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Clark Center For The Performing Arts
Loretta Agatha Abbott (March 1, 1933 – May 6, 2016) was an American educator, dancer, choreographer, singer, director, dance captain, and actress. She was an early member and foundation builder for the Alvin Ailey Dance Company. She was also a founding member of the Clark Center for the Performing Arts, and worked with the organization from 1959 to 1989. Early life Abbott grew up in Harlem, New York City, New York. Her training started at the age of five taking piano, voice, and dance classes. She studied with dance with Ruth Williams and her tap teacher was Henry LeTang. She performed as a child in talent shows in Harlem with the Ella Gordon's Peter Pan Kiddies. She lived her entire life in Harlem in a brownstone that her father Alfred Bruce Abbott bought in 1932. Her father was from Panama, and her mother Agatha was from Jamaica. She graduated from Hunter College in New York City, and had a short career as a kindergarten teacher in Harlem at Public School 90. Career A ...
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New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global cultural, financial, entertainment, and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care and life sciences, research, technology, educa ...
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Dark Of The Moon (play)
''Dark of the Moon'' is a dramatic stage play by Howard Richardson and William Berney. The play was produced on Broadway in 1945 and was the maiden production of the now acclaimed New York Circle in the Square Theatre in 1951. This was followed by a national tour and eventually numerous college and high-school productions. It is also revived professionally, e.g. by Pittsburgh's Quantum Theatre in 2005. The original London production 1948 – 1949, at the Ambassadors Theatre, was an early much admired production by the distinguished director Peter Brook. Set in the Appalachian Mountains and written in an Appalachian dialect, the play centers on the character of John, a witch boy who seeks to become human after falling in love with a human girl, Barbara Allen. Originally written by Howard Richardson in 1939 as a dramatization of the centuries-old European folk song "The Ballad of Barbara Allen", it was first performed at the University of Iowa in 1942 under the title ''B ...
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Porgy And Bess
''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play ''Porgy'', itself an adaptation of DuBose Heyward's 1925 novel of the same name. ''Porgy and Bess'' was first performed in Boston on September 30, 1935, before it moved to Broadway in New York City. It featured a cast of classically trained African-American singers—a daring artistic choice at the time. A 1976 Houston Grand Opera production gained it a renewed popularity after languishing in the doldrums of the 1960s and early 1970s, and it is now one of the best known and most frequently performed operas. The libretto of ''Porgy and Bess'' tells the story of Porgy, a disabled black street beggar living in the slums of Charleston. It deals with his attempts to rescue Bess from the clutches of Crown, her violent and possessive lover, and Sportin' Li ...
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Raisin (musical)
''Raisin'' is a musical with music by Judd Woldin, lyrics by Robert Brittan, and a book by Robert Nemiroff and Charlotte Zaltzberg. It is an adaptation of the Lorraine Hansberry play ''A Raisin in the Sun;'' the musical's book was co-written by Hansberry's husband, Robert Nemiroff. The story concerns an African-American family in Chicago in 1951. The musical was nominated for nine Tony Awards, winning two, including Best Musical, and the Broadway production ran for 847 performances. Synopsis In Chicago in 1951, an African-American family, Ruth Younger, her husband Walter Lee Younger, their son Travis and Walter's mother are living in a cramped apartment. Walter is a chauffeur but thinks that his father's life insurance policy proceeds will buy a way to a better life. He plans on buying a liquor store, but his mother Mama Lena Younger is against the selling of liquor. Tensions arise as Walter tries to convince Mama Lena to forget her dream of buying the family its own small hou ...
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Two Gentlemen Of Verona
''The Two Gentlemen of Verona'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1589 and 1593. It is considered by some to be Shakespeare's first play, and is often seen as showing his first tentative steps in laying out some of the themes and motifs with which he would later deal in more detail; for example, it is the first of his plays in which a heroine dresses as a boy. The play deals with the themes of friendship and infidelity, the conflict between friendship and love, and the foolish behaviour of people in love. The highlight of the play is considered by some to be Launce, the clownish servant of Proteus, and his dog Crab, to whom "the most scene-stealing non-speaking role in the canon" has been attributed. ''Two Gentlemen'' is often regarded as one of Shakespeare's weakest plays. It has the smallest named cast of any play by Shakespeare. Characters * Valentine – young man living in Verona * Proteus – his closest friend * Silvia – falls ...
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Donald McKayle
Donald McKayle (July 6, 1930 – April 6, 2018) was an American modern dancer, choreographer, teacher, director and writer best known for creating socially conscious concert works during the 1950s and '60s that focus on expressing the human condition and, more specifically, the black experience in America. He was "among the first black men to break the racial barrier by means of modern dance." His work for the concert stage, especially ''Games'' (1951) and ''Rainbow Round My Shoulder'' (1959), has been the recipient of widespread acclaim and critical attention. In addition, McKayle was the first black man to both direct and choreograph major Broadway musicals, including the Tony Award-winners ''Raisin'' (1973) and ''Sophisticated Ladies'' (1981), and he worked extensively in television and film. As a young man he appeared with some of the twentieth century's most important choreographers, including Martha Graham, Anna Sokolow, and Merce Cunningham, and in some of Broadway's landma ...
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Eleo Pomare
Eleo Pomare (20 October 1937 – 8 August 2008) was a Colombian-American modern dance choreographer. Known for his politically-charged productions depicting the Black experience, his work had a major influence on contemporary dance, especially Black dance. After a tour to Australia in 1972, and the subsequent return of his then lead dancer, Carole Johnson, his style of dancing continues to influence Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander modern dancers. He founded a dance school, the Eleo Pomare Dance Company, in New York City, which continued after his death. Early life and education Pomare was born on 20 October 1937 in Santa Marta, Colombia. His father, Tawny Forbes, was the captain of a cargo ship that was subject to a torpedo attack near Colón, Panama, during World War II. Pomare was with his father at the time, aged six years old, and afterwards went to live with his mother, Mildred Pomare Lee, in Panama. In 1947, he was sent on his own to live with an aunt and uncle in Ne ...
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Geoffrey Holder
Geoffrey Lamont Holder (August 1, 1930 – October 5, 2014) was a Trinidadian-American actor, dancer, musician, and artist. He was a principal dancer for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet before his film career began in 1957 with an appearance in '' Carib Gold''. In 1973, he played the villainous Baron Samedi in the Bond film '' Live and Let Die''. He also carried out advertising work as the pitchman for 7 Up. Early life Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad,"Geoffrey Holder, Bond villain and dancer, dies aged 84"
BBC News, October 6, 2014; accessed October 8, 2014.
Holder was one of four children of Bajan and Trinidadian descent. He was educated at Tranquility School and

Talley Beatty
Talley Beatty (22 December 1918 – 29 April 1995) was born in Cedar Grove, Louisiana, a section of Shreveport, but grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He is considered one of the greatest of African American choreographers, and also bears the titles dancer, doctor, and dance company director. After studying under Katherine Dunham and Martha Graham, Beatty went on do solo work and choreograph his own works which center on the social issues, experiences, and everyday life of African Americans. Beatty and his technique and style of dancing were both praised and criticized by critics and dancers of his day. Dance background Beatty began studying dance at the age of eleven with Katherine Dunham. He learned her style of dancing, which was heavily based on her African and Caribbean studies of dance in the West Indies. He was a part of Dunham’s company and performed in several shows with them. He also trained under Martha Graham in the 1940s. He left the Dunham troupe in 1946 to continue his ...
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Walter Nicks
Walter Nicks (July 26, 1925 – April 3, 2007) was an African-American modern dancer, choreographer, and teacher of jazz and modern dance. He was a certified master teacher of Katherine Dunham technique. He was professionally active for nearly 60 years. Biography Nicks was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was raised in Cleveland, Ohio, where he graduated from Central High School. From 1942 to 1944 he attended Howard University. His early dance training took place at Cleveland's Karamu Settlement House. He studied dance at the Katherine Dunham School in New York (1945), whose teachers included Dunham, Lavinia Williams, Talley Beatty, Tommy Gomez, Archie Savage and Marie Bryant. He also studied with José Limón, Robert Joffrey, Karel Shook, Louis Horst and Doris Humphrey. Dunham awarded him (1947) a fellowship to study for a Master Teaching Certificate in Dunham Technique, which he received in 1948. In 1947 Nicks was appointed Assistant Director of Dance at the Dunham ...
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James Truitte
James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (other), various kings named James * Saint James (other) * James (musician) * James, brother of Jesus Places Canada * James Bay, a large body of water * James, Ontario United Kingdom * James College, a college of the University of York United States * James, Georgia, an unincorporated community * James, Iowa, an unincorporated community * James City, North Carolina * James City County, Virginia ** James City (Virginia Company) ** James City Shire * James City, Pennsylvania * St. James City, Florida Arts, entertainment, and media * ''James'' (2005 film), a Bollywood film * ''James'' (2008 film), an Irish short film * ''James'' (2022 film), an Indian Kannada-language film * James the Red Engine, a character in ''Thomas the ...
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Pepsi Bethel
Alfred "Pepsi" Bethel (August 31, 1918, Greensboro, North Carolina – August 30, 2002, New York City) was a jazz dancer, choreographer, and leader of his own dance troupe, the Pepsi Bethel Authentic Jazz Dance Theater, which he founded in 1960.Terry MonaghanPepsi Bethel, Lindy-hopping jazz dancer who choreographed the celebratory revue One Mo' Time The Guardian September 27, 2002 Career He began his career with dances like the Cakeywalk, Lindy hop, and Charleston at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, and worked with the Mura Dehn Jazz Ballet and other companies before forming his own troupe. He is known for choreographing the Lindy Hop jazz routine Tranky Doo. Jennifer DunningPepsi Bethel, 83, a Champion Of American Popular Dance New York Times, September 6, 2002 Bethel worked as a consultant and choreographer on several shows directed by Vernel Bagneris, including two productions of ''One Mo' Time'', '' Staggerlee'' (1987) and ''Jelly Roll!'' (1994). In 1980, his work as a choreog ...
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