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Sherrod, Elgie Gaynell

Dr. Elgie Gaynell Sherrod is a Fulbright-Hayes scholar in dance research and a full professor in Dance at Virginia Commonwealth University. She co-founded and directed the New York City Department of Education's "Dance Institute: Based on Katherine Dunham Model," for which she was awarded a DANA Foundation Grant.

AFRICAN-DERIVED DANCE PEDAGOGY IN CHICAGO AND NEW YORK CITY, 1931-1946: THE DANCE GRIOTS-READING THE INVISIBLE SCRIPT
2022 1-4955-0988-5
"In the chapters that follow, I illustrate the dance pedagogy created by Black dance artists in the 1930s and 1940s in America. I discuss the ways in which this dance instruction undergirded the emergence of the Black concert dance construct, which manifested in the late 1950s and took on a definitive global presence in the 1960s with the popularity of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. In this discussion, I document the dance contributions of dance pioneer Katherine Dunham and her peers, whose works blazed a trail for many contemporary dance artists." -Dr. Elgie Gaynell Sherrod

Dance Pedagogy of Katherine Dunham and Black Pioneering Dancers in Chicago and New York From 1931-1946
2018 0-7734-3539-1
This book, originally written as a doctoral dissertation at Temple University, describes the theory and pedagogy of the major Black dance artists of the 1930’s and 1940’s. The most important of these was Katherine Dunham whose thought influenced a large number of 20th century anthropologists and sociologists.

Dr. Sherrod’s book is important not merely because it recovers the artistic and cultural contributions of dozens of major Black dancers, but also because it documents their enormous social and political influence on mid-century American society.