Dancing in Blackness
eBook - ePub

Dancing in Blackness

A Memoir

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Dancing in Blackness

A Memoir

About this book

American Society for Aesthetics Selma Jeanne Cohen Prize in Dance Aesthetics

Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award

Dancing in Blackness is a professional dancer's personal journey over four decades, across three continents and 23 countries, and through defining moments in the story of black dance in America. In this memoir, Halifu Osumare reflects on what blackness and dance have meant to her life and international career.

Osumare's story begins in 1960s San Francisco amid the Black Arts Movement, black militancy, and hippie counterculture. It was there, she says, that she chose dance as her own revolutionary statement. Osumare describes her experiences as a young black dancer in Europe teaching "jazz ballet" and establishing her own dance company in Copenhagen. Moving to New York City, she danced with the Rod Rodgers Dance Company and took part in integrating the programs at the Lincoln Center. After doing dance fieldwork in Ghana, Osumare returned to California and helped develop Oakland's black dance scene. Osumare introduces readers to some of the major artistic movers and shakers she collaborated with throughout her career, including Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, Jean-Leon Destine, Alvin Ailey, and Donald McKayle.

Now a black studies scholar, Osumare uses her extraordinary experiences to reveal the overlooked ways that dance has been a vital tool in the black struggle for recognition, justice, and self-empowerment. Her memoir is the inspiring story of an accomplished dance artist who has boldly developed and proclaimed her identity as a black woman.

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Yes, you can access Dancing in Blackness by Halifu Osumare in PDF and/or ePUB format. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. List of Illustrations
  7. Foreword
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. Introduction: Dance and Blackness
  10. 1. Coming of Age through (Black) Dance in the San Francisco Bay Area
  11. 2. Dancing in Europe
  12. 3. Dancing in New York
  13. 4. Dancing Back into the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Area, 1973–1976
  14. 5. Dancing in Africa
  15. 6. Dancing in Oakland and Beyond, 1977–1993
  16. Notes
  17. Bibliography
  18. Index