Under the direction of Samuel Pott, the New Jersey-based Nimbus Dance Works focuses on the intersection between high-level dance and innovative ways of involving communities and audiences. The solo seen here exemplifies the pioneering work of Pearl Primus, who titled it A Man Has Just Been Lynched at its 1943 premiere. Billie Holiday had already made “Strange Fruit” a hit song when she first sang it in 1939. While the dance has sometimes been presented in silence, it was so passionately performed that it cast a harrowing spell over audiences whether the text was heard or simply implied.
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