In this article, he expresses how Ruth SST. Denis danced her dances, “Figure from Angora-vat” and “Temple Offering”, “delightfully’, he says. But when the same movement is performed by Guy, he uses negative words to describe her performance. Negations such as “none the less acquitted herself” which suggests that he found her movement to be inadequate especially after he feels that she “marked” the piece. The choice of wording to describe Ruth SST. Denis (a white woman) and Edna Guy (a black woman) are nearly opposites.
Even though dancers were innovating new movement, blacks were constantly being submitted into one type of group and one type of movement. E. A. G. Said that Primer’s dance could be a “beautiful savagery’ but it is not due to petitions and uninspired movement, he explains. It seems as if he is saying that her dance is savagery, but not beautiful due to the reputation he sees. He explained how her movements were not as successful as some of the similar movements Katherine Dunham does. If Dunham movements were more successful, and Primer’s movements were more explosive, it makes me wonder if E.
A. G. Felt that chaos and franticness were in correlation to how savages act. It makes me wonder if he found savagery and people of color interchangeable. E. A. G. Describes Primer’s dances as “primitives”. It’s quite degrading to not only her art work, but to her. Vive never read in an article that an all-white castes ballet piece was described as “primitive”. He even goes on to say that she promises much and gives little, referring to her work as “unfulfilled”. Yet others such as Edwin Denny, saw a lot more in her after viewing multiple shows.
In his first article, Edwin Denny referred to Primer’s movement as having a “native Negro Quality’ (Concert Dancers in Nightclubs). In this article he goes into detail about Charles Headman’s movement and not once mentions his skin color. He discusses how magnificent the Spanish gypsy team was and how charming the contortionist was but he briefly mentions Horton dancers Dry C. Dance History PARALLEL By miscellanies making an appearance (3 couples which were comprised of some black dancers) and doesn’t even express why he found them to be a “disappointment”.
If Primps were white, he’d most likely describe her movement a little more thoroughly than Just having a negro-like quality. Being of color allowed the critic to focus more on the fact that they are doing something a white person could do Just as well, if not better and hen feeling inclined to mention and remind the reader that they are primitive so it’s okay. It’s as if critics are saying “if they can move the way they do, it’s due to their heritage. ” In Denies third article, Pearl Primps, he tells the readers that Primps has a “natural dance impulse”.
There is a huge stigma of black people having a natural dance impulse. It was one of the reasons Edna Guy was told that she didn’t need training as a young girl because it would ruin her natural movement instinct (First clip on Edna Guy, and second clip discussing how blacks had natural movement. Sorry for not recalling the names of the first few films). In his second article, Pearl Primps and Valerie Betties (written 5 months later), he starts to pay more attention to the detail of her movement, but still makes it seem like Primps is primitive without even stating it. Her bare feet are not Just feet without shoes; they can grip, caress, and strike the floor as if feeling the ground were natural to them”, he says. He compares the two ladies; he describes Primps as Afro-like and Betties as civilized, suggesting that Primps is not. Yet when Betties is rapidly shaking, it is considered elegant” next to Primer’s high leaps. However, I feel as though the more Denny views Primer’s dance performances, the more he sees her for her movement and not just for her successes of being able to perform on a stage as someone of color and actually be appealing to an audience.
In his last review, Pearl Primps on Broadway, he starts to use words such as “elegance”, “beautifully’, “delight”, and “charming” to describe her and her movement. It’s a noticeable shift between the four chronological reviews Denny wrote as a critique. In a similarly positive (as positive as critic could get in regards to a black person during this time) critique, Martin explains how Primps is one of the most gifted dancers of her race (which was quite the contrary of what E. A. G. Said).
What I found was a huge breakthrough for black people in dance during Primer’s prime time is when Martin expressed how she was an outstanding dancer regardless of her race (excerpts from “(Up) Staging the Primitive: Pearl Primps and the Negro Problem’ in American Dance” by Richard C. Green in Dancing Many Drums: Excavations in African American Dance, edited by Thomas F. Deferent). And race should not factor into your initial first assumptions on a person, but we still see it happening today. I was in a situation where a talented freshmen Hispanic dancer came into the studio for an audition.
The choreographer didn’t even take her name down at the beginning of the process but approached the two freshmen white girls she never met and asked them for their names. She knew everyone else in the room though and didn’t even give the dancer of color a chance. The biggest stereotype I can think of today in the dance world is that white dancers re meant to do ballet and black people are meant to do hip-hop. Another is that white dancers are better at ballet than black dancers and black dancers are better at hip-hop than white dancers.
These stigmas are very much still present in today’s society. In Dance Magazines Curtain Up, Wendy Person introduces race issues within dance. She brings up the point that some black dancers were told to not even bother trying with ballet. Her specific example was Denies Jefferson. Jefferson has danced in several ballet companies since and even became director of the Alley School. (Curtain Up) Later in this section of DMS, Static Williams, dancer at Ballet Memphis, recalls how someone was surprised that a “black girl” did a good Job as Clara. In Our Words) In Olivia Goldfield and Sarah Marsh’s article, Where are the Black Ballet Dancers, Sacs Poncho says the following “If you don’t see someone reflective of you, then young dancers may not even consider ballet. A lot of ballerinas go into musicals instead, because they’ll be accepted there. I hope the younger generation will grow up without feeling ballet is not for them. (Where are the Black Dancers). ” And many people of color do feel as though ballet is not for them. Ballet was created for the ruling white generation.
And even though times have changed and new generations have formed, a great amount of people still hold color to be the fine line of whether or not to initiate in conversations or encounters with people. Christopher McDaniel explained how black male ballet dancers often get the roles of an aggressive character. Again, this is due to perceptions and intense stereotypes within the Western culture. New York City Ballet dancer, Aisha Ash, said “l have a strong sense hat, behind the scenes, donors are saying that they don’t want to see African Americans promoted in ballet.
They want to see Gilles as pale, they want things to remain how they are – for the ‘pure’ swans to look like the traditional swans they’ve seen their whole lives (Where are the Black Dancers). ” She goes on to explain how she has to dust herself with white powder so she can match the other dancers. Americans do not want change. They want to stick with their orthodox and conservative views of who should be doing what and this includes in the dance world.
