Ninoska M'bewe Escobar, Ph.D. is an artist-scholar specializing in Black diasporic theatre, dance and performance. She investigates how bodies carry history and memory and how cultural heritage and social experiences shape identities and artistic practices. Her book project examines the work and legacy of the Caribbean-American choreographer-anthropologist-social activist Pearl Primus (1919-1994). She has examined the reemergence of the rarely seen work Michael Row The Boat Ashore (1979), created by Primus in response to the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Her essay on this work appears in The Journal of American Culture special issue Dance and the Black Body (Summer 2023).
“My life experience informs my belief in movement and drama as forms of, and routes towards knowledge. My teaching and research is inspired by pioneers whose methodologies helped to establish Black cultures and expressive forms as sources for artistic and scholarly production. Pearl Primus is an especially significant model because her artistic thrust and social activism established a deep concern for, and commitment to furthering understanding about the value of Black life, while also affirming the intrinsic worth of all humanity. In Primus’s work, I see the roots of inquiry-based learning that uncovers and creates knowledge by investigating cultural practices through multiple contexts while connecting performance and the stage to lived experiences.”
Community Class at Greenhouse, Litchfield Jazz Festival, 2004.
“The class is an exhilarating journey through the soul of African dance, taught by M'bewe Escobar, a high-energy and fearless dancer who has developed a unique method of teaching - one that emphasizes the deep beauty, mysticism and strength of spiritual and social dances of West Africa, the Congo and Brazil.”
– Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, 1987