Syvilla Fort: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Syvilla Fort stood at the crossing point of Black concert dance, the Cornish School's experimental ferment, and midcentury New York's teaching studios. Her 1940 Cornish graduation solo prompted John Cage to invent the prepared piano; her West 44th Street studio later trained Ailey, Holder, Kitt and Brando. This mix traces the Dunham lineage behind her, the Seattle avant-garde around her, and the dancers who carried her drum.

The Kynda mix for Syvilla Fort

• Key Influence · L'Ag'Ya by Katherine Dunham (1938). Fort joined Dunham's company in the 1940s and became its chief dance director and trainer, teaching the Dunham technique for years. L'Ag'Ya, built from Dunham's Martinique fieldwork on the fighting dance of the same name, is the foundational statement of that technique: Caribbean ritual vocabulary restructured for the proscenium. Fort's whole pedagogy — isolations, polyrhythmic torso, Afro-Caribbean floor work — descends from this body of research. ...and its codification. ...and its codification. ...and its codification. ...and its codification. ...and its codification. ...and its codification. ...and its codification. ...and its codification. ...and its codification.

What influenced Syvilla Fort

• Katherine Dunham (1909). Fort learned Dunham's technique while dancing with her company. (also via L'Ag'Ya) “Several weeks later, Fort began dancing and touring with the Katherine Dunham Company and learning the Dunham technique, which was rooted in the dance traditions of Africa, Haiti, and Trinidad.” (World Biographical Encyclopedia)
• University of Washington. States Fort attended the University of Washington. “she also attended the Uni versity of Washington” (The Northwest Enterprise (Seattle, Wash.))
• L'Ag'Ya by Katherine Dunham (1938). L'Ag'Ya (Katherine Dunham) — titan for Syvilla Fort “After spending five years at the Cornish School, Fort decided to pursue her dance career in Los Angeles, and in 1939 her neighbor, black composer William Grant Still, introduced Fort to dancer Katherine Dunham.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Cornish School of Music. States Fort trained and graduated from the Cornish School of Music.

Peers and kindred spirits

• Teachers College, Columbia University. Fort taught physical education at Teachers College. “In 1967, she took an additional part-time job at Teacher’s College, Columbia University.” (Wendy Perron)
• John Cage. Cage composed Bacchanale for a dance by Fort. “For her piece Bacchanale (1940), Fort asked Cage to write something with an African “inflection.” Cage envisioned a percussion ensemble, but there wasn’t enough room in the Repertory Playhouse to accommodate.” (Wendy Perron)
• Katherine Dunham School of Dance. Fort was a dance teacher at the Katherine Dunham School of Dance. “Instead she became an important and beloved teacher of the Dunham Technique at the Dunham School from the 1940s till 1954, when she and her husband Buddy Philips (whom she had met earlier that decade) opened the Philips-Fort Dance Studio.” (Alastair Macaulay)
• Katherine Dunham dancers. Establishes Syvilla Fort as a member of the Katherine Dunham dance company. “Mia Syvilla Fort, the talented delighter or Mrs. Mildred bill, will be one of the feamred artists of the Dunham Dalwe Troupe amear ing at the Moore Theater June 5 and 6.” (The Northwest Enterprise (Seattle, Wash.))
• Merce Cunningham (1919). Perron identifies Fort and Cunningham as collaborators on Skinny Structures. “Also on the program was Skinny Structures, a collaboration by the three students in which they played silly characters: Cunningham spoofed a bellhop that had been a popular figure in a cigarette ad, Fort did a take-off on “The Good Ship …” (Wendy Perron)
• Katherine Dunham Company. Fort danced and toured with the Katherine Dunham Company. “Several weeks later, Fort began dancing and touring with the Katherine Dunham Company and learning the Dunham technique, which was rooted in the dance traditions of Africa, Haiti, and Trinidad.” (Wikipedia)

Who Syvilla Fort influenced

• Alvin Ailey (1931). Ailey is identified as Fort's student. “Alvin Ailey, Chuck Davis, Eartha Kitt, Brenda Bufalino, and Yvonne Rainer all studied at the new school.” (Wendy Perron)
• James Dean (1931). Dean is named as a student of Fort. “There are famous photographs of James Dean taking dance class (in some of them beside Eartha Kitt). His teacher (see 52; 53; 54), often visible but with her back to the camera, is Syvilla Fort.” (Alastair Macaulay)
• Chita Rivera. Rivera is named as a student of Fort. “Those classes were unbelievable. We would walk in and down one end of the barre you would see Eartha Kitt. Then at the other end of the barre you would see Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Marlon Brando, Susan Strasberg, Chita Rivera, and the…” (The Dance Enthusiast)
• James Earl Jones. Jones is named as a student of Fort. “So did James Dean, Marlon Brando, Eartha Kitt, Jane Fonda, Shirley MacLaine, James Earl Jones, and Geoffrey Holder.” (Wendy Perron)
• Marlon Brando. Brando is named as a student of Fort. “Then at the other end of the barre you would see Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Marlon Brando, Susan Strasberg, Chita Rivera, and the list went on.” (The Dance Enthusiast)
• Jane Fonda. Fonda is named as a student of Fort. “Other white celebrities who took Fort’s classes included Marlon Brando and Jane Fonda.” (Alastair Macaulay)
• Geoffrey Holder. Holder is named as a student of Fort. “So did James Dean, Marlon Brando, Eartha Kitt, Jane Fonda, Shirley MacLaine, James Earl Jones, and Geoffrey Holder.” (Wendy Perron)
• Eartha Kitt (1927). Kitt is named as a student of Fort. “Those classes were unbelievable. We would walk in and down one end of the barre you would see Eartha Kitt.” (The Dance Enthusiast)
• José Limón. Limón is named as a student of Fort. “Fort shaped three generations of dancers and among her best-known students were Marlon Brando, James Dean, Jane Fonda, James Earl Jones, Eartha Kitt, Jose Limon, Chita Rivera, and Geoffrey Holder.” (World Biographical Encyclopedia)