love and pride in the organization and their organizations. That’s the result of African American experience since the drums were taken away [in 1739] in the Stono Rebellion.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the Black Arts Movement of the 1970s, D.C. further contributed to local and nationwide cultural and artistic shifts.  Dancer, director and innovator Mike Malone<\/a> nurtured the careers of thousands of local artists through his work as a musical theater professor at Howard and co-founder of Duke Ellington School of the Arts<\/a>, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe that D.C.\u2019s Black theater is the foundation for some of these amazing artists,\u201d said White, who studied under Malone as a Duke Ellington and Howard alumna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Williams, founder of the D.C.-based step organization, part of celebrating Black movement and theater is ensuring that all people are exposed to the art forms year-round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe celebrate Black art every day, every, every minute. For me, art is life. And so we want to create as many opportunities for others \u2014 art gives us a chance to reflect,\u201d Williams explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howard associate professor Dr. Khalid Y. Long, who also serves as vice president conference planner of the August Wilson Society, emphasized Black art\u2019s, and particularly theater\u2019s, ability to effect change<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI deeply believe that theater offers the possibility to lead marginalized people, oppressed people, and particularly Black people to freedom and liberation,\u201d said Long. \u201cIt offers a road map \u2014 a blueprint, if you will \u2014 to a world that we can imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

African American theatermakers and dancers in D.C. have used their talents to educate, entertain and empower audiences, while also highlighting their contributions to overall culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4419,"featured_media":1201298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_primary_brand":0,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","nota_seo_page_title":"","nota_seo_page_description":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"small","newspack_post_subtitle":"D.C. 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