The Black Dance Movement

For several decades in the last century, Black bodies in music, drumming, traditional and contemporary African and Caribbean dance forms could be observed frequently in large community events, art centres and theatres but today recorded notes, or articles or books on who these performers were, are almost non-existent. There are hardly any references or catalogues in British dance history which record the contribution that African, Caribbean and Black-British practitioners have made to contemporary UK culture. This chapter, despite the lack of relevant recorded information, will highlight the ‘Black’ contribution in the last half of the 20th century, noting specifically the groups and artistic directors who have significantly contributed during those seven decades. Some of the early pioneers in the Black Dance Movement included Berto Pasuka and Richard Riley from Jamaica (1946), Boscoe Holder from the twin-island state of Trinidad and Tobago (1950), Allister Bain from Grenada (1958), Elroy Josephz from Jamaica (1960) and Jeanette Springer from Guyana (1970). The Ghanaian Felix Cobbson (1965) had established the Aklowa Centre, offering training programmes and performances in Ghanaian drumming and dancing.