Attempting to show college students that many people inherit influences from African-American performers of the swing era, Brenda Dixon Gottschild last night discussed her new book about the impact of vaudeville dancers on race politics.
“Whether we are black or white, they are our family members,” she said at Barnes ‘ Noble.
Using jazz poetry, a slide slow and multimedia clips in the discussion of her award-winning book, Waltzing in the Dark: African American Vaudeville and Race Politics in the Swing Age, Gottschild made her talk an interactive experience.
In her book, Gottschild, a professor of dance studies at Temple University, chronicles the career of Norton and Margot, an African-American vaudeville dance team.
Norton and Margot, a well-known ballet-trained pair who modeled their work after white swing dancers, regularly performed at venues in Harlem, Philadelphia and the Midwest.
While the focus of Gottschild’s book is Norton and Margot, her discussion also focused on other aspects of African-American vaudeville. While white vaudeville theater typically consisted of an unrelated string of acts, African-American vaudeville acts had similar openings and finales while the chorus line backed up all the supporting numbers.
Gottschild mirrored the vaudeville variety with her inclusion of music and dance-like movement in the readings.
The tape featured the sounds of Louis Armstrong in the 1920s, Ella Fitzgerald in the 1940s, Bobby McFerrin in the 1990s and Amel Lamieux, Gottschild’s daughter. Gottschild encouraged the audience to participate by snapping their fingers as she read her book.
This “move of black culture to the American heartland,” as Gottschild described it, was a result of the closings of many white vaudeville theaters due to the growing popularity of movie theaters. However, due to the Jim Crow laws, these performances were billed as “strictly for white people.”
As racial discrimination increased, Norton and Margot took their show to Europe. They performed in numerous European countries until the Nazis evicted them in 1937, Gottschild said. This effectively ended their careers, as film overtook live performances.
Gottschild spoke to an audience of more than 20 people, varying in ages and interests.
“She is a gifted speaker, very personable and knowledgeable,” said William Seigh, a professor from New Hampshire. “It was amazing that she could take us to all those places.”
Stacy Smith, a College of General Studies sophomore, was drawn to the reading because she is a member of the dance theater group.
“It was amazing to see the talent, how it was restricted, and it still has an influence today,” Smith said.
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