With a renovation, new studios and the return of dance to the Kaufmann Concert Hall, an institution once central to dance in New York invests in its future.
Maya Angelou, original name Marguerite Annie Johnson, (born April 4, 1928, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. died May 28, 2014, Winston-Salem, North Carolina), American poet, memoirist, and actress whose several volumes of autobiography explore the themes of economic, racial, and sexual oppression. Although born in St. Louis, Angelou spent much of her childhood in the care of her paternal grandmother in rural Stamps, Arkansas. When she was not yet eight years old, she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend and told of it, after which he was murdered; the traumatic sequence of events left her almost completely mute for several years. This
Pearl Primus, (born November 29, 1919, Port of Spain, Trinidad died October 29, 1994, New Rochelle, New York, U.S.), American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and teacher whose performance work drew on the African American experience and on her research in Africa and the Caribbean. Primus’s family moved to New York City when she was two years of age. Intending to become a physician, Primus received a degree in biology and premedical sciences from Hunter College (1940) in New York City. While taking health education courses at New York University, Primus sought employment at a laboratory but was deterred by racial discrimination. She