Vincent Jones-Danc 163- The History of Black Dance

Though the assigned literature was very surface-level, by no means did it lack the ability to stimulate thoughts profound. Throughout the reading juxtaposing themes of inferiority and imitation resounded most with me in addition to the shear inability to define Black dance in a singular succinctly pronounced convention. Moreover I found myself thwarted by the dichotomy the discussion produced when Black dance was compared solely to White dance. This dichotomy concurrently stimulated a curiosity about other forms of cultural and ethnic dance.

To mention the hegemonic downplay of Black dance is almost equivalent to stating the obvious. The dominant culture clearly turned their noses up at Black dances in the early to mid twentieth century until the spirit of entrepreneurship evoked a choreographer or entertainer to borrow from the Black dance repertoire at which point the dance styles became popular and sought after. Through being touched by a non-ethnic intermediary, a dance once considered lowly and primitive became instantly embraced. What I found most striking however, is how this phenomenon with dance parallels the with early jazz paradigm . Black jazz was traditionally looked down upon until a Caucasian in the music industry with access borrowed the techniques and popularized them.

Its quite upsetting that Debby Allen was denied admission to a dance conservatory on the basis of her phenotype but not shocking. The use of the notion of genetic inferiority to oppress the minds of the capable and reinforce hegemonic inferiorities has stood the test of time- even until today. For example, in current times many people feel that that their race is not genetically wired to perform high-level mathematic operations. This internalized ideology of genetic inferiority has in turn disabled many talented individuals. On the contrary I am relieved that Allen did not allow herself to be defeated just as the Black people did not internalize “scientific data” that claimed that they were genetically less intelligent and competent. Though intelligence was typically downplayed, I find it interesting that musical and dance abilities were always considered innate.

I could ramble ad nauseam about various aspects of the articles but my response can not be considered complete without addressing what I took away from the discourse in the second passage about what Black dance is. I definitely agree that Black dance is very difficult to define- almost the same as asking one to define what it means to be Black in America. There are so many different facets, influences, and components that one cannot pin-point exactly what Black dance is. On the other hand, I like to think that Praise-dancing to Gospel music could be considered Black dance because of the cultural components mentioned in the article.