Name: Friends of Dance Lecture with Kristopher Pourzal
Start: 2026-02-10T19:30:00-05:00
Location: Schwartz Center for Performing Arts

Friends of Dance Lecture with Kristopher Pourzal

Friends of Dance Lecture: Midtown Dance: Black Concert Dance Histories and New York City's Clark Center, 1959-1989
With Kristopher Pourzal, PhD, Assistant Professor, Kennesaw State University
February 10, 7:30pm
Dance Studio, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts
Free; no registration necessary
You probably know something about Alvin Ailey, but have you heard of Thelma Hill, Charles Moore, and Pepsi Bethel? Like Ailey, all of these choreographers were beloved fixtures in the New York City dance scene of the 1960s-80s. All of them helped to shape multiple generations of dance artists. And all taught at Clark Center. Originally founded as a home for Ailey's company in 1959, Clark Center was a vibrant hub of dance teaching and training, especially for African Americans. In this lecture, I share this under-told history of Black concert dance, drawing on archival research and oral history interviews with over twenty Clark Center alumni. Also key to understanding Clark Center’s significance was its location: midtown Manhattan, near Times Square and Broadway. Midtown drew a mix of dancers from uptown, downtown, and elsewhere, where they came to train, work, and hang out. While commercialization squeezed out many of midtown's gathering spaces by the end of the 1980s, including Clark Center, I show how the Center's legacies live on today, expanding our understanding of concert dance as a way to make new worlds together.
Dr. Kristopher Pourzal is a dance scholar, performer, and dramaturg. Originally from the Washington, D.C. area, he is based in Atlanta and works as Assistant Professor of Dance at Kennesaw State University. Pourzal's research is broadly invested in the histories, impacts, and possibilities of Black/queer/feminist performance practices. His publications in progress include essays on choreographers Hope Clarke and Kyle Abraham. Pourzal holds a PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he also earned a Graduate Certificate from the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Additionally, Pourzal holds an MFA in Dance from Arizona State University.