Era of Music and Dance

According to Pittsburgh State University, the African American Community's middle class started the rise of migration from the North and the South and brought Jazz and Blues (2003). The Harlem Renaissance transformed songs by turning the lyrics into literature and poetry. Langston Hughes is a great known poet from the Harlem Era , who used poetry to express music. The impact of the Harlem Renaissance and its great growth and movement were similar to the Hip Hop movement. The Harlem Renaissance was an attempt to separate African Americans from the whites, and some artists portrayed racism, the Great Migration, and slavery in their work. The Harlem Renaissance was expressed through a multitude of styles. This era created an identity for the African American Community (High Beam Research, n.d.; Harlem Entertainment, n.d.)

Courtesy of: http://faculty.pittstate.edu/~knichols/jazzage.html

Courtesy: http://www.tuxjunction.net/articlepix/savoy.jpg

With the explosion of new music and dance reaching Harlem in New York City, new nightclubs and cabarets soon followed. Three such popular venues were the Savoy Ballroom, the Cotton Club, and the Apollo Theater. The Savoy Ballroom, often called "Home of Happy Feet," was an entire block of dance floor with a bandstand on each end playing non-stop music (Rau, 2006, p.  28).  The lindy hop was created at the Savoy, where black and white folks alike danced the night away (p.  31). Right beside was the more exclusive and expensive Cotton Club. Bouncers stood at the doors as Jim Crow laws still prohibited access to blacks. The only blacks allowed at the Cotton Club were paid performers and waiters (Wintz, 2007, p. 35). The Club featured music broadcasted over the radio, extravagant performances, and chorus girls in glitter & feathers (Rau, 2006, p. 32-3). But the most prominent of them all was the Apollo Theater. It was originally known as Hurtig & Seamon’s Theater featuring mostly burlesque dancers. Over the years, the Apollo became the most prestigious stage for launching the careers of many rising black musicians and performers. Its Amateur Night showcased stars like Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holiday—to name a few ("Profiles in black," 2009). The Apollo Theater still stands today, as a lasting impression of the Harlem Renaissance and the entertainment industry.




Courtesy: http://www.blackpast.org/files/blackpast_
images/The_Apollo_Theater__www_tcnj_edu_.jpg

Rent parties (money received helped pay rent) came about during the Harlem Renaissance along with contests and break dancing. This Era's dancing "type" was slow and sensual but then broken up into a performance that became lively (Harlem Entertainment, n.d.).

View videos on the following pages featuring Cab Calloway and the famous dance, The Charleston,  both  courtesy of You Tube.

---Brittany H. & Danesse B.

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Garcia, Messmer, Monta, & Odumes. (n.d.) Harlem entertainment. Retrieved from http://www.tcnj.edu/
     ~messmer2/index.htm

High Beam Research. (2010). Encyclopedia entry: Harlem renaissance. Retrieved from http://www.
     highbeam.com/doc/1p2-5937385.html

Pittsburgh State University. (2003). Jazz age culture part 1. Retrieved from http://faculty.pittstate.
     edu/~knichols/jazzage.html

Pittsburgh State University. (2003). The great migration. Retrieved from http://www.digitalhistory.
    uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=443

Profiles in Black: The Apollo Theatre. (2009). Retrieved from http://theblackmarket.com/
     profilesinblack/apollo.htm

Rau, D. M. (2006). The harlem renaissance. Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point Books.

Wintz, G. D. (Ed.). (2007). Harlem speaks: A living history of the harlem renaissance.  Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks Inc.