University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Dancing a legacy: movement in the wake of the Greensboro Massacre

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Dancing a legacy: movement in the wake of the Greensboro Massacre

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Content Copyright 2020 Sophie Jeanette Bress

DANCING A LEGACY:
MOVEMENT IN THE WAKE OF THE GREENSBORO MASSACRE

by

Sophie Jeanette Bress

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ANNENBERG SCHOOL FOR
COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(SPECIALIZED JOURNALISM: THE ARTS)

August 2020

ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 1
History 3
Biography of Ana Maria Alvarez 5
Greensboro Performance of joyUS justUS 7
The Community of Survivors 9
CONTRA-TIEMPO 11
Lasting Legacy 13
Bibliography 15
Appendices 17
Appendix A: Transcript of the first audio piece 17
Appendix B: Transcript of second audio piece 17
Appendix C: Explanation of the code 17

iii
Abstract

I first became fascinated with CONTRA-TIEMPO Urban Latin Dance Theater when I
had the opportunity to take a two-day workshop offered by the company at my undergraduate
university, Loyola Marymount. The visiting artists from CONTRA-TIEMPO introduced me to
the concept of using dance to speak out against injustice, and I found this idea absolutely
captivating. From there, CONTRA-TIEMPO became the subject of my undergraduate thesis. I
spent the final semester of my senior year of college exploring how dance is vehicle for social
change through the lens of CONTRA-TIEMPO’s newest work, joyUS justUS.
In Fall 2019, when I was searching for a Master’s thesis topic, CONTRA-TIEMPO’s
Founding Artistic Director Ana Maria Alvarez approached me with a story that I couldn’t get out
of my head.
I knew this story was important as soon as Alvarez began to tell me about it. Not only
was the emotion palpable in her voice, she had given me the rare opportunity to dive into her
mind, exploring her roots and what led her on her creative life path.
Alvarez grew up in the shadow of the Greensboro Massacre, a tragic event in which five
of her parent’s close friends were killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Alvarez’s parents and
the five victims were all members of an organization called the Communist Worker’s Party
(formerly the Worker’s Viewpoint Organization), which was heavily invested in labor rights for
workers and protesting the activities of the Klan.
Though Alvarez was only two years old at the time of the killings, her parents did not
hide the truth of what happened from her. Her connection with these events and the lasting
legacy of the five individuals who died that day is in many ways the reason why her activism
work exists today.
iv
When she contacted me, she was preparing to take CONTRA-TIEMPO to Greensboro,
North Carolina to perform joyUS justUS as part of the 40
th
anniversary commemoration of the
massacre. The performance would be a beautiful, full circle moment in which Alvarez would
bring her life’s work back to where it all began.
I had the immense good fortune to receive a grant funding my travel to Greensboro to
participate in the commemoration activities. The majority of my time in Greensboro was spent
documenting the activities of CONTRA-TIEMPO: sitting in on rehearsals and set load-in,
watching pop-up performances and classes at the local universities, and, of course, watching the
performance of joyUS justUS. I was also able to fully immerse myself in other elements of the
commemoration: attending educational panels, watching a community reading of Emily Mann’s
play Greensboro: A Requiem, and meeting the community of Greensboro Massacre survivors.
I conducted the bulk of my reporting and research during my five days in Greensboro. I
captured photos, videos, and audio segments, interviewed sources, and took observational notes.
I was able to interview Sally Alvarez, Ana Maria Alvarez’s mother, and Zithobile Nxumalo, who
was instrumental in bringing the company to Greensboro. I conducted my interviews with
Alvarez and two company members — Jannet Galdamez and Jasmine Stanley —after returning
to Los Angeles.
The rest of the time it took to prepare my thesis was spent sifting through the bulk of raw
material I had gathered, transcribing interviews, synthesizing, writing, editing, and developing
code that would most effectively present this story as a multimedia website. The finished product
is bigger than me, and bigger, even, than Ana Maria Alvarez. It reverberates within an entire
community. This community, like Alvarez, has grown and blossomed out of tragedy, and I feel
v
honored and humbled to tell a piece of their story. My finished multimedia thesis can be found
here.
1
Introduction
“You all said you were ready to rise, am I right?” Diana Toledo shouts as she breaks free
from the line of dancers taking their curtain call.
Cheers erupt from the packed house of North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State
University’s Harrison Auditorium in Greensboro, North Carolina. Toledo crouches down and
scans the crowd, as if to look each member of the audience in the eye. “You all said you were
ready to rise, am I right?”
The applause swells.
“So get your joyous selves up on the stage, let’s get down,” she says, raising both arms in
the air.
People pack the aisles, flooding the stairs on either side of the proscenium, eagerly
joining the audience members who had been seated on stage to watch CONTRA-TIEMPO’s
performance of its acclaimed joyUS justUS.
Forming dance circles, they merge with Toledo and the other CONTRA-TIEMPO artists.
One dancer launches into a spree of break-dance moves. A group of children’s eyes widen as
they watch. An elderly couple joins hands and bursts into a lively swing dance. Everyone lets
loose.
CONTRA-TIEMPO’s Founding Artistic Director Ana Maria Alvarez receives them all,
flinging her arms wide. Among the throngs that fill the stage are her husband, Jonathan Lowe,
and their two sons, Luca and Sidney. Alvarez’s parents, Joe and Sally, too, are there. It’s
impossible to tell who is a CONTRA-TIEMPO dancer and who isn’t, who is family and who is
not.
2
It seems like everyone is out of their seats, dancing. Everyone except for the armed
guards stationed outside each of the theater doors.
Forty years ago, five people were killed in Greensboro, victims of a racially and
politically motivated shooting that is commonly referred to as the 1979 Greensboro Massacre.
Mention of the massacre within the Greensboro community unearths forces of tension that are
not buried far beneath the surface. And for people like Alvarez, her family, and the CONTRA-
TIEMPO company members — who choose to remember the Massacre and honor those who
were lost — it could even mean danger. Many citizens would prefer to erase November 3
rd
from
town history altogether (Alvarez 2019). Because of this, having firearms present at the event was
not a deliberate choice. It was a necessity, said Alvarez (2019), whose joyUS justUS pays
homage to the Greensboro victims during the 40
th
anniversary commemoration of the Massacre.
“There is a sense of real denial of our history that I find to be very disheartening,”
Alvarez (2019) said. “But that also fires me up and ignites a flame inside of me”

3
History
The day before the performance, in the industrially lit dressing room below the stage,
Alvarez gathered the eight company dancers together. Her voice steeped in emotion, she told
them the story of Cesar Cauce, Michael Nathan, William Sampson, Sandra Smith, and James
Waller, the five activists who were killed by the Ku Klux Klan in the Greensboro Massacre.
The Greensboro Five were members of the Communist Worker’s Party, as were
Alvarez’s parents. On November 3
rd
, 1979, the group had organized a march protesting the
activities of the Klan. The CWP was committed to labor rights for workers in the nearby mills.
The Klan opposed this activity, not only because the CWP favored communist ideals, but
because their actions integrated workers of all races (Alvarez 2019). The march — officially
titled the “Death to the Klan March” — took place in a predominantly African-American
neighborhood called Morningside Homes. At approximately 11:20 am, the protestors were
confronted by gun-wielding members of the Klan. The Klansmen killed five CWP members,
injured 10, and left intense emotional wounds on numerous others (Assael and Keating, 2019).
This is not the type of story that most of us recall from our childhood. But for Alvarez,
it’s one that she’ll never forget. Though her parents were not present during the November 3
rd

attacks, they were active in the CWP and the victims were their friends.
“Every single one of the [Greensboro] Five were like aunts and uncles to me,” Alvarez
(2019) said. “I have pictures with every single one of them holding me as a baby.”
Alvarez’s father was one of the main labor organizers for the CWP, and had he been
present that day, her world might have changed in an instant.
“It wasn’t just random shots into a crowd. It was very much targeted at the organizers and
my father was an organizer,” she said. “I was two years old when it happened, but growing up
4
there’s always been this idea that it could have been him. It could have been my father (Alvarez
2019).”
There were three trials following the massacre. Alvarez was seven years old by the end of
the second criminal trial, when nine Klansmen were acquitted by an all-white jury in federal
court. Though the following civil trial resulted in a payment of restitution to two Greensboro
Massacre survivors, the Klan was not responsible for the payment. The money came from the
City of Greensboro. To this day, not a single Klansmen has ever served time or paid in any way
for the tragedy that took place on November 3
rd
, 1979 (Alvarez 2019).
“We were going through the court trials for what felt like my childhood,” Alvarez (2019)
said. “The Greensboro Massacre being a fact of my life and my upbringing shaped the way that I
view the world.”

5
Biography of Ana Maria Alvarez
Ana Maria Alvarez was born in Greensboro, North Carolina to a Cuban father and an
American mother. She grew up in a socially conscious household and was taught from a young
age that she had both a connection to the politics of the world and the power to change them. Her
parents didn’t shield their children from the harsh realities of what happened on November 3
rd
,
1979. Rather, they used the tragedy as a way to teach young Alvarez, and her brother Cesar —
named after Cesar Cauce — about justice, community, and standing up for what’s right.
“I knew as a little girl that whatever I was going to do with my life, I was going to fight
for justice and I was going to create a world of more love, more compassion, more connection,
and more tolerance,” she said (Alvarez 2019).
Though her family moved away from Greensboro after the 1979 Massacre, they returned
when Alvarez was in high school. During these years, she was a member of the E. Gwynn
dancers at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. It was with this dance
company that she first began to learn and perform traditional West African, Afro-Haitian, and
Afro-Cuban dances. She was also introduced to the work of Katherine Dunham, a dance and
social justice pioneer, who she later trained with at the Dunham Institute in New York City.
She went on to earn her BA in dance and politics at Oberlin College and her MFA in
choreography at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her MFA thesis project,
which focused on using salsa dance as a form of resistance against unjust immigration laws, was
the force behind the birth of CONTRA-TIEMPO. She founded the company in 2005 (Alvarez
2019).
“When I was deciding to be an artist, I always knew that I was going to be an artist that
was making a difference,” Alvarez (2019) said. “Art was my selected and chosen — and by
6
chosen I mean it chose me — tool to be able to really make a difference. That’s definitely part of
why I decided to even have a company and why my company does the kind of work it does.”
Fast-forward 15 years and CONTRA-TIEMPO is celebrating its anniversary after a Los
Angeles performance of joyUS justUS. Dressed in brightly patterned wide leg trousers that
resemble the skirt of a ball gown, Alvarez exudes warmth and effortlessly commands the room.
Company members and audience members mingle, sipping champagne and celebrating the
company’s success. Alvarez is surrounded by friends and family, as it seems she always is.
“[You can] get caught up in her vortex because she really is a powerful person,” her
mother, Sally Alvarez (2019) said. “She has a powerful presence and a drive to make things
happen that sweeps people up.”
It was this drive that resulted in CONTRA-TIEMPO, a dynamic company that fuses the
activism Alvarez grew up with and the artistic sensibility she has cultivated her entire life.
Through her return to Greensboro with the company she’s built, Alvarez has not only brought
her own work full circle, she has paid testament to the work and legacy of the Greensboro Five.

7
Greensboro Performance of joyUS justUS
Allusions and direct ties to the Greensboro Massacre infuse joyUS justUS (2019) from
start to finish. At the top of the second act, the full company of dancers bursts onto the stage, like
beams of light in their vibrantly patterned, jewel-toned costumes. They stop as abruptly as they
started, like they’ve run into a time warp and suddenly are moving in slow motion. A clear,
steady voice pierces the still air of the auditorium: “Justice.” Other voices join in, repeating the
word and defining it. A steady drumbeat accompanies this voice track, fused — through pattern
and rhythm — with the spoken word and the slow, determined strides of the dancers. Like a
wave has crashed over their heads, they begin to fall to the floor, one at a time, and roll over their
shoulders, letting the words wash over them like water. And then the audio track asks the
question that still rings in the heads of Greensboro Massacre survivors today: “But what about
justice?”
In another section of the piece, Toledo and Bianca Medina stand strong, their legs rooted
to the stage like tree trunks. Their upper bodies undulate, growing up from the solid base their
legs provide. Once upright, their arms raise above their heads and cross to form an “X.” Fists
clenched, their entire bodies almost vibrate with power. Soon, more dancers join them on the
stage, walking and running, jumping and falling, enveloping the space in moving bodies. This
section of the performance is accompanied by sounds of a protest, but as the movement of the
dancers intensifies, becoming frantic, it suggests that it’s a protest that’s turned to chaos and to
tragedy.
“The most powerful way to resist anything is by putting your body on the line. That’s
what the Greensboro Five did,” Alvarez (2019) said. “What does it mean to have your body be a
8
vessel for connection and self-expression and power and joy and reframing narrative? I think that
dance has that capacity.”
Alvarez’s dances certainly do. joyUS justUS, her most recent work, examines systems of
oppression and hardship, specifically those faced by communities of color. Her work turns the
oppressive narrative on its head, using joy as a form of resistance to rise up against the powers
that be.
While joyUS justUS was in development, CONTRA-TIEMPO worked with underserved
communities in South Los Angeles to generate movement and choreographic material. Much of
the fodder for this material came from shared story circles and conversations. And though joyUS
justUS tells the story of South LA, and the stories of the company dancers, it is also Alvarez’s
story. The backdrop for the work— a series of homemade, hanging tapestries and quilts — is
made from clothing, curtains, and other material from her childhood. There is a section of the
piece in which the adoption story of her son, Luca, is depicted. And, of course, Alvarez’s activist
roots become the lifeblood that runs through the veins of joyUS justUS.
Bringing the work to Greensboro is in many ways bringing it back to where it began. And
for Alvarez, it felt like a merging of worlds. “In Greensboro, to look around and see all of these
people from my childhood and all of these people that are really family, connected with
CONTRA-TIEMPO, it just really felt like the energy was off the chain,” she said. “I just felt like
there were so many connections that got made that night” (Alvarez 2019).

9
The Community of Survivors
The area of Greensboro that was once Morningside Homes is now empty. The paved
streets still remain, but there are no houses, no children playing, no people walking their dogs.
Even if someone didn’t know what happened here, there is a palpable feeling of heaviness in the
air. Aside from the power lines that split through the sky, the only thing standing is a historical
marker which reads: “Greensboro Massacre: Ku Klux Klan members and American Nazis, on
Nov. 3, 1979, shot and killed five Communist Workers Party members one-tenth mile north.
“The neighborhood doesn’t exist anymore; they tore it down,” Sally Alvarez (2019) said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was very deliberate.”
To this day, it is incredibly difficult to bring up the events of November 3
rd
in
Greensboro. Some disagree with the word “massacre,” choosing instead to call it a “shootout.”
Many do not acknowledge the events of November 3
rd
at all, hoping to forget about it and move
on (Alvarez 2019). The historical marker was put in place only recently, in 2015. It not only
acknowledges what happened that day, but in many ways is a small symbol of victory for the
survivors. After all these years, there is finally some form of recognition of what happened on
this land, of their friends, and of the lives that were lost (Battaglia 2015).
But despite the acknowledgement that came with the construction of the historical
marker, Alvarez ran into numerous roadblocks as she was trying to secure funding for
CONTRA-TIEMPO’s performance in Greensboro. Most of the issues stemmed from the local
refusal to discuss and engage with the Greensboro Massacre (Nxumalo 2019).
“I was asked over and over again: ‘Well, why don’t you bring the show and just don’t tell
anyone you’re connected to November 3
rd
and we could potentially help sponsor that,’” Alvarez
10
(2019) recounted. “I had to tell people multiple times that I was not going to dis-associate with
the Greensboro Massacre.”
Because of this local trepidation toward addressing the events of November 3rd,
CONTRA-TIEMPO did not receive any outside funding from Greensboro entities aside from the
Beloved Community Center, a faith and social justice-based organization founded by Nelson
Johnson, a survivor of the Massacre (Alvarez 2019). But despite these fiscal difficulties, Alvarez
knew this performance was something she had to do. She made contact with local universities —
including North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University — to organize dance
workshops and pop-up performances (Nxumalo 2019).
Just like the community of survivors rallied together after November 3
rd
, they rallied
behind Alvarez to bring the performance to fruition. Maintaining togetherness and community
was key for healing in the years after the massacre, and it’s clear that in this Alvarez found
inspiration. joyUS justUS is a testament to that.
“One of the reasons we were able to survive as individuals, as a family, and as a
community was that people loved each other.” Sally Alvarez (2019) said. “Both [Ana Maria and
her brother, Cesar] grew up as part of a community that grew out of November 3
rd
. It’s an intact
community that has been a wellspring of creativity and joy, particularly for Ana Maria.”

11
CONTRA-TIEMPO
Alvarez’s family tree spans far beyond her nuclear family. It includes everyone who was
affected by November 3
rd
, 1979: the survivors, their children, and the Greensboro Five
themselves. Growing up rooted in this way, it’s no wonder that the community she created
within CONTRA-TIEMPO is just as strong.
The six dancers and two apprentices that make up CONTRA-TIEMPO support each other
onstage and off. Onstage, they back one another through their bodies and voices, by clapping,
whooping, and hollering. Offstage, they are a home base for each other. When Alvarez told the
dancers the story of November 3
rd
, she had tears in her eyes, and so did several company
members. It was clear that they were empathizing with her and also preparing to stand by one
another during the commemoration. For some company members, the Greensboro performance
was the first time they had realized the depth of Alvarez’s connection with the 1979 massacre.
“I developed a deeper understanding of her and why she does the work that she does,”
said Jasmine Stanley (2019), who has danced with the company since 2018. “She’s so
knowledgeable because she grew up in this, she’s experienced it.”
Learning about Alvarez’s history caused Stanley (2019) to understand and approach
joyUS justUS in a new way. During previous performances of the work, she found connection to
the choreography through her own story. In Greensboro, however, she connected to Alvarez’s
story, and to the stories of each survivor in the audience.
“I felt like I was almost sharing the story of the community. It felt less like ‘this is my
story and I want share’ and more like ‘I see you, and we’re connected,’” she said (Stanley 2019).

12
For CONTRA-TIEMPO dancer Jannet Galdamez, performing joyUS justUS in
Greensboro allowed her to connect more deeply with the piece. And through her dancing in the
work, she felt united with the community of Greensboro Massacre survivors.
“Everywhere we go, joyUS justUS is a piece that’s absolutely influenced by the people
we share it with,” she said (Galdamez 2019). “There was just a different drive, a different push
[in Greensboro]. It was absolutely humbling to be able to share with this community. And even
though it was my first time in Greensboro, there was a very home-like feeling because Ana
Maria had established her family and community there already. As a dancer, and feeling so
connected to her, it felt very much like home.”
Galdamez and each of the CONTRA-TIEMPO dancers know Alvarez deeply, as not only
their choreographer and director, but as their friend. During their tenure in Greensboro, the
company members dove into Alvarez’s history, learning about the massacre so they could
connect more deeply with the community at the commemoration, and also with Alvarez.
“This is part of her childhood that has really inspired the work that she does now,”
Galdamez (2019) said. “[Being in Greensboro] filled us with this reminder of why we’re here
and coming full circle.”

13
Lasting Legacy
It’s November 2
nd
, 2019 and the stage of the Harrison Auditorium is completely dark,
save for a sea of small, twinkling lights. Some are projections, bringing what looks like a
swirling galaxy of stars to the dance floor. Some come from an altar — carefully adorned with
candles, sage and palo santo — that glows from the back of the stage. CONTRA-TIEMPO sets
altars like this one at each performance of joyUS justUS. The altar is a way to pay homage to
ancestors and establish the performance space as sacred. In Greensboro, it means all this and
more.
“It feels like we’re calling on our ancestors and calling on those who have come before
us,” Alvarez (2019) said. “I hear them and I see them and I feel them in that space. They’re there
with us. Their legacy, their memories, their energy, their spirit.”
The tune of “You are my Sunshine,” fills the air, a sweet humming, like a mother
soothing her child. Medina steps into the swirling stars. Her movements begin, slow and
measured, and then start to pick up speed and rhythm. She skates through her spotlight as if on
ice; she flicks her wrists and cocks her chin with the confidence and bravado of a flamenco
dancer. A second spotlight emerges, revealing that the humming is coming from Toledo. The
two join in a duet of dance and song. Toledo’s vocals grow louder, each note vibrating with
emotion. Just as quickly as the duet grew in passion, it returns once again to soft tenderness.
Medina lowers herself to the floor, rubbing her palms together deliberately and gently, as if this
simple motion is the key to healing years of hurt. As she rises to her feet, looking up at the lights
that freckle her face, Alvarez’s clear, crisp voice cuts through Toledo’s hummed tune. “Cesar
Cauce,” she says. In turn, four other members of the audience —those who had been seating on
the stage during the show — stand and state the names of the Greensboro Five.
14
“Bill Sampson”
“Sandi Smith”
“Dr. James M. Waller”
“Mike Nathan”
Those who speak the names of the Five are the second generation of November 3
rd

survivors. Like Ana Maria, they have grown up in the shadow of the Greensboro Massacre. At
the 40
th
anniversary commemoration, with this performance of joyUS justUS, it is their time to
speak, to add to the legacy of the five activists who have helped to define their lives.
“Thinking about the legacy of the Greensboro Five and if they’re looking down on us, I
think they would want us to be focusing on building movements of joy, love, connection, and
power,” Alvarez (2019) said. In many ways, their legacy is also hers.

15
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Assael, Shaun and Peter Keating. “The Massacre That Spawned the Alt-Right.” Politico,
November 3, 2019, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/11/03/greensboro-
massacre-white-nationalism-klan-229873.

Alvarez, Ana Maria. Interview with Sophie Bress. Phone Interview. Los Angeles, CA, February
25, 2019.

Alvarez, Ana Maria. Interview with Sophie Bress. Phone Interview. Los Angeles, CA, October
3, 2019.

Alvarez, Ana Maria. Interview with Sophie Bress. Personal Interview. Los Angeles, CA,
December 11, 2019.

Alvarez, Sally and Carolyn Jung, dir. Red November, Black November. 1981; Greensboro, NC:
Parallax Film Productions, 1983. DVD.

Alvarez, Sally. Interview with Sophie Bress. Personal Interview. Greensboro, NC, November 1,
2019.

Alvarez, Sally. Interview with Sophie Bress. Personal Interview. Los Angeles, CA, November
21, 2019.

Battaglia, Danielle. “Greensboro Massacre historical marker unveiled.” News and Record
(Greensboro, NC), May 24, 2015.

Galdamez, Jannet. Interview with Sophie Bress. Personal Interview. Los Angeles, CA,
December 11, 2019.

Greensboro: A Requiem. Written by Emily Mann. North Carolina Agricultural and Technical
State University, Greensboro, NC, November 1, 2019.

“Greensboro Massacre: Lessons for Today,” Greensboro Massacre Lessons for Today. Accessed
April 20, 2019. https://www.greensboromassacrelessonstoday.org.

joyUS justUS. Choreographed by Ana Maria Alvarez. North Carolina Agricultural and Technical
State University’s Harrison Auditorium, Greensboro, NC, November 2, 2019.

joyUs justUS Pop-Up Performances. Choreographed by Ana Maria Alvarez. North Carolina
Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro NC, October 31, 2019.

Medina, Bianca and Jasmine Stanley. Dance class at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical
State University, Greensboro, NC, October 31, 2019.

16
Nxumalo, Zithobile. Interview with Sophie Bress. Personal Interview. Greensboro, NC,
November 2, 2019.

Smallwood, Arwin, Emily Mann, Floris Cauce Weston, Nelson N. Johnson, and Jovane
Hairston. “Intergenerational Panel Dialogue and Audience Reflections on Greensboro: A
Requiem. Lecture. Greensboro Massacre: Lessons for Today Education and Movement-
Building Conference from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’s
Department of History and Political Science, Greensboro, NC, November 1, 2019.

Stanley, Jasmine. Interview with Sophie Bress. Personal Interview. Los Angeles, CA, December
6, 2019.

Tutu, Naomi, Starsky Wilson, Flint Taylor, Ash-Lee Henderson, and Marty Nathan.
“Intergenerational Panel Discussion on Framing the Nature of This Period and Lessons
from the Greensboro Massacre.” Lecture. Greensboro Massacre: Lessons for Today
Education and Movement-Building Conference from North Carolina Agricultural and
Technical State University’s Department of History and Political Science, Greensboro,
NC, November 2, 2019.

17
Appendices
A. Transcript of the first audio
ANA MARIA ALVAREZ (0:00 – 0:36): Living inside the shadow of this horrible tragedy really
shaped who I am as a human being and who I am as an artist. I haven’t been thinking about how
my art was really part of the legacy of the Greensboro Five until November 3
rd
, you know, 2019,
when we were back there and I was sitting inside of these spaces where we were talking about
November 3
rd
and we were looking back at what actually happened. Just being in these spaces
where the conversation was at the forefront, realizing how impactful this experience, this thing
that happened in history, how it actually did really impact who I am as an artist (2019).
B. Transcript of the second audio
SALLY ALVAREZ (0:00 – 0:38): In 1979 there was a campaign against the Ku Klux Klan and
there was a march and an educational conference that was being organized in Greensboro. We
were net here. We were in New York. We had moved, but we were still in very close contact
with the folks here and we were very close to them personally. When the Klan interrupted the
gathering at the beginning of the day’s activities and wound up taking guns out of their cars and
shooting people down in the street, it was pretty clear that there was something going on that was
much deeper. It wasn’t an accident that it happened like that. It also wasn’t an accident that the
five people who were killed were actual leaders in the organization. (2019).
C. Explanation of the code
My multimedia website for this story opens with a full-screen title page. In the
background, an autoplay video — showing the feet of the CONTRA-TIEMPO company dancers
during rehearsal — plays on a loop. As the reader scrolls, the introductory section of the text
18
appears, centered and covering 80% of the screen. I chose to use an 80% opacity for the text
boxes so the background video is still visible while reading the first section.
As the reader continues to scroll, the background changes when each new text section is
introduced. I used the waypoints web plug-in to get this effect. As the second section of the text
appears, the background image switches to a picture of the Communist Worker’s Party 5
memorial in the Greensboro graveyard. Embedded in this history section of the text, I have
included an interactive photo gallery with images of the Greensboro Five. The user can click on
each of these images to display them in a larger pop-up modal. This modal also displays the
accompanying captions, which note the names of those pictured and additional information about
the images. I used the jQuery library to create the pop-up modals.
As the third section of text appears, the background changes to show the audience chairs
with a unique lighting effect used during the performance of joyUS justUS. This section is an in-
depth bio of Ana Maria Alvarez, so I included an audio segment of Alvarez speaking about how
the Greensboro Five influenced her work and her life path. Also included above the audio play
button is an image of Alvarez. I chose to give reader the option to play the audio with a click
because I find that autoplay audio is invasive to the reading experience and can be unwanted in
many situations.
The fourth section of text features a new background: a photo of the tapestry backdrop
for joyUS justUS. This section primarily discusses the performance itself, so I embedded a video
for this section. The video shows a segment of the performance which I describe in the text.
Again, the video is optional because it is not autoplay, but I included it to enhance the reader’s
experience, bringing the dance out of their imagination and onto the screen.
19
The fifth section of text deals with the community of survivors that was formed in the
wake of this tragedy. The background image is the 2015 historical marker that denotes the
location of the massacre. To complement this section, I included another audio segment, this one
from Sally Alvarez. In it, readers can hear her talk about her experience of November 3
rd
, 1979.
The sixth section of text expands further on CONTRA-TIEMPO itself, and includes
quotes from company dancers talking about community, joyUS justUS, and their experience in
Greensboro. To accompany this section, I chose a simple captioned image showing the entire
company in rehearsal. The background image for this section shows one of the altarpieces that
adorned the stage during the performance of joyUS justUS in Greensboro.
The final section of text is accompanied by a muted autoplay loop video of CONTRA-
TIEMPO company dancer Bianca Medina. The text fills one half of the screen and Medina’s solo
fills the other. I describe this solo in the text as well, but I included this video to allow the readers
to experience the dance firsthand. That is the power of a multimedia story. It allows the reader to
move beyond imagination, to explore and discover for themselves.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract I first became fascinated with CONTRA-TIEMPO Urban Latin Dance Theater when I had the opportunity to take a two-day workshop offered by the company at my undergraduate university, Loyola Marymount. The visiting artists from CONTRA-TIEMPO introduced me to the concept of using dance to speak out against injustice, and I found this idea absolutely captivating. From there, CONTRA-TIEMPO became the subject of my undergraduate thesis. I spent the final semester of my senior year of college exploring how dance is vehicle for social change through the lens of CONTRA-TIEMPO’s newest work, joyUS justUS. ❧ In Fall 2019, when I was searching for a Master’s thesis topic, CONTRA-TIEMPO’s Founding Artistic Director Ana Maria Alvarez approached me with a story that I couldn’t get out of my head. ❧ I knew this story was important as soon as Alvarez began to tell me about it. Not only was the emotion palpable in her voice, she had given me the rare opportunity to dive into her mind, exploring her roots and what led her on her creative life path. ❧ Alvarez grew up in the shadow of the Greensboro Massacre, a tragic event in which five of her parent’s close friends were killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Alvarez’s parents and the five victims were all members of an organization called the Communist Worker’s Party (formerly the Worker’s Viewpoint Organization), which was heavily invested in labor rights for workers and protesting the activities of the Klan. ❧ Though Alvarez was only two years old at the time of the killings, her parents did not hide the truth of what happened from her. Her connection with these events and the lasting legacy of the five individuals who died that day is in many ways the reason why her activism work exists today. ❧ When she contacted me, she was preparing to take CONTRA-TIEMPO to Greensboro, North Carolina to perform joyUS justUS as part of the 40th anniversary commemoration of the massacre. The performance would be a beautiful, full circle moment in which Alvarez would bring her life’s work back to where it all began. ❧ I had the immense good fortune to receive a grant funding my travel to Greensboro to participate in the commemoration activities. The majority of my time in Greensboro was spent documenting the activities of CONTRA-TIEMPO: sitting in on rehearsals and set load-in, watching pop-up performances and classes at the local universities, and, of course, watching the performance of joyUS justUS. I was also able to fully immerse myself in other elements of the commemoration: attending educational panels, watching a community reading of Emily Mann’s play Greensboro: A Requiem, and meeting the community of Greensboro Massacre survivors. ❧ I conducted the bulk of my reporting and research during my five days in Greensboro. I captured photos, videos, and audio segments, interviewed sources, and took observational notes. I was able to interview Sally Alvarez, Ana Maria Alvarez’s mother, and Zithobile Nxumalo, who was instrumental in bringing the company to Greensboro. I conducted my interviews with Alvarez and two company members—Jannet Galdamez and Jasmine Stanley—after returning to Los Angeles. ❧ The rest of the time it took to prepare my thesis was spent sifting through the bulk of raw material I had gathered, transcribing interviews, synthesizing, writing, editing, and developing code that would most effectively present this story as a multimedia website. The finished product is bigger than me, and bigger, even, than Ana Maria Alvarez. It reverberates within an entire community. This community, like Alvarez, has grown and blossomed out of tragedy, and I feel honored and humbled to tell a piece of their story. My finished multimedia thesis can be found at www.sophiebress.com/thesis. Also https://web.archive.org/web/20200629153157/https://www.sophiebress.com/thesis/

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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

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Asset Metadata

Creator Bress, Sophie Jeanette (author)

Core Title Dancing a legacy: movement in the wake of the Greensboro Massacre

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Specialized Journalism (The Arts)

Publication Date 06/25/2020

Defense Date 06/24/2020

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag activism,choreography,CONTRA-TIEMPO,Dance,Greensboro Massacre,OAI-PMH Harvest,Social Justice

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Anawalt, Sasha (committee chair), Page, Tim (committee member), Plocek, Keith (committee member)

Creator Email sbress@usc.edu,sophie.bress@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-322350

Unique identifier UC11666144

Identifier etd-BressSophi-8618.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-322350 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-BressSophi-8618.pdf

Dmrecord 322350

Document Type Thesis

Rights Bress, Sophie Jeanette

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA