Overview

I study Black modern dance as a form of intellectual and political work. Drawing on methods from intellectual, urban, and cultural history, my research explores how choreographers such as Alvin Ailey, Geoffrey Holder, Eleo Pomare, and Carole Johnson intervened in debates over race, cultural identity, and civic engagement by performing beyond conventional theatrical settings and reaching audiences nationwide. Working from company papers, grant proposals, audience correspondence, oral histories, and state and foundation records, I argue that Black modern dance functioned not simply as aesthetic expression but as a rigorous mode of civic thought and action in twentieth-century America.

Selected Publications

• • “‘Sport Becoming an Art’,” Journal of African American History 110:3 (Summer, 2025).

  • “Dance Across Departments,” Dance Chronicle special issue on pedagogy 48:3 (July, 2025).

  • “Civic Education and Artistic Innovation on NYC’s Dancemobile, 1967-1988,” Journal of Urban History 51:3 (2023).

  • “The Choreographer as Intellectual: Alvin Ailey’s Ideas about Black Modern Dance,” Journal of American Culture 44:3 (2021).

Research Support

My work has been funded by the Library of Congress (Kluge Fellowship 2025-26), the Smithsonian Institution, Emory University, and the Rockefeller Archive Center, among others.