Charles H. Williams and the Hampton Institute Creative Dance Group

Purpose

This research is a historical biography of Charles Holston Williams, (1886 to 1978), as Departmental Chair of Physical Education at Hampton Institute and founder of the Hampton Institute Creative Dance Group. The research will highlight his pioneering efforts in establishing the Dance Group and their use of African diasporic dance in modern choreography. Williams' modern dance program at Hampton Institute instituted in 1934 was innovative in its implementation of cultural and spiritual themes in the modern dance genre. The Dance Group's use of Haitian and African religious dance forms, as well as Negro spirituals and work songs have never been fully recognized by scholars. The research will document the Dance Group's unprecedented performances, in both the modern dance arena and university setting, throughout the United States.

Methods

The research is primarily historical with the methodology based in archival management and oral history. The Hampton University Archives houses boxes of material on both the Dance Group and Charles H. Williams. The material on the Dance Group is mostly newspaper reviews, photographs, and performance programs. The materials on Williams deal mainly with his business enterprises, but most importantly are chronological copies of every letter Williams wrote. These are both personal in nature and involving business matters. New York City Library for the Performing Arts had no materials on either the Dance Group or Charles H. Williams. The Library of Congress contains material on the Moton family, but the information on Charlotte Moton Kennedy is after she left Hampton Institute. When the research was conducted, a few of the original company member were still alive to interview. A film was made of the dance group in 1945 by IBM, entitled “Album of the Americas”.

Analysis/Results

Initial analysis determined that both Williams and the Dance Group were little known in the dance world as the first to place Afro-centric thematic material on the formal concert stage. Attempts to determine their actual movement qualities and choreography are limited to the black and white still photographs remaining. Searches for the film have not produced any leads as to if it is still in existence.

Conclusions

The Hampton Institute Creative Dance Group under the direction of Charles H. Williams and their formalized use of African, African-diasporic and Haitian dance forms in choreography have historically impacted the focus of modern choreography. They deserve to be fully credited and given recognition for their contribution to modern dance.