America's first African-American modern dancer: Hemsley Winfield Nelson D. Neal, Ed.D. Marywood University

Hemsley Winfield Named after his mother Jeroline Hemsley, he was born, lived, attended school, and taught and choreographed modern dance in Yonkers, New York. Born April 20, 1907 At about age 20 ( ), he began his dance career. He died on January 15, 1934, he was 26 years 9 months.

Winfield’s Childhood 1921 – Winfield won a dash event during a Field Day, as a seventh grader at Yonkers, Public School 13 – He was 14

Winfield’s Acting & Directing Career Winfield as one of the actors to perform in three one act plays with The National Ethiopian Art Theater at midnight on October 15, 1924 He was 17 years old Lafayette Theatre

Winfield’s Acting & Directing Career NEW YORK AGE Saturday October 11, 1924

Winfield’s Acting & Directing Career THE NATIONAL ETHIOPIAN ART THEATRE, INC. P r e s e n t s Three ONE-ACT Plays Wednesday, October 15th, 12 o'clock Midnight At the Lafayette Theatre 7th Ave., and 131st St. Cast MARION MOORE LILLA HAWKINS ARDELLE DABNEY G. ALFRED WOODS JOHN* S. BROWN, Jr. HEMSLEY WINFIELD ANDREW CHOYKEE EULALIE SPENCE EDNA THROWER LILLIAN FA1RLEY JOHN H. ECKLES ' JOSEPH A. STEBER R. OSCAR FLANNER Prices – Boxes $1.50Orchestra $1.00 Balcony $1.25, $1.00, 75c, 50c Tickets on Sale at Lafayette Theatre Your presence will be appreciated We are seeking to establish a home in Harlem for this school We ask your cordial support to bring this about New York Age, 1924

Winfield’s Acting & Directing Career 1925 performed a minor part in Eugene O'Neill's All God's Chillun and in Porgy He was 18 years old

1925 As part of the “Little Theater movement” Winfield started and directed the Sekondi Players. Sekondi is a city on the south west coast of Ghana.

Winfield’s Acting & Directing Career – New Negro Art Theater group continued producing children’s plays including Cinderella, Snow White, Re’d Riding Hood, Water Babies, and Alladin 1927 children’s play, The Princess and the Cat, written by Jeroline Hemsley W infield 1927 He wrote Oh, a play that was performed with one other play at the A.M.E. Church of Nepperhan Heights, Yonkers

Winfield’s Acting & Directing Career Sekondi Players performed Salome on radio station WCGU on Sunday, February 11, Other radio performances included the “Camp Meeting,” a scene from Jeroline Hemsley’s Wade in de Water, on WOR radio in September, © March 19, 1929 Wade in de Water – “three act play set in “Georgia in1885, and portrays the injustice meted out to the Negro by the whites at that time.” (New York Age, March 15, 1930, p. 7) Poster from 1929

Winfield’s Acting & Directing Career “Winfield's debut as a solo dancer was in the Same theatre in Oscar Wilde's ‘Salome’." The New York Amsterdam News, January 17, 1934 Poster from 1929 Cherry Lane performance Sold on EBay

Winfield’s Acting & Directing Career New York Age – Three Announcements for the performance of Salome by Oscar Wilde on radio station WCGU February 11, 1928 – New Negro Art Theatre February 18, 1928 – Sekondi Players Little Negro Theatre Group February 20, 1928 – Sekondi Players Little Negro Theatre Group It was noted that this was the first time a play like this was performed over the radio.

Winfield’s Acting & Directing Career In July 1928 The New Negro Art Theater opened a summer season of plays at the Triangle Theater Performed Salome Alhambra Theater – Harlem Largest in Harlem 3000 seats Historically it discriminated against blacks but changed 1931 declared bankruptcy

Contemporary of Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, Hanya Holm and Katherine Dunham. His dance career was between 3 and 5 years (choreographer and dancer). “He was a pioneer in Negro concert dancing and he had obtained an eminence comparable to that of Paul Robeson in the musical field.” (New York Herald Tribune, January 16, 1934) Winfield’s Dance Career

Died of pneumonia – had been teaching, lecturing, and dancing, including performances after midnight for 3 years. “Friends attributed his death to overwork and his devotion to training other young Negroes.” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 16, 1934, p. 15) Winfield’s Dance Career

March 6, Saunders Trade School April 29, Chanin Building Auditorium May 1931 Repeat of April performance May 24, 1931 – First Negro Dance Performance, Mansfield Theater, West 47 th Street Summer intensive training of his dancers January Roerich Hall, 310 Riverside Drive, 3 performances February Roxy Theater September Harlem Academy December 1932 every Sunday Lenox Avenue, series of midnight performances beginning Christmas evening December preparing for The Emperor Jones, Metropolitan Opera House, he was the Witch Doctor January-March 1933 – Performed as the Witch Doctor in The Emperor Jones February Henry Street Settlement Playhouse, a series of Sunday evening concerts July Lido Terrace, four outdoor recitals Chronology

Saunders Trade School – First performance, March 6, 1931, the program was billed as the “All Star Benefit Performance for the Colored Citizens’ Unemployment and Relief Committee of Yonkers, N.Y.”

Edna Guy performed Madrassi (Street) Nautch and A Temple Offering, choreographed by Ruth St. Denis. Original name of the group

“THE JUNGLE WEDDING.” Scene: In Africa. Time: A long time ago. Scene opens, natives are discovered in Ritual Dance. Two native groups in a weird routine. Tom Toms are beating in a Barbaric rhthme [sic]. The Tom Toms stop, the wedding Chant is mumbled. Chant. From Joe Nash Dance Collection The bride is brought in by natives, to await her lover, who comes in shortly with great gazel, the prize. The chief gives to him, his daughter. The Ritual Dance begins. She is in the center with the royal tribe dancing around her. The prince after being crowned, lifts his beloved bride and carries her off, followed by the natives.

The Chanin Building, 122 east 42nd street, completed in Built for Irwin S. Chanin, one of the most notable developers in the city. Performance April 29, – No program found

The Mansfield Theater ( West 47th Street) also known as The Biltmore Theater, and now the Brooks Atkinson Theater. Designed by Herbert J. Krapp and built for the Chanin Brothers, originally named for 19th-century actor Richard Mansfield. Opened February 15, Performance May 24, 1931.

Isaacson (1931) of Dance Magazine wrote : “Further, the soloists themselves are by no means on a par with the run of recitalists we know. On the other hand the ensemble proved itself to be sincere and virile, and superior in the possession of a native strength and artistry.”... the Negro would “bring us more important innovations in the world of dance than any other form of art,” and “that within the next five years the biggest development in dancing will come from the Negro.”... the dances “may be looked upon as the beginnings of great and important choreographic creations - compositions which in time will rival the productions of the Russian Ballet.”

John Martin (1931), critic for the New York Times, wrote; “Last night's performance was scarcely one to set the subject forth that anything like its full value, but it served to prove if nothing else that there is a lively interest in it. Mr. Winfield was less successful in his solo, ‘Bronze Study,’ which proved to be merely the exhibition of an exemplary physique. It is not in that these dances which echo and imitate the manner of the dancers of another race that the Negro dancers are at their best, but in those in which their forthrightness and simplicity have full play.” Both Martin and Isaacson stated that the group should be given a second chance in a larger space that would allow the 18 dancers to demonstrate their talents to their best advantage.

Roerich Theater at 310 Riverside Drive opened October 13, The building became a co-op, the Master Apartments. Performances January 19, 30, & February 6, Lecture-demonstrations – "Dance Appreciation Series" on primitive dance. The speaker will be Miss Marsh and the dancers Harry Losee and Hemsley Winfield. New York Times, November 8, 1931, Section 8, p. 4.

1932

The Roxy Theater, 153 West 50th St., New York, NY. Opened March 11, 1927 Closed and demolished March 29, 1960 Hemsley Winfield, the director of the New Negro Art Theatre, which has just concluded a series of three recitals at Roerich Hall, is to appear with members of his group in the stage show at the Roxy beginning on Friday. New York Times, February 7, 1932, Section 8, p. 11.

After the performance at the Roxy Theater, John Martin noted that Winfield had “not fallen into the trap of reproducing ‘white’ choreography or to associating himself with the ‘amusement business’ of Harlem. The first would have made his company a novelty and his company would not have lasted, and the second would have put him the category of performances for “white amusement seekers” (Martin, 1932).

Harlem Academy 108 West 127 St. Performance September 22, 1932.

Ticket prices reduced from 1931 Still referred to as ballet

PROGRAMME Announcing the Program Kenneth A. Jessamy Group I 1. Dance of the Moods Hemsley Winfield 2. Sundown Group 3. Fear Hemsley Winfield, Midgie Lane and Group 4. Plastique Group 5. Laughter Hemsley Winfield and Group 6. Life and Death Hemsley Winfield and Group -- Intermission -- Group II 1. Negro Larri Loerear and Group 2. Spasm Hemsley Winfield 3. Ritual Midgie Lane and Group 4. Topsy-cation Midgie Lane 5. Camp Meeting Hemsley Winfield and Entire Group -- Intermission -- Group III 1. Jungle Wedding.Hemsley Winfield, Midgie Lane and Group 2. Tradition Group 3. Mob Hemsley Winfield 4. Conflict Hemsley Winfield and Larri Loerear 5. St. Louis Blues Hemsley Winfield 6. Orgy Entire Group

BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND ACTING STAFF Jeroline Hemsley Frances Francis Mulford Lee Management Executive Director Technical Director Hemsley Winfield C. Leo Barrow Press Representative Secretary Larri Loerear Frances Atkins CONCERT DANCE GROUP Hemsley Winfield, Midgie Lane, Ollie Burgoyne, Leila Gardner, Frances Atkins, Lillian Fisher, Mae Berkley, Dorothy Nash, Larri Loerear, Leo Barrow, Mulford Lee, Norman Bailey, Maurice DuPont, John Thompson, Sande Brown, Jr., Arnold Savage, Rudolph Walker, Ramon de Matas, Kenneth Jessamy, Wallace Chavis. AUXILIARY DANCE GROUP Viola Anderson, Dora Bacote, Edhel Purnello, Rosetta Crawford, Bruce Howard, Kathrine Norris, Kathrine Ahnor, Kathrine Wilson, Estelle Goode, Estelle Miller, Dora Thompson, Elise Thompson, Elinor Boxill, Dorothy Boxill, Julia Marshall, Julia Frierson, Lula Hunt, Pauline Rivers, Lutie Maecox, Ethelyn Gilbert, Louise Mausby, Bessie Henry, Hatile Shaw, Suzanne Smithe, Sarah Evans, Helen Goode, Jean Hernandez, Odessa Simpkins, Olivia Warde, Vilma Young, James William, James Boxill, James Parker, Josephine Heathman, Alexander Moody, Robert E. Lee Orchestra under the direction of George Thompson Entire Proceeds for Unemployed Actors.

Winfield Dancers To Stage Benefit “Hemsley Winfield of 24 Wolffe Street and his concert dance group will appear in two ballets in a benefit performance which the Dancers Club will present Sunday night at Mecca Temple, New York City. Proceeds will be devoted to relief and scholarship funds supported by the organization.” The Herald Statesman, Yonkers, NY, Wednesday, December 7, 1932

Winfield along with 47 other dancers, covering all styles, including modern dancers Ruth St. Denis, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, and Helen Tamiris performed at the Mecca Temple. The Dancers' Club was “designed to provide living accommodations at prices within the reach of dance students and young professionals, and to offer them educational, social and relief assistance.” The Herald Statesman, Yonkers, NY, Wednesday, December 7, 1932

Henry Street Settlement Playhouse Henry St. built in Performance February Some of the most adventurous artists of the past century have trained, taught, or performed at Henry Street, including John Cage, Aaron Copland, Dizzy Gillespie, Martha Graham, Alicia Keyes, Alwin Nikolais, Jackson Pollock, Denzel Washington, and Orson Welles.

“Hemsley Winfield, and his dance group from the New Negro Art Theatre are appearing in the Metropolitan Opera Company's production of ‘The-Emperor Jones.’ This is the first dance company to be engaged in its entirety by the Metropolitan for appearance in a regular operatic presentation since Pavlova and Mordkin and their company danced there during their first two American seasons. Mr. Winfield dances the role of the Witch Doctor” (New York Times, January, 15, 1933, Sec. 9, p. 2). The Emperor Jones, January 1933

In his role as the Witch Doctor, Winfield was praised for his dancing. “Hemsley Winfield as the witch-doctor gave a thrilling exhibition of savage dancing. His body swayed, turned and twisted, and with jerky staccato yet rhythmic movements, he swung his arms about full of expression and emotion. His dance became more frantic and violent as the music increased in intensity. He seemed to cast a spell upon the audience. His scene was by far the most magnetic and pulsating scene in the entire work” (Dance Culture, March, p. 12). The Emperor Jones, January 1933

“Mr. Winfield was, as a matter of fact, after Mr. Tibbett, the hero of the occasion. Such vocalization as he contributed, extemporary or not, was fittingly and effectively enunciated, and his sinister and frantic caperings as the Witch Doctor made even the most sluggish, opera-infected blood run cold. “ The Emperor Jones, January “For one miraculous moment Broadway receded from the consciousness, leaving the audience stranded in the midst of a too realistic nightmare. That this has been accomplished at the Metropolitan it is a privilege to record, a matter of fair congratulation to whomever was inspired to seek out Mr. Winfield and to make his achievement possible, either through sage direction or carte blanche.” (New York Herald Tribune, January 15, 1933)

His first performance in The Emperor Jones was January 7, ( [Met Performance] CID: World Premiere (The Emperor Jones) The Emperor Jones {1} Pagliacci {309} Matinee Broadcast ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 01/7/1933. Broadcast (World Premiere) (Debuts: Hemsley Winfield, Jo Mielziner

He gave 10 performances in all but not all at the Metropolitan. ( [Met Performance] Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 10, 1933 Metropolitan Opera House: January 13 and 19, 1933 New York, Brooklyn: January 24, 1933 Metropolitan Opera House: January 30; February 8 and 11, 1933 Baltimore, Maryland: March 14, 1933 Matinee Metropolitan Opera House: March 18, 1933 Congo Witch Doctor......Hemsley Winfield [Last performance]

March 6, Saunders Trade School April 29, Chanin Building Auditorium May 1931 Repeat of April performance May 24, 1931 – First Negro Dance Performance, Mansfield Theater, West 47 th Street Summer intensive training of his dancers January Roerich Hall, 310 Riverside Drive, 3 performances February Roxy Theater September Harlem Academy December 1932 every Sunday Lenox Avenue, series of midnight performances beginning Christmas evening December preparing for The Emperor Jones, Metropolitan Opera House, he was the Witch Doctor January-March 1933 – Performed as the Witch Doctor in The Emperor Jones February Henry Street Settlement Playhouse, a series of Sunday evening concerts July Lido Terrace, four outdoor recitals Chronology

Before he died he is quoted as saying: "We're building a foundation that will make people take black dance seriously" (New York Amsterdam News, September - October, pp. 2-3, 8-11).

In July, 1933 Winfield gave the first of four outdoor recitals at the Lido Terrace. The theme was “What shall the Negro dance about?” Winfield opened the forum discussion by stating: “all races, no matter what color, had fundamental human feelings and ideas to express in movement.” The Negro has primitive African material that he should never lose. The Negro has his work songs of the South which he alone can express. It's hard for me to say what the Negro should dance about. What has anyone to dance about?" (The Washington Tribune, October, 12, 1933).

The program consisted of dance interpretations of Duke Ellington's music, including "mood Indigo," "Black and Tan Fantasy" and "Sophisticated Lady" (Dance Notes, 1933). The reviewer wrote that it “attracted a more than capacity audience of colored and white people,” and referred to Winfield as “the prominent Negro dancer” (The Washington Tribune, October, 12, 1933).

A.Winfield’s home, 24 Wolffe St. B.Saunders Trade School just north by Bryn Mawr. C.Harlem Academy, 108 west 127 th St. D.229 Lenox St. A Landmark building E.Roerich Hall, 310 Riverside Drive. F.Mansfield Theater, 256 west 47 th St. G.Roxy Theater, 153 west 50 th St. H.Chanin Bldg., 122 east 42 nd St. I.Henry St. Playhouse, 263 Henry St.

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