Lingering lights from America's black Broadway: Negro Renaissance to the Black Arts Movement, African-American concert -theatrical dance in Washington, D.C.

摘要

Lingering Lights from America's Black Broadway documents the influence, development and evolution of African-American dance artists in Washington, D.C., as opposed to and in concert with, the larger dance world centered in New York City. This study further provides a comparative analysis by focusing on artistic and cultural movements occurring throughout the African diaspora for the time period encompassing the Negro Renaissance to the Black Arts Movement.;This study demonstrates that dance initiatives in the District of Columbia were no less significant than developments occurring in black dance on a national and international level. Through oral history interviews, historical narrative and documentation, and comparative analysis, it discerns the African-American dancer's role in the historical and artistic shaping of the community. By structuring the discussion around the time frame of artistic and cultural movements from the Negro Renaissance to the Black Arts Movement, this survey makes reference to similar trends in the African diaspora, but focuses on D.C. dance artists.;Furthermore, by utilizing diasporic artistic and cultural movements rather than mainstream dance history time periods and constraints, this investigation moves dance initiated by black people out from the shadows of mainstream dance history and into the spotlight as an artistic and cultural representation of community. The containment of this time period assesses the evolution of black dance, from its social-vernacular foundations at the beginning of the twentieth century through musical theater (cultural, jazz and tap) and the inception of concert-theatrical dance (ballet and modern forms with cultural impetus) to seemingly nationalistic portrayals of dance with the founding of nationally recognized black dance companies such as the Alvin American Dance Theater and the Dance Theatre of Harlem, and demonstrates what effects these movements had on the local dance scene.