Honoring one of his heroes, Director of Preservation Norton Owen focuses on pioneering Black dance historian Joe Nash, including the voices of Chuck Davis and Donald McKayle along with Nash himself.
[Music begins, composed by J.S. Bach, performed by Jess Meeker]
NORTON OWEN: Welcome to PillowVoices, a production of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival with content from the Pillow Archives. I’m Norton Owen, the Pillow’s Director of Preservation, and I’m thrilled to host this episode celebrating one of my idols in the field of dance history, the late great Joe Nash. We’ll get to hear directly from Joe and two of his contemporaries, and talk about what made him so special.
One of the things I most love about the dance world is the deep respect that dance people generally have for what came before. While we have our share of revolutionaries who insist on shattering precedents – and thank goodness for that spirited approach – most dancers and dancemakers lovingly recall a favorite teacher, or a performer they idolize, or even a fictional dancing character who has inspired them.
Maybe it’s obvious from my role as an archivist, but there are countless dance figures of the past who have inspired me. In Episode 3 of PillowVoices, we already looked at a pioneering dance historian, David Vaughan, who essentially invented the role of dance company archivist in his work with Merce Cunningham. But I now want to shine a light on Joe Nash, who was a different kind of historian with a distinct specialty, though he shared David’s love for ALL kinds of dance.
Joe Nash was born in New York City in 1919 and he died there in 2005 at the age of 85, earning a prominent New York Times obituary that called him “a colorful griot” or community storyteller, and mentioned the flowing African robes that he frequently wore in public. His intersections with Jacob’s Pillow spanned nearly 50 years, from his debut as a dancer with Donald McKayle’s company in 1953 to his final gig here as a Scholar-in-Residence in 2002. Many of his Pillow activities were documented in some way – including photographs of his first performances and videos of his talks.
The first excerpt that I want to share is from an oral history that we conducted in 2002 when Joe was 82. He was looking back on how he first got interested in collecting dance memorabilia and conducting research in the 1940s. At that time, he was appearing in his first Broadway show, the 1946 revival of Showboat that had been choreographed by Helen Tamiris, with a cast including Pearl Primus and Talley Beatty. Here Joe talks about how he got his start by digging into the past of his fellow dancers in that production.
JOE NASH: I used to go back to the theater that night and say, “I read about you, I read about you.” And they said, “What?” And I was surprised to learn that they were not collecting their own history. And that’s when it got started. Before you knew it, my whole, my apartment was a wreck, with material that I had collected from all over. In fact, when I went to London with Finian’s Rainbow, I collected there. And so I was always collecting everywhere until finally, after I left dance and went into the National Council of Churches, I was in Christian education. But I began to see a whole new way of looking at dance. In the meantime, while I was there, I met a wonderful man who got me to write on dance. I had never thought about it. And so I began to pull out things from my collection, to write about. And before you know it, it was all over the country: Joe Nash, dance historian. And that’s the title that they gave me, and I was amazed to be given that title, but that’s the way it happened. And I began to be called to appear everywhere to talk about Black, African Americans in dance.
NORTON OWEN: I love the way he makes his development into one of America’s foremost historians on Black dance sound so natural. And yet it was natural for Joe, because he was pursuing his passion. And I think it was his passion for dance as much as his deep body of knowledge that made him the charismatic spokesperson that he became.
We’ll get back to his own story later, but first I want to share a taste of what Joe Nash was like as a public speaker. This is from a pre-show talk that he presented here before a performance by Urban Bush Women in 1998. What I want to play for you here is only a two-minute clip, but it’s an absolute model for what this kind of a talk should be – informative, wide-ranging, personal, and totally engaging. Listen to how he uses cultural references, shares personal observations, and offers some guideposts for what an audience might look for in the performance that they’re about to see:
JOE NASH: These group of women…while they, while it's culturally specific, there's a universality involved in their choreography. They deal with women's issues, and the struggles that women have in American society. For example, in the first work, Self Portrait, you see them being very feminine and being very woman-ish, but very strong and very agile, and very assertive. This is a contemporary woman. And so when they deal with issues, there's no issue that they will not feel worthy of treatment. Homelessness, abortion, pain of divorce, separation. And they can take a, a theme and develop it choreographically. For example, on the program there's a work called Hands Singing Song. Now when I studied with Charles Weidman and Doris Humphrey - you know, you're familiar with these names - they were members of Denishawn. I remember then Charles Weidman once giving us an idea of how expressive the hand can be. And those of you who have seen classical dances of India know that there's a codification of the various uses of the hands; it's the most expressive element in Kathakali and Kathak and other forms of classical dance. So the expressive quality of the hands. Jawole has created this extraordinary piece called Hands Singing Song, and she shows you the various uses of hands. How many of you recall the incident at the Olympics where an athlete made a fist? It was a shocking thing for the United States that this image of protest would be raised at such an event. Well, she shows you how this can come about. She shows you this in relation to the life of the individual. You’ll see, how many of you know about the high five? It's now natural—everyone does a high five. Well, you'll see that. Sly, a five on the sly. And this is the way people in the African American community would greet each other. Five on the sly. Before the high five came into existence, there was just a simple slap on the fingers. But now it's everybody, even the President of the United States does a high five.
NORTON OWEN: Though the tone of this presentation is informal and conversational, this was a prepared talk that Joe had carefully planned in advance. On the other end of the spectrum, let’s listen to an impromptu moment from a post-show discussion after the premiere of Joanna Haigood’s Invisible Wings in 1998. This is totally unscripted, and he’s responding to an audience member’s question about some of the historic dances incorporated into Haigood’s work.
JOE NASH: Some of the movements we will never know. For example, the grasshopper step down; who can describe what that was? It was a number that was done during the days of Juba, and Durang, one of America's great dancers, used to do this, these dances. But we have no clearcut description of how these movements went. But they are all derived from movements that emerged from the South and was transferred North during the '20s. So you can see elements of the past in the present.
NORTON OWEN: Truer words were never spoken. You can see elements of the past in the present, but it helps to have someone like Joe Nash make the connections. Because his memories were so rich and his stories were so vividly expressed, he inspired those around him in all sorts of ways. A good example of his effect on others can be heard in a conversation that we recorded at the Pillow in 1998 with Joe and two other pioneering African-American dance legends—Chuck Davis and Donald McKayle. Their camaraderie and Joe’s persistent influence can be discerned in these comments from Chuck Davis:
CHUCK DAVIS: It’s history. Jacob’s Pillow is history. And it’s like in the African tradition, when we want to learn, we go and we sit at the feet of the elders. So I’m forever sitting at Donny’s feet and at Joe’s feet in order to learn. And here, you know I’m reminded of what my role is. And that is to carry the art of dance to as many corners of the universe as there are. And I do this out of great respect because we’re standing on the shoulders of so many who have gone on. In 1974, both Pilobolus and Chuck Davis Dance Company, made, we made our debut here at the Pillow at the same time, with Pearl Lang. And I am more than grateful, being here, sensing and feeling the energy of all of the spiritual forces that are here. Because they are still here, you know. And all we have to do is just open, you know, just open the mind and just open your spiritual presence and you can feel this energy coming in. And you absorb it. And then when I return, when I am working with children, when I am working with other dancers, I’ll be able to say, “I was there. I stepped on the ground where such and such a person walked and such and such a person walked. And I sat and rubbed shoulders with Donald McKayle and Joe Nash, you know, and all of this history, all of this history.
NORTON OWEN: Chuck’s comments stimulated memories from the other two, and here again is Joe Nash talking about his first time at Jacob’s Pillow as a member of Donald McKayle’s company.
JOE NASH: My first visit to Jacob's Pillow - I had heard about it, read about it - because I was very familiar with the history of Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis. And so when Donald said we were going to Jacob's Pillow, it was quite an experience, a wonderful opportunity to see the grounds and be on the scene of such a famous place. And, of course, we did Games and Nocturnes and there was such a delight yesterday to see in the Archives those photographs from our visit here. And I recall Arthur Mitchell was with us at the time and a wonderful chap named John Feeley, and we performed here and it was, and the program was well received. But I've been here on other occasions after that. Because I came up to see the Aubrey Hitchins Dance Theatre, and we immediately got lost trying to find our way back to New York City. But that was an experience because it was then that John Lindquist took some photographs which are not in your archives because I placed them in the Schomburg.
NORTON OWEN: What Joe was referring to here is that much of his huge personal collection eventually found its way into the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a division of the New York Public Library. There the Joe Nash Black Dance Collection has become a real goldmine for researchers, with hundreds and hundreds of rare photos that he began collecting in the 1940s, at a time when few recognized the importance of documenting Black dance history in the way that Joe instinctively knew was important. He used his own collection in the dance history classes that he taught for many years at the Alvin Ailey School, and in a series of high-profile projects presented by the American Dance Festival. One of those projects was a lecture tour in collaboration with the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, which brought Joe to the Pillow in the early 1990s to help contextualize the Dayton company’s production of McKayle’s classic Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder. That brings us to Donald McKayle himself and some of his comments in that three-way conversation from 1998, here ruminating about the nature of both tradition and change in relationship to the Pillow.
DONALD McKAYLE: It’s interesting because so much has changed, so very much has changed. In ’53 it was so much smaller. I mean, the grounds were here, but there weren’t all these buildings. And it wasn’t so manicured. The theater was much smaller. There was no balcony. When you opened the back doors, it seemed to be the whole, whole space. And there were a lot of back-door openings—that was a very popular thing. And people out on the back platform and things, it was sort of nice. But that has changed. The dining setup, the number of students, the programs, educational outreach. And the audiences are huge! So that, that really…there has been a growth. And that’s absolutely important, because the only thing that you can look forward to is change. If you try to stay in one place, you’re bound to die. And so I’m very glad that it’s changing. And that, that you keep building on the past. I mean, Papa Shawn and Miss Ruth overlook the theater. You know, they’re there. When we put the Gala together, we wanted to bring back those things because it’s very important, and I always tell this to students: “You didn’t get here by spontaneous generation. There was all this work that went before you which was so meaningful.” And they don’t know that. They think everything started with them. So this is a place. And to go into this barn which definitely wasn’t here, and to be able to research, and to see what was there.
NORTON OWEN: I have to say, it’s thrilling for me to once again hear these voices, as all three of these great gentlemen are no longer with us. Except that they ARE still with us through the work that they have left behind—all in very intentional ways. And one of the most obvious ways that this work is available to us is through the important Archives throughout this country that are dedicated to preserving these legacies for audiences of today and tomorrow. But I want to step off my soap box for a moment and invite Joe Nash to have the last word. He earned that position after a lifetime of pursuing his passion for dance history, and I’m humbled to be among those who now attempt to follow in his footsteps.
JOE NASH: In my present interest in archives, that’s my forté. I mean, archival material—yesterday I decided to devote the thirty minutes to alerting the students to the value of archival resources and preserving their memorabilia. Because there have been too many instances of materials being lost forever because people were not mindful of how important it was to preserve this material. So I think the Archives are just wonderful and I look forward to learning more about them.
[Closing music comes in, composed and performed by Jess Meeker]
NORTON OWEN: That’s it for this episode of PillowVoices. Thank you for joining us today. On behalf of Jacob's Pillow, we look forward to sharing more dance with you through the films, essays, and podcasts at danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org, and of course through live experiences during our festival and throughout the year. Special thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts for helping launch this podcast series. Please subscribe to PillowVoices wherever you get your podcasts and visit us again soon, either online or onsite.