Gyrating Hips
Gyrating hips, fast feet, high stepping, and magnificent moves, are characteristics that belong to the great African-American dancers of history's past. Famu's Black Archives Museum has a vast collection of African-American artifacts including a variety of pictures of dazzling African-American dancers. These dancers Katherine Dunham, Martha Graham, and Bill "Bo jangles" Robinson exemplify black beauty, style, and grace. Katherine Dunham was born in Glen Ellyn, Illinois on June 22, 1909, to Albert and Fanny Dunham. Katherine was a great dance teacher. Later in her career she was able to get together her own dance company. In February 1940 the Katherine Dunham Dance Company opened at the Windsor Theatre, west 48th Street, with Dunham's own Tropics and Le Jazz Hot. The show was a phenomenal success. Following that show many newspaper companies were amazed and wanted to inter view Mrs. Dunham. Katherine Dunham was indeed on her way to the top. From that night her name and her dances took her behind the footlights of the world's greatest
Although they may not be well known, their efforts helped pave the way for African-American entertainers. Bill "Bo jangles" Robinson was born in Virginia as Luther Robinson in 1878. He became one of the most popular and beloved performers of his day. His combination of tap dancing, song, telling jokes, and imitating natural sounds proved a popular one for audiences for many years. It is claimed that some of his contemporaries were superior in dancing ability and had a wider rang of steps, but he was the acknowledged master in appealing to the public. Robinson had his first break through in film in 1935 when he appeared in The Little Colonel with Shirley Temple. For this performance the taught a child star a version of the step dance. Because of his great dance performance "Bo jangles" was offered to be in more films. Such as Hooray for Love, The Big Broadcast of 1937, and he also played Will Rogers servant in The Old Kentucky. Robinson became on of the major stars of his age. His career lasted long enough to be documented on film a
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 707
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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