The History of the African Dance Society at HCC

The eighteen minute documentary video that I have created, chronicles the African Dance workshops (1984-1993) that I organized with the late Deborah Quanaim of the Houston Community College dance department. We brought in teachers from numerous dance companies: Katherine Dunham's (Archie Savage, Tommy Gomez, Claude Marchant and Pearl Reynolds), the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Marilyn Banks, Dwana Smallwood and Glen Allen Sims), Chuck Davis African Dance Ensemble, Dance Theater of Harlem and others. The video includes pictures and video clips of the teachers, many of whom have passed on, it also includes video footage of the current Houston Community College dance teachers teaching and performing African dance, demonstrating the institutionalization of our efforts, because Houston Community College is one of the few educational institutions that offers accredited African and African American Dance classes. Dr. Madeleine Wright