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The Legacy of Black Philadelphia's Dance Institutions and the Educators Who Built the Tradition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2014

Melanye White-Dixon
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Extract

Cultural arts institutions have played a significant role in the life of Black Philadelphians since the 1920s. Such organizations as the Philadelphia Concert Orchestra, Dra Mu Opera Company, and Heritage House (Visual and Performing Arts Center) were efforts to preserve and promote the traditions of African American culture. (“Black” and “African American” will be used interchangeably here.) Dance schools have traditionally received ardent support from the community and were established because of limited opportunities for Black youth to study dance in Philadelphia.

Marion Cuyjet's Judimar School, the Sydney (King) School of Dance, Arthur Hall's Ile Ife Black Humanitarian Center, and Joan Myers Brown's Philadelphia School of Dance Arts were key institutions that created a vital training environment for dancers, dance educators, and dance companies that emerged between the late 1940s and early 1970s. Cuyjet and King studied with dance pioneer Essie Marie Dorsey in the late 1930s. Hall and Brown were students of Cuyjet and King and established themselves as third generation leaders who created dance companies as well as schools.

Type
Articles
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , Spring 1991 , pp. 25 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 1991

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References

NOTES

1. Cuyjet, Marion, interview by author, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 18, 1985.Google Scholar

2. Philadelphia was a mecca for vernacular dance entertainers and it nurtured artists such as Honi Coles and the Nicholas Brothers.Google Scholar

3. Ballet studios in New York were closed to African Americans until the late 1940s. Dorsey passed for Latino in order to enroll in leading dance schools before that time. She also studied privately with Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Mikhail Fokine, Mikhail Morkin, and William Dollar. See White-Dixon, Melanye, “Marion Cuyjet: Visionary of Dance Education in Black Philadelphia” (Ph.D. dissertation, Temple University 1987), pp. 18–24.Google Scholar

4. Brown, Joan M., “Essie Marie Dorsey,” Philadelphia Tribune, (February 12, 1977), p. 12.Google Scholar

5. “The Colored Kiddie Hour,” Unidentified clipping. Robert Fontell private collection.Google Scholar

6. White-Dixon, pp. 18–24.Google Scholar

7. White-Dixon, p. 74.Google Scholar

8. Sydney School of Dance Recital Bulletin, (June 1953), Sydney King private collection.Google Scholar

9. Sydney King, interview by author, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania February 25, 1985.Google Scholar

10. Warrington, Karen S., interview by author, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 11, 1985.Google Scholar

11. Cuyjet, Marion, interview by author, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 13, 1986.Google Scholar

12. White-Dixon, p. 133.Google Scholar

13. White-Dixon pp. 122–123.Google Scholar

14. Abelson, Delores Browne, interview by author, New York City, August 23, 1985.Google Scholar

15. Heritage House, the leading cultural arts institution in Black Philadelphia between the early 1950s and 1971, ushered in an arts renaissance. The center offered classes in the visual and performing arts, housed an art gallery and library, and sponsored numerous music, dance, and theater events. See White-Dixon, Chapter 3.Google Scholar

16. Harriet, Jackson, “American Dancer-Negro: Accepted in the Mainstream,” Dance Magazine, (September, 1966) pp. 19–20.Google Scholar

17. See White-Dixon, , pp. 196–197 for information regarding dance students of the 1960s and 1970s who pursued professional performing careers.Google Scholar

18. Webster, Daniel, “Philadelphia Company Finds Its Feet,” Dance Magazine, (July, 1969), p. 64.Google Scholar

19. Nash, Joe Collection, unidentified clipping, Schomburg Collection, New York Public Library.Google Scholar

20. Webster, p. 64.Google Scholar

21. Teri, Doke, “The State of Black Cultural Institutions,” The State of Black Philadelphia 1983, (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Urban League of Philadelphia, 1983) pp. 29–41.Google Scholar

22. Ile Ife Black Humanitarian Center 9th Annual Recital Bulletin, May 1978) Arthur Hall private collection.Google Scholar

23. Doke, p. 35.Google Scholar

24. Arthur Hall Afro-American Dance Ensemble, poster, Arthur Hall private collection.Google Scholar

25. Robinson, Margaret A., “A Dancer Grooms Students for Greatness—Joan Myers Brown,” Essence Magazine, (July, 1981), p. 15.Google Scholar

26. Ibid.

27. Brown, Joan Myers, interview by author, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 26, 1985.Google Scholar

28. Philadelphia School of Dance Arts Brochure, Joan Myers Brown private collection.Google Scholar

29. Brown, Joan Myers, interview by author, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September, 26, 1985.Google Scholar

30. Scher, Valerie, “The High-Flying Hopes of a Dance Troupe,” Philadelphia Inquirer, (May 21,(1982), n.p.Google Scholar

31. Brenda, Dixon, “Philadanco: Philadelphia's Multifaceted Moderns,” Dance Magazine, (April 1990), pp. 36–39.Google Scholar

32. One of Judimar's most successful recital pieces was The Black Doll, choreographed by John Hines. The work utilized African-Caribbean folklore, and the movement was inspired by Dunham technique. Cuyjet, King, and Hall always included a Dunham-based work in their concert presentations.Google Scholar

33. Cuyjet, Marion, interview by author, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 18, 1985.Google Scholar

34. Cuyjet, Marion, interview by author, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 25, 1985.Google Scholar

35. Cuyjet, , interview by author, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 25, 1985.Google Scholar

36. Walter Nicks, telephone interview by author, Columbus, Ohio to Raleigh, North Carolina, March 26, 1989. Nicks states that there was a close social bond between Philadelphia Dunham enthusiasts and students and New York Dunham School faculty. Nicks considered Philadelphia a “second home.”One of Nicks' early Dunham technique teachers, Claude Marchant, taught the technique and established a dance program at the Wharton recreation center in North Philadelphia during the mid 1940s.Google Scholar

37. Judimar School Recital Bulletin, (June 18, 1954), Marion Cuyjet private collection.Google Scholar

38. See Aschenbrenner's, Joyce Katherine Dunham. Reflections on the Social and Political Contexts of Afro-American Dance, Cord Research Annual XII, (New York: Congress on Research in Dance Inc.), pp. 67–68 for a discussion of the influence of Dunham technique on the work of second and third generation modern and jazz dance proponents.Google Scholar

39. For information regarding former students who have established successful careers as dance educators see White-Dixon, pp. 194–197.Google Scholar