University of Virginia Library

Black Culture Week

Until the University can attract enough
black students to support its own indigenous
black culture, we will have to be content with
the imported variety. But if Monday night's
presentation by the Alvin Ailey American
Dance Theatre is any indication of what Black
Culture Week is going to be like, the imported
variety will be almost as good as the real
thing.

Black Culture Week is a joint project of the
Black Students for Freedom and the University
Union. Throughout the week, there will
be presentations of black theatre and black
art, panel discussions and films dealing with
the black experience in America. It will be a
good opportunity for students here to get a
better appreciation of a rich and varied
culture that is too often represented solely by
Motown and media scare headlines.

The Alvin Ailey Dancers got the week off
to a magnificently successful start. Predictably
enough, there were a number of empty seats
after the group's first set. But those who
stayed were rewarded by a varied program
that was at times brilliantly - even shockingly
- effective in conveying a sense of the black
man's soul in all its oppressed and yet joyous
dignity.

Of particular interest tonight will be the
presentation of "In White America" in Cabell
Hall Auditorium by a group of Washington
area high school students. Despite their age,
these people reportedly present an effective
and professional performance. It should be
well worth attending.