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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; the Harlem social dances
of the 1920s and the jazz dance of Broadway musicals. Black dance
has often been bound up with social and rights issues.
The history of black dance in Britain is relatively young, and
the first black British dance company, Ballet
Nègres, was formed in 1946. However black dancers from
the USA have been touring to England since the early 19th century
and black musicals from the States were popular on the British
stage in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Read on to discover more about the history of black dance on
the British stage.
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