“(Up)Staging the Primitive" by Richard Green

Green describes the life and works of dancer and anthropologist Pearl Primus, and her attempt at bringing together “body politics and political bodies.” Primus used art as a means of articulating a socio-historical identity, and also as a means of advancing her Negro race. While Primus was in high school in the 1930s, Marcus Garvey was raising consciousness for his “back to Africa” movement. As a parallel to Garvey, Pearl Primus returned to Africa symbolically through her dances. She aimed to claim that American Negroes do possess a rich cultural heritage. Primus started her career through The New Dance Group. As an American Negro, anthropologist, and social-protest dancer, she offered a “counter-hegemonic narrative of identity by placing the Negro on the grand stage of inherited social tradition.” Although Primus was always seen as a Negro dancer first and her pride in Negro-ness affected the way in which she was perceived despite the character she was portraying, her sheer talent as a modern dancer has not been overlooked. The representations and re-constructions of Primus’ pieces against segregation, lynching, and cultural denigration are what brings her legacy and life dreams alive.
Later in the piece, Green raises important questions about the process of the black American’s exclusion and also the terms on which inclusion is permitted. She questions integration and its functioning in reestablishment of hierarchical relationships.