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Black Dance: Housing the Past and the Present

Lawrence M. Jackson, Associate Professor of Dance at George Mason University, explores how colonialism ended authentic African dance and how Black dance keeps African cultural traditions alive.

Join us for a virtual presentation exploring how colonialism brought an end to authentic African dance with Lawrence M. Jackson, Associate Professor of Dance at George Mason University, who in 2011 co-authored and edited a special edition on Black dance in the Journal of Pan African Studies. In this presentation, he explains how Black dance keeps those African cultural traditions alive and is an affirmation of identity and independence.

Lawrence M. Jackson, who is an Associate Professor of Dance at The George Mason University School of Dance where he teaches courses in Contemporary, Jazz, Dance History, and Choreography. Professionally, Lawrence devoted several years with the internationally acclaimed modern dance company, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble. Additionally, he has performed as a guest artist in a variety of national and international concert dance venues. Choreographically, he has produced over 95 original choreographic works. Most recently, Lawrence choreographed an off-Broadway production, Separate and Equal, which was subsequently nominated for an AUDELCO Award for Best Choreography. As a scholar, he has published in scholarly journals in the field of Black Dance. Most notably, he authored, co-edited, and published a special edition devoted to Black Dance in the Journal of Pan African Studies, the second occurrence in history, where an academic journal edition was committed solely to Black Dance.

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