Dancer Scoogie Brown at Geoffrey Holder and Carmen de Lavallade’s wedding reception in Westport, Connecticut on June 26, 1955. Ms. Brown was a dancer from Trinidad and Tobago who performed with Mr. Holder and his Trinidad Dance Group. She would gain even more notoriety during the “calypso craze” in the 1950s with her dance partner, Leo Ryers, who was also a member of Mr. Holder’s troupe. Photo: Saul Mauriber, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Ms. Brown also has a bit part in the 1956 film, “Carib Gold” which also starred Mr. Holder, Cicely Tyson, Diana Sands and the great Ethel Waters. The film is linked in the comment section.
Dance Theatre of Harlem founder Arthur Mitchell teaching a class at DTH, circa 1970s. Robert Garland, Resident Choreographer and Webmaster for The Dance Theater of Harlem, sent this picture to me last year. Robert is set to appear on the Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC show this morning (April 7th) around 11:30am EST to talk about the return of DTH to Harlem. I will add a link to the comment section once it is available.
Somehow, I managed to wish Maya Angelou at Happy 85th birthday on Facebook, but not here. Gotta fix that so… Happy Birthday Dr. Angelou! This famous photo of Dr. Angelou on stage was taken in 1954 by G. Paul Bishop.
Andre Leon Talley @OfficialALT and Diana Ross trip the light fantastic on New Year’s Eve 1979 at the infamous Studio 54. According to WWD - Women’s Wear Daily, who “caught the whole “misheagas” on film Ms. Ross “slipped on the glitter-covered floor, nearly taking down her towering dance partner.” Apparently, Mr. Talley is in talks for his own late-night talk show and, as a former Conde Naster and unabashed ALT fan, I really need that to happen. Photo: WWD Archive/Corbis.
Tina Turner in motion, captured by the legendary photographer Jack Robinson on November 25, 1969 in New York City. Photo by Jack Robinson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.
Happy 80th Birthday Nichelle Nichols! Ms. Nichols was born on December 28, 1932 in Robbins, IL and in this 1961 photo, Ms. Nichols rehearses a dance number with some of the cast from “Kicks and Co.,” a 1961 musical satire about segregation that was directed at one point by Lorraine Hansberry and produced by her husband). Although the show had major financial backing, an “all-star interracial cast” (Burgess Meredith, Lonnie Sattin, Vi Velasco) and success in Chicago, it never made it to Broadway as planned. Photo via The New York Public Library.
Found via The Washington Post’s obituary for dance legend Jeni LeGon - Ms. LeGon with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson from the 1935 film “Hooray for Love.” Photo: American Tap Dance Foundation Archives.
Effie Moore with a group of vaudeville dancers, circa 1930s. Photo: Addison Scurlock via Studio Records, ca. 1905-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History/Smithsonian
Sad news: Dance legend Jeni Le Gon passed away on December 7th at the age of 96. Born in Chicago in 1916, Ms. Le Gon began her career in the 1930s when she was just sixteen, dancing in a chorus line backed by Count Basie’s Orchestra. She is
Sammy Davis Jr. and Diana Ross sing and dance to a medley of classic songs on “The Hollywood Palace” variety show on October 18, 1969. This episode also marked one of the last appearances Ms. Ross would make with The Supremes - and the national television debut of The Jackson 5.
Aretha Franklin rehearses steps with the legendary dancer and choreographer Charles “Cholly” Atkins at a dance studio in 1961. Mr. Atkins (1913-2003) created the iconic dance moves of The Temptations, Gladys Knight and the Pips and The Supremes’s famous “Stop! In the Name of Love” hand movement. The Alabama-born Mr. Atkins began his career as a vaudeville performer and was one half of the legendary dance duo Coles and Atkins with Honi Coles. In 1988, he shared a Tony Awards for choreographing the Broadway show, “Black and Blue.” Photo: Frank Driggs Collection/Getty Images.
