Research Catalog

Free to dance

Title
Free to dance [videorecording] / produced and directed by Madison Davis Lacy ; written by Madison Davis Lacy, Adam Zucker ; a co-production of the American Dance Festival and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in association with Thirteen/WNET New York.
Publication
New York, NY : [National Black Programming Consortium], c2000.

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disc 3Moving imageUse in library *MGZIDVD 5-3718 disc 3Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance
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disc 2Moving imageUse in library *MGZIDVD 5-3718 disc 2Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance
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disc 1Moving imageUse in library *MGZIDVD 5-3718 disc 1Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance

Details

Additional Authors
  • Lacy, Madison Davis.
  • Zucker, Adam.
  • Underwood, Blair
  • National Black Programming Consortium.
  • Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
  • Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane and Company.
  • Dayton Contemporary Dance Company.
  • Forces of Nature (Dance company)
  • Garth Fagan Dance (Dance Company)
  • Urban Bush Women (Dance company)
  • American Dance Festival.
  • African American Dance Ensemble.
  • John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (U.S.)
  • WNET (Television station : New York, N.Y.)
Description
3 videodiscs (NTSC) (162 min.) : sd., col. with b&w sequences; 4 3/4 in.
Summary
The history of African American dance with emphasis on the role that African-American choreographers and dancers have played in the development of modern dance as an American form of art. Part one examines the early development of modern dance beginning with Edna Guy and her correspondence with Ruth St. Denis, set against the background of the Harlem renaissance, racial segregation, and the great depression. Part two examines the early history of Black dance that began when Katherine Dunham returned from the Caribbean Islands and taught her approach to movement that became known as the Dunham technique. By the early 1940s her company had become famous and launched the careers of Pearl Primus, Talley Beatty, Donald McKayle and Alvin Ailey. Part three examines the explosion of Black dance that happened from the 1960s through the 1980s, the effect of the AIDS epidemic on dance, the creation of break dance and hip-hop, and the choreography of Eleo Pomare, Bill T. Jones, Garth Fagan and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar.
Series Statement
  • Great performances
  • Dance in America
Uniform Title
  • Great performances (WNET (Television station : New York, N.Y.))
  • Dance in America.
Alternative Title
  • What do you dance.
  • Steps of the gods.
  • Go for what you know.
Subjects
Genre/Form
  • Dance.
  • Video.
  • Interviews.
  • Documentaries and factual works.
Note
  • Copyright, 2000, American Dance Festival -- DVD credits.
  • Broadcast in 2001 as part of the Great Performances Dance in America series.
  • Disc 1 (dance excerpts): Footage of the slave dance, Ring shout; archival footage of vernacular and social dance including the black bottom dance; footage of aesthetic dance; footage of Ruth St. Denis and the Denishawn Company; recreation of Incense by Ruth St. Denis; Harlem's Jungle Alley show with chorus girls; recreation of Edna Guy in bedroom dancing; Etude (1987), choreographed and danced by Bill T. Jones; Awassa astrige/Ostrich (1932), choreographed by Asadata Dafore, danced by Gary Harris; Yanvalou (1992), choreographed by Abdel R. Salaam, danced by Forces of Nature Dance Theater.
  • Disc 2 (dance excerpts): L'Ag'Ya (1938), choreographed by Katherine Dunham, danced by Dunham Dance Company; Barrelhouse blues (1940), choreographed by Katherine Dunham, danced by Cleo Parker Robinson, Randy Brooks and Stephanie Carden; Strange fruit (1943), choreographed by Pearl Primus, danced by Dawn Marie Watson; footage with Jacqueline Hairston, Joe Nash, Pearl Primus; Fanga (traditional), danced by the African American Dance Ensemble; footage of Tally Beatty; Mourners bench (1947), choreographed by Tally Beatty, danced by Jerome Stigler and Tally Beatty; Games (1951), choreographed by Donald McKayle, danced by Donald McKayle and Company; Rainbow 'round my shoulder (1959), choreographed by Donald McKayle, danced by Dayton Contemporary Dance Company; House of flowers with Alvin Ailey and Carmen DeLavallade; Blues suite (1958), choreographed by Alvin Ailey, danced by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Revelations (1960), choreographed by Alvin Ailey, danced by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
  • Disc 3 (dance excerpts): Footage of Eleo Pomare; Blues for the jungle (1966), choreographed by Eleo Pomare, danced by Eleo Pomare Dance Company; footage of Trisha Brown; CITY/motion/space/game (1968), choreographed and danced by Gus Solomons, Jr.; footage of Judith Jamison; Cry (1970) [two versions], choreographed by Alvin Ailey, danced by Judith Jamison and Donna Wood; Las desenamoradas (1967), choreographed by Eleo Pomare, danced by Dayton Contemporary Dance Company; footage of Ulysses Dove; Vespers (1986), choreography by Ulysses Dove, danced by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; The stack-up (1982), choreographed by Tally Beatty, danced by Dayton Contemporary Dance Company; footage of Bill T. Jones; 21 (1984), choreographed and danced by Bill T. Jones; footage of Jawole Willa Jo Zollar; Batty moves (1995), choreographed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, danced by Maia Garrison; Rotary action (1982), choreographed and danced by Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane; footage of Bucket Dance Theater; Commitment: A portrait (1988), an adaptation of Chicken soup, choreographed and danced by Blondell Cummings; rehearsal with Bill T. Jones and [Sean Curran]; Shelter (1989), choreographed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, danced by Urban Bush Women; Griot New York (1991), choreographed by Garth Fagan, danced by Garth Fagan Dance; footage of Alvin Ailey as solo dancer; D-man in the water (1989), choreographed by Bill T. Jones, danced by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company; Children of the passage (1998), choreographed by Ronald K. Brown and Donald McKayle, danced by Dayton Contemporary Dance Company.
  • Interviewees: Peter H. Wood (cultural historian), Katrina Hazzard Donald (dance historian), John Perpener (dance historian), S'thembile West (dance historian), Chief Bey (musician), Richard Long (cultural historian), Julia Foulkes (cultural historian), Lynne Conner (journalist), Joe Nash (dance archivist), Ruth Beckford (dancer), Bill T. Jones (choreographer), Carmencita Romero (dancer), Richard J. Powell (art historian), Katherine Dunham (choreographer), Rex Nettleford (director, National Dance Theater Company of Jamaica), Jean-Leon Destiné (dancer), Zita Allen (dance journalist), Halifu Osumare (dance scholar), Talley Beatty (choreographer), Walter Nicks (dancer), Vanoye Aikens (dancer), Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (director, Urban Bush Women), Dale Wasserman (stage director, Dunham Company), Charles Queenan (dancer), Julie Belafonte (dancer), Merle Derby (dancer), Muriel Manning (dancer), Dorene Richardson (dancer), Hope Clarke (dancer), Ronald K. Brown (dancer/choreographer), Rosalynde Le Blanc (dancer), Leon Bibb (singer), Carmen de Lavallade (dancer), Alvin Ailey (choreographer), Jacqueline W. Goldman (dancer), Marilyn Bord (archivist, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater), Eleo Pomare (choreographer), Trisha Brown (choreographer), Gus Solomons, Jr. (choreographer), Garth Fagan (choreographer), Christine Lawson (dancer), Judith Jamison (director, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater), Rennie Harris (choreographer).
Credits (note)
  • Editor, Adam Zucker ; photography, Don Lenzer, Robert Shepard, Buddy Squires ; original music composed by Randy Klein.
System Details (note)
  • DVD, transferred from Digital Betacam cassettes.
Contents
Disc 1. What do you dance (54 min.) -- Disc 2. Steps of the gods (54 min.)-- Disc 3. Go for what you know (54 min.).
Call Number
*MGZIDVD 5-3718
OCLC
47799622
Title
Free to dance [videorecording] / produced and directed by Madison Davis Lacy ; written by Madison Davis Lacy, Adam Zucker ; a co-production of the American Dance Festival and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in association with Thirteen/WNET New York.
Imprint
New York, NY : [National Black Programming Consortium], c2000.
Series
Great performances
Dance in America
System Details
DVD, transferred from Digital Betacam cassettes.
Credits
Editor, Adam Zucker ; photography, Don Lenzer, Robert Shepard, Buddy Squires ; original music composed by Randy Klein.
Performer
Narrator, Blair Underwood ; voice of Ruth St. Denis, Tracy Sallows ; voice of Edna Guy, Joanna Rhinehart ; Edna Guy recreated by Michelle Dorani ; Ruth St. Denis recreated by Maxine Sherman.
Added Author
Lacy, Madison Davis. Producer
Lacy, Madison Davis. Director
Lacy, Madison Davis. Screenwriter
Zucker, Adam. Screenwriter
Underwood, Blair, narrator.
National Black Programming Consortium.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane and Company.
Dayton Contemporary Dance Company.
Forces of Nature (Dance company)
Garth Fagan Dance (Dance Company)
Urban Bush Women (Dance company)
American Dance Festival.
African American Dance Ensemble.
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (U.S.)
WNET (Television station : New York, N.Y.)
Added Title
Great performances (WNET (Television station : New York, N.Y.))
Dance in America.
What do you dance.
Steps of the gods.
Go for what you know.
Research Call Number
*MGZIDVD 5-3718
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