Carole Johnson

Carole Yvonne Johnson (born 1940) is an African American contemporary dancer and choreographer, known for her role in the establishment of the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA), and as co-founder of Bangarra Dance Theatre in Australia. Early in her career she became a lead dancer in the Eleo Pomare Dance Company, and Pomare had a profound influence on her dancing style.

She is also an activist, arts administrator and researcher.

Early life and education Carole Yvonne Johnson was born in Jersey City, New Jersey of African-American descent. Her father, Fred S. A. Johnson, formed a branch of the YMCA in North Philadelphia, and Carole grew up Philadelphia. The family was middle class, and she trained in classical ballet as a child. As a teenager, she studied at the Philadelphia Ballet Guild under British choreographer Antony Tudor (who founded the school in the mid-1950s, and mentored black students there ). She also trained under Sydney Gibson King. In 1960, she was accepted into the Juilliard School in New York City, and graduated in 1963 with a Bachelor of Arts. She later said that "Pomare made me the dancer that I am today... I was very technical, which he liked, but he managed to pull all my emotion out".

During September 1966, along with Eleo Pomare, Rod Rodgers, Gus Solomon and Pearl Reynolds, Johnson established the Association of Black Choreographers, which was predecessor to the Modern Organization for Dance Evolvement [MODE]. Its stated emphases were "to be of service to professionals in dance, and to be an educational and informational organisation for the general public and people in other professions interested in dance", and its 12 listed goals showed a focus on black dance.

In 1970 Johnson founded and became the editor of The Feet (also styled THE FEET and The FEET ), a magazine for black dancers which was published from 1970 to 1973 (23 issues) ), and The Feet was later edited by Alicia Adams. The company performed their signature piece Blues for the Jungle on this tour, which, according to Johnson, "really excited the blacks who saw for the first time how the contemporary arts could be used to convey relevant social messages". Johnson, who was at that time the leading dancer in the company, Johnson set up a six-week Aboriginal modern dance workshop, ). As part of the drive to save the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, she created The Challenge - Embassy Dance, featuring students from the workshops, including Wayne Nicol; Norma Williams (Ingram); Euphemia "Phemie" Bostock and her daughter Tracey; and sisters Elsie and Joanne Vesper. In 1976 this program grew into a professional dance course for Indigenous Australians, called "Careers in Dance", which became a subsidiary of the Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Scheme (AISDS), with Johnson as founding executive director. (Later, in 1988, this was renamed National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association, or NAISDA. and became its founding artistic director. Stephen Page took over the directorship in 1991, and Johnson continued her work in related venues, dividing her time between Australia and the United States.

Recognition and awards 1999: Induction into the Hall of Fame, Australian Dance Awards as well as the definition of black dance.

Works With the Eleo Pomare company, Johnson danced in the following works, among others: The Angels Are Watching Over Me Construction in Green From the Soul Gin, Woman, Distress, as Bessie Smith Jailhouse Blues, as Angela Davis

Footnotes