In the 1970s, during a performance of “The Nutcracker” with the Hartford Ballet, John Perpener, then the company’s only black dancer, wondered, “Where do I fit in? Where do all the black dancers and choreographers of the past several decades fit in to the history of American dance?” The question drove him to become a dance scholar. Recently, he curated a compilation of essays and videos called “Dance of the African Diaspora” for Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive, an impressive online archival project run by the country’s oldest dance festival. It’s a good time, then, to explore the organization’s robust digital offerings, beginning with Perpener’s collection. Taken together these components propose a vivid answer to Perpener’s original question.

Source: New York Times June 11, 2020 17:47 UTC