African Dance in New York City

What was interesting in this article was to see how the work of Efrom Odok, Asadata Dafora, and Momudu Johnson maintained its influence through generations of dancers.  Even as new dancers made their mark, whether born in America or in Africa, these choreographers provided an important foundation to the New York African dance scene.  It is also interesting that African dance was so firmly rooted in New York.  The choreographers profiled in this article all came to New York seeking a place where they would find not only an audience for their work but dancers to participate in and appreciate it.  This migration perpetuated itself as the number of African dancers grew, more dancers were drawn to the increasingly strong community.  Also, many names come up again and again, such as Katherine Dunham and Willamina Taylor, illuminating that a few power players made a huge impact on African dance in New York and across America.

Although it was informative to see who were the main choreographers in New York from the 1920s onward, I would have liked a broader view of what was going on socially and politically at the time and how that affected what was going on in dance.  Also, it would have been interesting to know how the particular styles of each of the choreographers listed affected the others in a more detailed account.