Schwartz,Peggy, (Author) and Schwartz,Murray, (Author)
Format:
Book, Whole
Publication Date:
2011
Published:
New Haven: Yale University Press
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
324 p, Pearl Primus (1919–1994) blazed onto the dance scene in 1943 with stunning works that incorporated social and racial protest into their aesthetic. This book offers an intimate perspective on her life and explores her influences on American culture, dance, and education. It traces Primus's path from her childhood in Port of Spain, Trinidad, through her rise as an influential international dancer, an early member of the New Dance Group (whose motto was 'Dance is a weapon'), and a pioneer in dance anthropology. Primus traveled extensively in the U.S., Europe, Israel, the Caribbean, and Africa, and she played an important role in presenting authentic African dance to American audiences. She engendered controversy in both her private and professional lives, marrying a white Jewish man during a time of segregation and challenging black intellectuals who opposed the 'primitive' in her choreography. Her political protests and mixed-race tours in the South triggered an FBI investigation, even as she was celebrated by dance critics and by contemporaries like Langston Hughes.
