Bryttni Pugh

Williams

DANC 2125-090

9 November 2016

Chuck Davis

Chuck Davis is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher born on New Years Day in 1937 in

Raleigh, North Carolina. He has brought the traditional dance and drumming of Africa to

American audiences through his dancing with the company of Babatunde Olatunji, creation of the

Chuck Davis Dance company in 1967, involvement in the American Dance Festival in 1974,

creation of DanceAfrica in 1977, formation of the African American Dance Ensemble in 1983,

and organization of the Cultural Arts Safari (Donnelly). Davis discovered his passion for dance

after having served in the U.S. Navy and while pursuing his initial career of choice, nursing. After

the work days in Washington, D.C., he would dance in clubs for personal enjoyment, but he

invested himself in dance classes after developing a connection with dancing to artists like the

Latin-American All-Stars (Donnelly).

In a short basement studio that barely fit the six-foot-five dancer, Davis attempted to dance

but his movements were reserved and restricted. Upon taking a class taught by Geoffrey Holder,

Chuck states that the instructor taught him to pull up, stretch out and use his length, height and

long legs to his advantage, inspiring him to not shrink himself and to embrace the space around

him, did (Traiger). He continued to build his strength as a dancer by diversifying his knowledge

and technique; he not only studied African diaspora like Lamban and Ghanian but studied with

Martha Graham, Lester Horton, Pearl Primus, Emile Faustin, Alvin Ailey, Katherine Dunham, and

Jose Limon. He was also able to learn five ballets in three days with Olatunji and took dance
classes at Howard University, although he was never actually enrolled in them (Traiger). He

became connected with authentic African dance while performing at the New York Worlds Fair

with the Olatunji company and while watching the Sierre Leone National Dance Company perform

because he was able to have contact with other African dancers and drummers (Traiger).

With the guide of the many dance inspirations he encountered, Davis created the Chuck

Davis Dance Company that included performances of the traditional dances of Africa that were

taught to him to preserve the authentic culture. Three years later he developed the DanceAfrica

festival which includes dance troupes that range from traditional African to hip-hop to African-

Brazilian troupes. His thematic focus for this was to educate Americans about African and African-

American dance, culture, and traditions; American culture has skewed African culture through

entertainment and did not portray it a positive light (Patrick). For example, the movie Tarzan did

not insert Africans into the cast to play native roles and gave viewers the idea that the culture was

just a fantasy and about ooga-booga, as Davis describes (Patrick). Altered and wrongful

messages shown in American culture prompted Chuck Davis to show the truth about African

culture, such as presenting the dance of the Watutsi warriors (Patrick; Donnelly).

He soon traveled to Africa to gain firsthand knowledge which he wished others could

gain by taking an annual pilgrimage to Africa via the Cultural Arts Safari by sitting at the feet

of elders, listening to their words [that] poured like raindrops onto and into [Davis] being, and

dancing for them on the dusty earth where the sound of [his] feet pounding against the earth

brought the rhythms of life into [his] blood (Artsource). He developed the message of Peace,

Love and Respect for Everybody through dance, incorporating this into the development of his

second and current company, the African American Dance Ensemble where his focus for servicing

humanity continues (Artsource).

 References

Artsource: The Music Centers Study Guide to the Performing Arts. Music Center. N.p., 2015.

Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

Donnelly, Rory. Davis, Chuck 1937-. Encyclopedia.com. Thomson Gale, 2015. Web. 9 Nov.

2016.

Patrick, K. C. Chuck Davis and Dance Africa. Dance Magazine 78.4 (2004): 44-46. Academic

Search Complete. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

Traiger, Lisa. Chuck Davis. Dance Heritage Coalition. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.