Primus, Pearl

(born Nov. 29, 1919, Port of Spain, Trin.—died Oct. 29, 1994, New Rochelle, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. Her family moved to New York City when she was two years old. She made her dance debut as the first black member of the New Dance Group in 1943 and formed her own company the next year. Her anthropological research in Africa and the Caribbean led her to choreograph works such as African Ceremonial (1944) and The Wedding (1961), and she obtained a Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Primus, Pearl (?1919–94) modern dancer, choreographer; born in Trinidad, British West Indies. Coming to the U.S.A. as a child, she took premed science courses at Hunter College in New York City, and fell into dancing almost by chance while looking for laboratory work in 1940. The first African-American accepted by the New Dance Group, she made her solo debut in 1944 to great critical acclaim. A powerful and dramatic dancer, she gave many performances based on West Indian and African dances, forming her own group with her husband, Percival Borde. She won a Rosenwald fellowship to study the dances of Africa (1948–51) and earned a Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University. She was the first director of the Liberian performing arts center (1959) and in the 1970s her works were presented by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.