British Dance and the African Diasporas 1946--2005

The British Dance and the African Diasporas 1946-2005 project will increase knowledge about the achievements of British-based dance artists who are black through the collection and dissemination of their histories and dance practices. The project seeks to write Black British dance artists and their legacies back into history and to develop new approaches to generating and recording kinetic and somatic memories.

The contribution of Black choreographers to contemporary dance culture has begun to be theorised by dance scholars, primarily in the United States (DeFrantz, Gottschild, Long, Kraut, Manning). Limited scholarship exists on their British counterparts (Adair, Adewole et al). The specificity of the work which British-based dancers who are black have created comes from the particular routes by which dance and music practices and traditions have reached Britain through the African Diaspora.

The collapse of Les Ballets Negres, the first significant initiative by Black British dancers (1945-53), was echoed in the closure in 2005 of Adzido Pan African Ensemble which is arguably symptomatic of the problems which have persisted within cultural policies applied to dance practices. A critical understanding of these problems is a necessary part of the process of writing the histories of Black British dancers. Initiatives such as the archive project by the Association of Dance of The African Diaspora (ADAD) and events celebrating the work of Black British dance artists held at De Montfort and York St John Universities have highlighted a need both to create and preserve resources and to facilitate an informed critical debate about histories of Black British-based dance artists.


Through conducting in-depth research on their dance forms, cultural contexts and re-evaluating their achievements, this project aims to address the nexus of aesthetic and institutional problems that have stopped British-based dance artists who are black from gaining the appreciation and support they deserve. The project also aims to provide a research base that will facilitate further research and scholarly debate into the subject. The re-framing of these artists' legacies will be located in the context of theoretical developments in Africa, Europe and the United States and will add to the transatlantic knowledge. The transmission of artistic practices from the African Diaspora to a younger generation of dancers will be through master classes and discussions with artists.

The project has many potential applications and beneficiaries. Through professional associations, the research will reach scholars not only in dance and theatre but in a wider range of disciplines including postcolonial studies and cultural studies. The project will also reach the general public through an exhibition which will be mounted with the assistance of the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool which will use text, photographs, and videos to highlight selected findings of the project. Archival resources created through three day-long events will be held in conjunction with dance agencies in Liverpool, Birmingham, and Leeds bringing together dance artists and others such as dance administrators, promoters or producers and dance scholars. Each of these cities has a substantial history of dance activity by dancers who are black. Study days will create forums to investigate the research questions of the project which will be disseminated in published articles and a book. All events will be recorded. De Montfort University will design and host a website with information about all these activities and related resources.

Copies of recordings, together with transcriptions of the interviews and roundtables will be placed in the libraries of De Montfort University and York St Johns University. They will also be offered to other libraries and resource centres nationally and internationally.

This research will be of primary importance for academic beneficiaries nationally and internationally. It will influence scholars and research students not only in dance studies but also in other disciplinary areas with an interest in 'race' and cultural histories and representations. It will also make an impact on local and national communities of dancers, choreographers, dance companies, teachers, dance programmers and administrators, and those involved in funding and cultural policies, as well as those who have a general interest in dance and regularly attend dance performances and dance-related events.
There are a number of ways in which these groups will benefit from this research. Scholars and research students will have more historical information with which to work. They will benefit from a better understanding of methodologies for analysing and conceptualising diasporic dance practices, and from new insights into cultural and aesthetic issues concerning these practices. Dance artists and those involved in the dance sector will benefit from a more informed knowledge and appreciation of the histories and achievements of British-based dancers who are black, and a better understanding of the breadth and diversity of their practices because of the way this has informed the context in which dancers are currently working. The University sector also offers them a relatively neutral and independent forum in which to debate the way cultural policies have impacted on these practices. Dancers and scholars will benefit from opportunities to interact with one another.
A greater appreciation of this diversity of dance practices in Britain and of issues surrounding disaporic dance practices will also benefit producers and funders. A recognised problem has been that, when performances and workshops by British-based dancers who are black have been programmed, these have sometimes been neither well attended nor successful. As a result of this research, producers and funders will have a better understanding of the nature and historical context of the work they wish to present which will enable them to make more informed choices about the artists who would be most appropriate and relevant to the particular audiences they wish to reach, and a better understanding of the work itself will enable them to market it in more appropriate and effective ways.
Those who make decisions about cultural policies within the dance sector will gain benefit from the new information and insights produced by this project. They too will find it useful to have a better understanding of the breadth and diversity of the practices of British-based dancers who are black. Furthermore, an independent assessment of the way cultural policies have impacted on these dancers in the past has the potential to influence future decision-making procedures.
This research will also have an impact on the museum sector. At the moment dance is very rarely included within exhibitions beyond those museums where it is part of, or related to existing collections (e.g. the V&A and the Tate). Museums are already, however, becoming interested in the performative as a means to inform visitors about aspects of their exhibitions and collections and as a means for them to facilitate new kinds of interactions with artefacts (e.g. through applied theatre, concerts, storytelling and other kinds of performances and related workshops). The project will present an example of how intangible cultural assets within the field of dance culture can be presented and used in a museum context and develop a model for this through collaboration between the International Slavery Museum, the collaborating dance organisations and the two Universities.