Appeal to recognise late Trini dancer

White and Jewish, Peggy and Murray Schwartz seem unlikely supporters of a growing campaign to honour Trinidadian dance icon, the late Pearl Primus, widely considered the grandmother of dance by cultural aficionados. Last Saturday, in the heartland of West Indian Brooklyn, they were among hundreds attending Ancestral Chants, which paid tribute to influential dance figures, including Primus. As the drums faded and the Kumble Theatre emptied, the couple, respected academicians at University in Massachusetts, Amherst, felt a deeper affinity to the storied life of a personage they have recaptured in the biography, The Dance Claimed Me: The Autobiography of Pearl Primus.

“We feel that Pearl’s work is under-appreciated, even in her native land. We were taken aback, even shocked that a daughter of the soil was practically not celebrated, almost unknown there,” Peggy said, a sentiment echoed by her husband, a professor of history and literature. The Schwartzes travelled to Trinidad five years ago, interviewing Geoffrey Holder, Holly Betaudier, Marjorie Boothman and others for their recently published book. “Pearl was more than a dancer,” said Peggy, herself a renowned dance educator. “She was the first black PhD in anthropology who became a professor of dance and ethnic studies.”

The academic duo now exploring ways of reintroducing Primus to Trinidad, believe her contribution should be thoroughly researched and preserved by the Ministries of Education, and Arts and Multiculturalism. “Trinidad’s educational system should be structured like the New York Board of Education, which at the moment accommodates over 150 dance educators,” Peggy stated, viewing the art form as an integral part of its curriculum that “constantly reshapes lives in an unbelievable way.”
She pointed out that the recent Professional Development Day at NYBC was devoted to the work of Pearl Primus.

“This is the brilliance of her work that others, outside of Trinidad are discovering.” Murray, who once hired Primus to teach at a New Rochelle college, remembered her as an “unsung ambassador, who may have done more to promote her country’s unique talents than anyone else. “Pearl was ethnic when it was unwise to display pride in one’s roots,” he said. He recalled her using dance as a social and political weapon in the 1940s and 50s, and teaching the authenticity of movement and theatrical techniques to villages throughout West Africa. Even more relevant to the couple’s study is the legacy of Pearl Primus in bridging disparate groups in society.

“Hers was a dance tradition that instilled pride, hope and empowerment to a people—all peoples,”  Murray remarked. And in a seeming message to the birthplace of this dance legend, he ended, “In an open cosmopolitan environment, it is important for people to know their heritage. “There’s nothing wrong or disruptive about that.”

Dr Glenville Ashby
Foreign Correspondent
Guardian Media Ltd