The excitement and the energy of New York bring many people to this famous city and African dancers are no exception. Reading the chapter by Heard and Mussa, I noticed the diversity and wealth of Africa dance that arrived in New York City between the 1920s and 1950s. While at first the dances and the influence came from West Africa, it quickly spread to include the entire African continent.
I find it interesting that a dancer such as Ismay Andrews who danced West African (Sierra Leone) dances and had never traveled to Africa chose to use East Africa has her base when re-creating dances. While the article covers many artists, it fails to go into much depth when describing each artist and left me with many questions. For example, Ismay Andrews is described, as enjoying tremendous support, having her own dance company, and organizing many performances yet she died in poverty, is an important part of her story missing or is such poverty as an African dancer typical in that time period? Also when reading that Toneyea Masequoi was known for his use of stilts, I was perplexed as I had never thought that stilts were associated with African dance. Are stilts used in dances from Liberia? Another question with regard to Olatunji and Chief Bey- where are these artists from? They are incorporated into the text seamlessly as they have made contributions to the movement of African dance, however they seem from this article to have made an entrance almost out of thin air onto to the dance scene.
I highly respect the effort of the International African American Ballet to incorporate education about each area and dance into class work. After seeing INSPIRIT, I believe that having a personal connection with the dance and a deeper understanding of its roots allows the artist to perform at a higher level. Do most choreographers teach the background of a dance before teaching dancers the movements in a piece? In this case, learning about the area of Africa gives the artists the opportunity to have a different understanding and relation to what they are performing.
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