Posted on Tue, Oct. 26, 2010

By Merilyn Jackson

For The Inquirer

What do five 60-plus black women share that has brought them together in a single show?Answer: All five have been making dance against heavy headwinds for as long as half a century. Each has received honors and accolades, and is still flying high. Yet none is as well known outside dance circles as, say, Judith Jamison or Debbie Allen.

So Georgiana Pickett, executive director of Brooklyn’s 651 Arts, in 2009 conceived a show that would give audiences a glimpse of the rich span of dance contributed by these dancer/choreographers for three generations and 50 years. This weekend that show, “Fly: Five First Ladies of Dance,” comes to the Painted Bride Art Center.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/20101026_Get_to_know__Five_First_Ladies_of_Dance_.html#ixzz13WsztHJo