In many of the history classes that are offered in our middle and high schools, students are exposed to a lot on the topic of black history. We learn about the origins of slavery and about the many forms of racial discrimination; we learn of the violence that a whole culture of people faced because of their skin color; we learn about reform movements and efforts against racial prejudices; we learn of modern day hate crimes and how old injustices still carry into today’s society. One thing though that, after reading about the work of Kyle Abraham and others like him in the past, I realize we did not cover much in school was the way that some of these repressed people dealt with their struggles: by putting their focus and energy into dance.
I think it is a shame that “Black Dance,” an art form that really took off in the twentieth century mainly in Europe but more gradually became more accepted in the United States, and other positive aspects of Black-American culture are not integrated much in our history lessons. Despite living in a time of hate and repression, many of these leading individuals took their feelings and converted them into a form of physical expression. It was a way to bring the community together. I was able to learn from these articles, “Choreographer Kyle Abraham Discusses ‘The Water Shed’ and ‘When the Wolves Came In'” and “History of Black Dance: 20th Century American Black Dance,” how dance, especially, grew in popularity amongst the black population during the 1900s. There is so much background that people don’t know about behind certain styles of dance or moves that makes them a lot more meaningful; many of them are even meant to tell a story.
I wasn’t sure what to expect before I watched the video, “Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion at the Modlin Center” but, like with most dance, the first thing I really appreciated were its visual elements. More than that, though, I can better understand how in person the viewers can connect with everything that pans out on stage. The fluidity of the motions between dancers and how it is translated to the audience is truly beautiful. I was better able to recognize smaller details of the message being depicted by the dancers as well and it made me think deeper about the emotion and times that these stories were based upon. As mentioned in the Life and Times article, ““The Watershed” derives inspiration from the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the 1960s and Civil Rights; “When The Wolves Came In” grows from Emancipation, as well, in addition to the 20th anniversary of the abolishment of apartheid in South Africa.” This is one example of the thick historical roots that can be discovered in dance.
As a separate lesson in history classes, then, I think teachers need to focus on the culture, customs, and arts that surfaced during the more negative time periods in history. As “Black Dance” has proven, there is always something great that can be made from terrible situations. With the repression and violence of the 20th century towards
Kyle Abraham
black people came the emergence of an exciting and new passion in the dance world that still resonates and is being expanded upon today. Maybe students could learn some history from one of these performances alone.
This gets me excited for the dance that we are going to see this Thursday. I have gone to ballet performances and a few other shows in the past but I have never witnessed anything like “Black Dance” before. I have high expectations built from what I have just read and watched and I think they will be met.
I agree that in school we learned so much about African-American history, and yet we never talked about the way they dealt with their hardships. I loved reading about the history behind the dances as well. I have never seen anything like “Black Dance” before either, and I don’t think that we will be disappointed when seeing it for the first time.
After reading the history of black modern dance, I was also very surprised about how such a positive achievement wasn’t highlighted in our school’s curriculum! And your point is incredibly true that there is so much background that “people don’t know about behind certain styles of dance or moves that makes them a lot more meaningful”. I wish that after having learn about slavery and emancipation, we learned about the unintended, but positive effects of came out of it. It was definitely interesting to see how “The Watershed” and “When the Wolves Came In” were able to express and convey, even without words, the emotions of a very sensitive time in our history.