To the beat of the drum originated in West Africa for African Americans, the creative spark to bring something new into the world through dance is flourishing today as it did 400 years ago. In fact, both social dance and performance dance have been inseparable from the African-American community as it was a way to express its poetry… it’s Social cohesion… And its joy and sorrow… And it’s the drive to freedom. African-American dance has always been innovative and improvising. In this groundbreaking five-part series, The Genius of African-American Dance, we show how African-American dance has evolved, creating new forms of dance, including the Cakewalk, Ragtime, Charleston, Swing, the Twist, Disco, Modern Dance, Breakdancing, and finally, Afrofuturism’s glorification of the black body through dance.

Episode 1: African Dance and the Middle Passage
Episode 2: Minstrel Shows, Vaudeville, and Broadway
Episode 3: The Harlem Renaissance and the Jazz Age
Episode 4: R&B, Modern Dance, and Breakdancing
Episode 5: Dance and Afrofuturism