Across the Floor by Natasha Deen

Author:Natasha Deen
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459809222
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2016-06-30T16:00:00+00:00

Nine

“We talked about Martha Graham last class,” Peter says after our warm-up in Thursday’s class. “Today I want to talk to you about Katherine Dunham.”

A couple of kids in front of me whisper excitedly to each other, but the name means nothing to me.

I’ve spent the last two days watching the videos Peter gave me, then doing my best to mimic what I see. Today I’m going to suck it up and buy a big mirror to lean against the wall in the basement. I’m not thrilled with the thought of watching myself mess up, but I have no one to spot for me, so I’ll have to use the mirror to gauge my posture and movement.

“Katherine Dunham invigorated modern dance,” Peter says.

The videos Peter had sent me talked about the history of contemporary dance, how it was born from ballet and set out to embrace a less rigid style and allow the dancer more freedom of movement. That’s as much as I’d gotten before I moved the tracker to the spots where I saw dancing. I respected Peter’s wanting me to understand the history of contemporary dance, but I wasn’t looking to do this professionally. I only wanted to learn enough to help my football career and quiet down Coach.

“She was born in Chicago in 1909 and didn’t start dancing until her late teens.” Peter looks directly at me as he says this.

I’m trying to catch the hint. Is he telling me that if a woman who didn’t start dancing until she was almost an adult could do it well enough to have influenced the entire genre, I need to work harder? Or is he trying to help me stay positive? Like, Hey, man, she didn’t start until she was older, and look how far she got. There’s hope for you.

“After she graduated with a degree in anthropology—” Peter’s gaze is back on me.

An anthropologist who became a dancer? How is that relevant to me?

“—she traveled to the West Indies to study anthropology and dance, and that’s when her life shifted. She came back and infused modern dance with Caribbean influences—limb isolations, flexing of the torso—”

Once again I’m completely lost. I lean into Jesse and whisper, “Why’s he talking about modern dance in the middle of a contemporary class?”

“Contemporary dance is influenced by a huge range of dance styles,” Jesse whispers back. “That’s what makes it so incredible.”

“Oh.” I tune back into Peter’s lecture.

“Dunham used her troupe and her stage to protest segregation and civil rights. Shows such as Southland brought the issue of lynching to the stage—”

My brain whirls to imagine what this would look like. I’m definitely searching that out online tonight.

“—and her work for racial equality has been credited with inspiring the Brazilian law that forbids racial discrimination in public places.”

I’m doing the math on all of this and feeling—once again—like dance is handing my butt to me. The fact that I know nothing about dance history makes me feel like a Class A dunce. Up until now, I’ve figured dance was all tutus and twirls, leaps and spandex.

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