) African-American Concert Dance Pearl Primus 167

) African-American Concert Ham The Harlem Renaissance and Beyond John 0. Perpener III UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS Urbana and Chicago 7 Pearl Primus IN 1943, PEARL PRIMUS EMERGED as an important new artist on the New York dance scene. Although she shared some char- acteristics with the black concert artists who preceded her, in many ways she was a strikingly original artist who brought a new dynamism to the field of dance. Her initial appearance was as a solo performer, one distinction that set her apart from the other black artists discussed here; most of them had first appeared with companies of their own. Perhaps her earliest solo performances caused those who saw her to focus more intently on the individual qualities she brought to the stage. Pearl Primus performing Dance of Thanksgiving during trip to Zaire. (Dance Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Early photographs of the young performer convey images that are Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations) unique for the period. Unlike the pictorial records of her contempo- raries, which capture the earthbound quality of early modern dance, many of the performance photographs of Primus show her suspended in midair, bursting with kinetic energy and seemingly oblivious to the forces of gravity. As critics and audiences constantly noted, she had a special affinity for being airborne. Margaret Lloyd's description of Primus's performance of Hard Time Blues attests to the artist's fascination with flight: "Pearl takes a run- ning jump, lands in an upper corner and sits there, unconcernedly paddling the air with her legs. She does it repeatedly, from one side of the stage, then the other, apparently unaware of the involuntary gasps 162 rRICAN-AMERICAN CONCERT DANCE PEARL PRIMUS 163 from the audience. The dance is a protest against sharecropping. but she returned to Hunter College to work on a M.A. degree in psy- For me it was exultant with the mastery over the law of gravitation."' chology. Finding that she became too emotionally involved in the . As a dancer, Primus was distinctive in other ways. When her style psychiatric cases she was required to study, she transferred to Columbia is compared to that of the other leading black dancer of the period, University, where she began graduate studies in anthropology. Katherine Dunham, it is clear that one of the few things they had in The first glimmer of recognition that dance would be the guiding common was their use of dance elements from Africa and the Carib- force in her life occurred when she became involved in a dance group bean. Dunham's performance style reflected a glamorous and sensual sponsored by the National Youth Administration, a government job persona. Primus, on the other hand, was more elemental, more visceral. training program for young people. While working in the wardrobe When she danced, she wrenched movement from the air and then department of a NYA project, she was approached by one of the voca- brought it down to its earthy conclusion. At other times, she imbued tional advisers who suggested that she become an understudy for a stillness with the elegant primal austerity of an African woodcarving. program that was in preparation, America Dances. Pressed into ser- Dunham surrounded her own striking physical presence with a com- vice for one of the performances, she was outstanding.' pany of dancers whose beauty seemed to take up where her own left The NYA dance experience was inspiring but short-lived. In 1941, off. Primus's early works did not depend upon a group, and when she after the program disbanded, she moved on to the New Dance Group did use other dancers during the early days of her career, they were few. (the politically activist dance collective and studio that had been found- Over the years, much of her work continued to be choreographed for ed in 1932), having heard about auditions for a scholarship there. She herself or for small groups of dancers. was the only black student at the time and so inexperienced that when Primus was born in 191 9 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, and her family someone suggested she warm up before class she replied, "What do you moved to the United States when she was three years old. In an early mean warm up? I'm warm already. It's not hot in here." 6 In spite of interview, she described her childhood in New York as growing up "in her unfamiliarity with dance studio decorum, she impressed her teach- a narrow circle that embraced church, school, library and home." 2 She ers with her outstanding talent and began her studies with fellow Trin- lived with her family at Sixty-ninth and Broadway, where her father, idadian Belle Rosette, a specialist in Caribbean dance, and the mod- Edward, was a building superintendent. She considered herself fortu- ern dancers Jane Dudley, Sophie Maslow, and William Bales. She was nate that the racial prejudice that later became the subject matter of also encouraged to study with Martha Graham, Hanya Holm, Doris many of her dances did not adversely affect her during her early child- Humphrey, and Charles Weidman. Graham called her a "panther," and hood.3 As a child, she became keenly interested in Africa and made a Weidman called her "his little primitive." In retrospect, Primus re- vow that she would travel there some day. "I grew up in a home," she membered their words as affectionate appellations used to describe the said, "where discussions about Africa were everyday occurrences. My "burst of joy" she was trying to express through dancing.' father and uncles had been in various countries of Africa, either as Her first performance in a professional atmosphere took place on Feb- merchant seamen or as soldiers."4 ruary 14, 1943, when she appeared at the Ninety-second Street YM- After attending Public Schools 94 and 1 36 in New York, she attend- YWHA on a program entitled Five Dancers, which she shared with ed Hunter College High School and later received her undergraduate Nona Schurman, Iris Mabry, Julia Levien, and Gertrude Prokosch. Her degree in biology and pre-medical sciences from Hunter College. While part of the program consisted of Strange Fruit, which portrayed a wom- attending college, she excelled in track-and-field competitions and an's pained reactions to a lynching; Rock Daniel, a jazz-inspired piece; other sports, displaying the athleticism that would become a unique Hard Time Blues, a dance protesting the plight of southern sharecrop- physical signature of her later performances. From Hunter she went pers; and African Ceremonial. To gather material for African Ceremo- to New York University where she studied health education for a while, nial—based upon a fertility rite of the Belgian Congo—Primus had re- 164 )AFRICAN-AMERICAN CONCERT DANCE PEARL PRIMUS 165 searched her material by consulting books, looking at photographs, and rhythms over deep-flowing currents of movement that wind into whirl- visiting museums. In addition, she had checked the authenticity of her pool spins. She pivots on one knee or circles the stationary bent leg with movement with African students who were attending Columbia Uni- the free leg, leaning her body in a long slant away from the traveling foot. versity. She also relied upon the expert advice of two percussionists, The pale soles flash, the brown toes clutch and grasp, the dark fingers Norman Coker, who had performed with Asadata Dafora and had co- spread wide, the whole body sings: I've known rivers ancient as the world produced Bassa Moona with Momodu Johnson, and Alphonse Cimber, And older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has a Haitian artist who accompanied classes at the New Dance Group. Both grown deep like the rivers." men proved to be invaluable colleagues during Primus's career. While Primus was appearing at Cafe Society, John Martin singled her When John Martin published his review of the YM-YWHA concert out as the most important newcomer of the dance season. He remarked the following week, his enthusiasm for the young artist established the that the distinction did not usually go to a dancer who had been on positive support that he would extend to her over the coming years. the scene so briefly, but it was warranted because of her "vigorous and He said, "If Miss Primus walked away with the lion's share of the hon- authentic" talent. 12 He mentioned only a few limitations in her danc- ors, it was partly because her material was more theatrically effective, ing, which he credited to youth and inexperience. He spoke of her but also partly because she is a remarkably gifted artist."' He had not strong points as being her "inward power," her sense of drama, a tal- been similarly impressed since Katherine Dunham's arrival on the scene ent for comedy, and "a really superb technique." 13 The last of these three years earlier. In many ways, he was more impressed. He could accolades was particularly remarkable coming from Martin, who had not think of another Negro dancer who was Primus's equal in technique, never been very generous with compliments concerning the techni- composition, artistic integrity, personal vitality, and charm.' cal abilities of black dancers. "There is no doubt," Martin continued, Her next performance venue was not a concert hall but a jazz club. "that she is quite the most gifted artist-dancer of her race (she is Ne- In April 1943 she approached Barney Josephson, the manager of Cafe gro) yet to appear in the field." He concluded—in what surely must Society Downtown, to audition for his Greenwich Village establish- have been a first for him—by saying that it was unfair to classify her ment.

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