Syvilla: They Dance to her Drum
‘Syvilla: They Dance to her Drum’ is a documentary film portraying the life of a first‑generation African‑American concert dancer, Syvilla Fort, whose enormous contribution to the performing arts, and her significance as a teacher left an indelible print on successive generations of Black dance-artists.
Scenes of her early performances on stage testify to her greatness and the beauty and poetry in her dance that were uniquely her own. She combined African, Caribbean and American rhythms to create her own style of choreography, and evoked a tempo that still, today, is a great influence on modern dance companies.
The film conveys what a vital force Syvilla Fort was to the dance movement, and the history of black dance who, like her, were written out of history and into obscurity.
Description Source: Cinenova Catalogue (1994). Edited by Kate Norrish. Editorial committee: Elaine Burrows, Liane Harris, Helen de Witt
