Before reading about and watching the clip of the dancers, I truly thought that (what I thought was) modern dance was actually something entirely different. I really wasn’t so interested in it before, but reading the article History of Black Dance: 20th-Century Black American Dance really made me realize that I had no idea what contemporary or modern dance truly was. 
I just assumed that interpretive danced sort of fell under that category, but now I realize that isn’t the case whatsoever. I knew that Black culture and the Harlem Renaissance had an impact on a lot of different categories of expression (i.e., jazz, dances adopted across the nation, etc), but I had no idea that modern dance was one of them.
The fact that modern dance was introduced during that time period by ‘people of color’, not to mention women, is truly iconic and makes a profound statement about these people. Katherine Dunham and Pearl Primus were unafraid of what people thought, and they went with what they wanted to do even though not many people were receptive to it. 
The research that they did to choreograph their dances was extensive and thorough, simply because they believed that dance, as a form of expression, should be on par with white dance. Traditional black dance from Haiti and Jamaica and traditional white dance from Europe should have the same level of impact in society. One should not be superior to the other. These women broke the chains that bound them in society to be inferior in both gender and racial equality, and they have a huge line of dancers after them to thank them for doing that.
When I was younger, I did ballet for about five years. I realized that it really wasn’t for me, and that my limbs simply couldn’t be as rigid and perfectly straight as they needed to be in order for me to be good at ballet. I stopped dancing a long time ago, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t still enjoy watching it. In fact, I feel like I would be better at modern dance than I ever was at ballet simply because of the fluidity of the dance. Contemporary style doesn’t have to mean ‘interpretive dance’, the kind that everyone has made fun of. Contemporary dance can portray a world of emotion in just a few simple movements, and I feel like anybody can use modern dance to be expressive. Watching the video of the dancers really excited me for this show, and I can’t wait to see how they are able to tie meaning in with their dances.
I think it is a bit unfair to distinguish between contemporary style dance that has an easily discernible message and the “interpretive dance that everyone has made fun of.” After reading through the articles, I have personally conclude that with expressive dance, and perhaps art forms in general, we don’t have meaning and meaningless. Rather we have interpreted and yet to be interpreted.
I think it is a bit unfair to distinguish between contemporary style dance that has an easily discernible message and the “interpretive dance that everyone has made fun of.” After reading through the articles, I have personally conclude that with expressive dance, and perhaps art forms in general, we don’t have meaning and meaningless. Rather we have interpreted and yet to be interpreted.
While reading your post, I was very inspired by how appreciative your tone was when talking about the influential dancers, Katherine Dunham and Pearl Primus. The two women truly epitomize passion for dance, as they worked exceptionally hard to introduce the idea of modern dance. Their dedication to the dance was relentless, and they should be highly credited for their work in pioneering such tremendous work.