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Dance World of Hemsley Winfield Who Influenced the Development of Black Concert Dance

Cho, Eun Sook 1

1중앙대학교

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ABSTRACT

The New Negro Movement was a political issue in the USA during the early 1900s, but it was also developed in close relation with arts. During this movement,black people claimed independence and autonomy, and the term, ‘arlem Renaissance’was coined to label their connection with the culture of the 1920s. The Harlem Renaissance enabled a production of creative works in the fields of various arts such as culture, fine arts and dance. A new modernism style was formed among black people’ arts. Conscientious black dancers began to recognize a new style of concert dance that was being formed in the USA at the time, which was dramatic dances with a developed storyline by professional dancers. They became interested in artistic dances rather than the recreational dance that was the mainstream dance among blacks, during those days. Among them was Harlem Renaissance artist Hemsley Winfield(1907-1936), who presented black concert dance on a stage for the first time. Winfield, who had various performing arts careers such as a stage actor,director and dancer, gained a reputation for his role of Salome in Oscar Wilde’『Salome』in 1929. Then he committed in becoming a professional dancer and concentrated on concert dance. In 1931, he established the first black concert dance group, “ew Negro Art Theater Dance Group,”in New York and performed various modern dance works. They were composed of various themes such as German expressionistic style dance, negro spirituals, African rituals, Denishawn style dance and etc. These themes could also be found in the works of white modern dancers who did activities at that time. Winfield’ “ew Negro Art Theater Dance Group”did continuous performances receiving good response from audiences. And in 1933, he appeared in the Metropolitan Opera’ premier of Gruenberg’ opera 『The Emperor Jones』, becoming the first African American to have performed there. Winfield tried to break from the accepted recreational and comical black dance of that time and to escape from rational prejudice through concert dance. Furthermore, he tried to show various modern dance works by combining different modern dances. The early modern dancers of those days pursued free dances by escaping from stereotyped ballet styles and tried to show social problems in their works. Winfield also tried to overcome prejudice against blacks and showed works where he could perform together with white modern dancers. In addition, he tried to visualize a new style of black arts that became pursued during the by Harlem Renaissance through dances. Lastly, he tried to show his own type of dance by encompassing all of the mainstream modern dance and leftish dances that were flourishing at the time. Although it is certain that Winfield’ achievement in dance has become a cornerstone in the history of black modern dance, it hasn’ been recognized until now. The reasons seem to be because of his short life of 29 years, and because regular research of black dance was actively made after the 1960s. Therefore, the researcher is confident that the study of Winfield’ dance contributions would be a valuable research through which we can reconfirm his importance in the history of early modern black dance. The purpose of this study is to examine the spirit of the black arts of that era and the progress of the times through Winfield’ dance as the beginning of black modern dance and to research his arts world through his achievement, which has become the cornerstone of the development of today’ black dances. Because the images of Winfield’ works were destroyed, the researcher intends to develop research through photos and literature. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, the researcher will first inquire into the historical background of African Americans in the 1920s and the Harlem Renaissance, and then discuss Winfield’ life and his artistic characteristics.

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