Katherine Dunham
Katherine Mary Dunham was born in June 22, 1909 and died on May 21, 2006; was a dancer Afro-American, choreographer, educator, anthropologist and social activist.
He developed a holistic pedagogy that remains a model in the field of education
Pedagogy based on form and function; intercultural communication and socialization through art.
She was the one who opened it. the path to black dances on Broadway, having also choreographed and danced in Hollywood
Katherine Dunham came to perform in Brazil. Her dance company, “Katherine Dunham Company”, was made up of black people and specialized in this type of dance. When she came to Brazil for a season with her Company, she was banned from staying at the Hotel Esplanada in São Paulo, which did not accept black people. Dunham contributed to the implementation of the Afonso Law 1951.
mercedes baptista
Mercedes Baptista who is considered an icon in the history of Afro-Brazilian dance (DAF) (Lima, 2012). Mercedes, an Afro-descendant woman, who, fighting against prejudice, manages to join the Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, being the first black woman to occupy the position of dancer in the corps de ballet. However, she realizes that little will grow in this company, as she was rarely cast in roles in performances. Mercedes then, upon approaching Abdias do Nascimento and Teatro Experimental do Negro, began to understand the need to defend black culture in the national artistic panorama and from this fact DAF was born.
After studying in the USA with Katharine Dunhan - the greatest figure in Afro-descendant dance in her country (Lima, 2012) - Mercedes established a methodology and created, in 1952, a company that performed in several countries. During this journey, she trained several dancers in her technique, which quickly expanded and became part, as a discipline, of some important dancer training schools, such as Escola Olenewa from the Municipal Theater.
gilberto de assis
Gilberto de Assis was a student of Mercedes' first generation of dancers when she formed her company in 1952. Gilberto became a teacher at several dance schools in Rio de Janeiro and later formed a company that made several trips abroad. Gilberto also organized an Afro-Brazilian dance training course, for a long time at Centro de Dança Rio, located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, a fact that made him seek to organize the contents of this course, structuring the contents that should be learned from the Afro dance in academic years and in an ascending degree of complexity that were used for the technical training course in Afro-Brazilian dance at this institution. Gilberto trained a legion of students who today teach classes in different places, and perhaps his work as a teacher and artist was what contributed most to preserving the corporeality created by Mercedes.Gilberto de Assis foi aluno da primeira geração de bailarinos de Mercedes quando esta constituiu sua companhia em 1952. Gilberto se tornou professor em várias escolas de dança no Rio de Janeiro e mais tarde formou uma companhia que fez diversas viagens ao exterior. Gilberto também organizou um curso de formação de dança afro-brasileira, durante muito tempo no Centro de Dança Rio, localizado na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, fato que o fez buscar uma organização dos conteúdos deste curso, estruturando os conteúdos que deveriam ser aprendidos da dança afro em anos letivos e em grau de complexidade ascendente que foram empregados para o curso técnico de formação em dança Afro-brasileira nesta instituição. Gilberto formou uma legião de alunos que hoje ministram aulas em diferentes lugares, e talvez seu trabalho como professor e artista foi o que mais contribuiu para conservar a corporeidade criada por Mercedes.