A past exhibition that offers a fascinating look at the African tradition of mask-making and masquerades. Includes colorful photos and information, to spark children's creativity.

Learn about the Dance Theatre of Harlem is this segment from A Walk Through Harlem.

A description of the dance Revelations, choreographed by Alvin Ailey. The dance was first performed on January 31, 1960, and made Ailey an overnight sensation in the dance world. Includes video and photographs, as well as links to videos...

Description and information about works in the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre repertory.

This brief encyclopedia entry describes the creation and development of the dance company Alvin Ailey began. There is a link to a website that will take you to the theater's web page.

There are many videos of several African dance styles. Learn about the culture and history of these dances at this entertaining site.

Presented as an ABC list of cultural features of South Africa. Each letter links to a topic, and each topic has a paragraph with a link to more in-depth, and often fascinating, information about that topic, and about the history of South...

A brief history of black dance in America, includes dance pioneers in jazz dance, ballet, and modern dance.

Article explores the influence of jazz on African American literature from the early history of jazz, noted jazz artists, the black-white tensions within jazz, to its literary influence after World War II.

Why do we dance? African-American social dances started as a way for enslaved Africans to keep cultural traditions alive and retain a sense of inner freedom. They remain an affirmation of identity and independence. In this electric...

This resource presents an article on the Cakewalk, a popular dance in the early 1900s that originated with black slaves impersonating their masters.

This site from Telematique, Inc. provides a list of many different dance styles and tells the origin of them.

This site from Gotta Dance offers an easy-to-read history of rumba.

This encyclopedia entry gives a brief history of rap and hip hop and the influences of the music on modern culture.

This is an article on the 50s dance sensation, the mambo. This gives the history of the dance and description of it, but towards the end they discuss "Mambo Mania" or the heyday in the 50s.

Tap dance, born out of the marriage of African and European dance traditions, went from extremely popular to barely existent to grand revival, all in under a century. Professional tap dancer and TED Fellow Andrew Nemr taps into the...

This brief encyclopedia entry tells about Alvin Ailey, influential black dancer and choreographer. There is a link to a website that takes you to his theater's page.

This in-depth resource presents a history of the American West from pre-Columbian times until World War I with profiles, documents, and images. It encourages visitors to link these into patterns of historical meaning for themselves....

Using primary documents, oral histories, and other historical resources, discover how the arts of Africa, Europe, and pre-Civil War America influenced the culture of enslaved African Americans.

A supplement to a ten-part film series on jazz, this resource describes the growth and development of jazz music from the gritty streets of New Orleans to the Lincoln Gardens on Chicago's south side, where Louis Armstrong first won fame,...

By examining the lives and lyrics of popular, positive black female rappers such as Queen Latifah and Lauryn Hill, students can trace a direct line back to the inspirational writer and poet, Maya Angelou. Rap lyrics will help explicate...

This is an article on the 50's dance sensation, the mambo. This gives the history of the dance and description of it, but towards the end they discuss "Mambo Mania" or the heyday in the 50's.

This is an article on the 50's dance sensation, the mambo. This gives the history of the dance and description of it, but towards the end they discuss "Mambo Mania" or the heyday in the 50's.

Looks at the new morality that emerged in the 1920s. It changed the role of women and the perception of African Americans, the latter facilitated by the Harlem Renaissance and its impact on the music and dance of the Jazz Age. Also...