by Karl Rodney
The Library of Congress during this year’s Black History Month celebration has announced that they have acquired the papers of choreographer Garth Fagan and the Garth Fagan Dance Company. The company was founded in 1970, this dance company has a record of distinguished artistic imagination and has for decades been known for the strength of the Caribbean and African
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American rhythm, beautifully layered by classic ballet training and discipline.
Garth Fagan is known worldwide as the choreographer for Disney’s beloved, ‘Lion King’. with an audience total of more than 100 million people during its twenty-five years on Broadway, including 25 global productions and a Broadway-sanctioned tour.
Live Performances of ‘The Lion King’ make Fagan the most-seen black choreographer of all time. The company has performed in more than 600 cities in 24 countries and on six continents. The dance company has a worldwide reputation of classical and contemporary dance and has contributed to a highly developed repertoire of dance, music, and choreography, and has probably one of the largest libraries, which will be now housed in the Library of Congress.
Garth Fagan, in his response to this exciting news, says – “I am encouraged, excited, and energized that the history of my life’s work, Garth Fagan Dance, built on a Black-created dance vocabulary, Fagan Technique, has touched more than a 100 million souls globally and will be preserved, in perpetuity, at the Library of Congress.”
Born in Jamaica in 1940, his father was a Chief Education Officer of Jamaica; as a teenager Fagan studied dance with Ivy Baxter and the
Jamaican National Dance Company. He attended Excelsior High School in St. Andrew, Jamaica and performed at the Inaugural Ceremony for Cuban president Fidel Castro in 1959, he then migrated to the United States in 1960 and danced with the Detroit Contemporary Dance Company, studied with JoseLimon, Margaret Inson, Alvin Ailey, Lavinia Williamsand Katherine Dunham. He had almost completed the master’s program before concluding that dance was his true calling.
In 1978 Fagan formed his own Company, the Garth Fagan Dance Company. In 1998 Fagan won the Tony Award for the best choreographer, that is, for The Lion King. He has achieved several other distinctions. He is also the recipient of an honorary doctor degree from Juliard School, University of Westchester.
Over the course of a decade, he studied with Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, Mary Hinkson and José Limon, and performed with Pearl Primus and Lavania Williams in New York. In Detroit, he directed the All-City Dance Company and choreographed and danced as a principal soloist with two other companies. Dunham.
In 1970, Fagan formed his own company, The Garth Fagan Dance Company. In 1998, Fagan won Tony Award for the best choreography for the `Lion King’. He has achieved several other distinctions, Fagan received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Dance Guild, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, Fagan is also the recipient of an honorary doctorate degree from the Julliard School, University of Westchester, Hobart College and William Smith Colleges.
Sue Vita, Chief of the Library’s Music Division remarked; Fagan’s appreciation of music worldwide, classical and contemporary, contributes to the remarkable and highly engaging repertoire, “The relationship between dance and music in his choreography makes it especially fitting that the Library’s Music Division, the world’s largest music library, will be the archival home for his collection.”
The Garth Fagan Dance archives join the collections of such dance luminaries as Martha Graham, Erick Hawkins, Bob Fosse and Gwen Vernon, Alvin Ailey, Lester Horton, Bronislava Nijinska, Katherine Dunham and the American Ballet Theatre at the Library of Congress.
Fagan is a proud Jamaican, proud of his roots and one that Carib News has honored in the past, and this is a singularly remarkable achievement that he needs to be lauded for, congratulated, and fully appreciated that he has honed his craft to such a degree that it is recognized worldwide and now sits in perpetuity for generations to enjoy and not only enjoy, but to be an inspiration to so many who would come across the story of this Jamaican who grew up in Kingston, had his start in Jamaica and has gone on to excel to the extent that this excellent recognition that is now being bestowed on him.
It is so fitting for this to happen during Black History Month. Congratulations, Garth Fagan, you are an inspiration to so many and your legacy lives on.
