The V&A’s Theatre and Performance collections contain a large number of resources on the history of Black performance, including theatre, music and dance.
Black Performance in Britain before 1800
There are references to African performers in Edinburgh dating from 1505, and it is also recorded that the court of Henry VII employed a ‘Black Trumpete’ for the sum of eig…
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Black & Asian Performance in Britain 1800-1899
Throughout the 19th century, black performers regularly appeared on the London stage, often from theatres in America. The first black actor to become famous was Ira Alridge…
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Black & Asian Performance in Britain 1900-1939
At the turn of the 20th century, black musicals such as 'In Dahomey' became the rage in both New York and London, bringing with them new dance crazes such as the Cakewalk a…
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Black & Asian Performance in Britain 1940-1969
Successful black shows on the 1940s London stage included the musical 'Calypso', featuring the West Indian actor Edric Connor, and the stage play 'Deep are the Roots' starr…
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Black & Asian Performance in Britain 1970 onwards
In the 1970s new black theatre companies included Black Theatre Co-operative (now Nitro), Carib Theatre, Temba Theatre, the Asian company Tara Arts, Black Mime Theatre, Str…
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History of Black Dance: The Origins of Black Dance
The term black dance describes a range of styles whose origins include the tribal dances of Africa, the slave dances of the West Indies and the American Deep South
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History of Black Dance: 20th-Century Black American Dance
Black culture had a real influence on dance and other art forms in the 20th century. After the American civil war a surge of people from the Caribbean and Deep South migrat…
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History of Black Dance: Black British Dance
The first British black dance company was Ballets Nègres. Its founder, Berto Pasuka was born in Jamaica and learned dancing from the Maroon Negroes, descendants of runaway …
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Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker, international star of sensational, exotic cabarets including La Revue Nègre, and the infamous Folies Bergère in Paris and Berlin, was born on 3 June 1906 i…
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Black & Asian Performance - A Users' Guide
'Black and Asian Performance at the Theatre Museum - A User's Guide' was the V&A Theatre Collections’ first major step in bringing its collections on the vital history of b…
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Black & Asian Performance Reading List
Recommended reading list about black and asian performance
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A gift in your will
You may not have thought of including a gift to a museum in your will, but the V&A is a charity and legacies form an important source of funding for our work. It is not just the great collectors and the wealthy who leave legacies to the V&A. Legacies of all sizes, large and small, make a real difference to what we can do and your support can help ensure that future generations enjoy the V&A as much as you have.
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Collaborators: UK Design for Performance 2003-2007
Published to accompany the 'Collaborators' exhibition at the V&A (21 November 2007 - 18 November 2008), the catalogue of Design for Performance is…
Buy nowEvent - Theatre & Performance Galleries Tour
Fri 19 February 2010–Tue 31 December 2013
TOUR: Take a guided tour of the V&A's exciting theatre and performance collections, including rock & pop posters, theatre and ballet costumes, puppets, stage sets and more! See new costumes from the Lion King now on display.
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