{"id":3943,"date":"2020-02-05T02:35:44","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T02:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/?p=3943"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:16:29","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:16:29","slug":"1939-bernice-hammond-founds-hammond-dance-studio-washington-dc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2020\/02\/05\/1939-bernice-hammond-founds-hammond-dance-studio-washington-dc\/","title":{"rendered":"1939 – Bernice Hammond founds Hammond Dance Studio, Washington DC"},"content":{"rendered":"

1939<\/h1>\n

Bernice Hammond founds Hammond Dance Studio, Washington DC<\/h3>\n

After receiving training from Lisa Gardiner and leaving Howard University, Bernice Hammond opened the Hammond Dance Studio in Washington DC.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Robert H. McNeill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Visit Mabel Freeman’s Orbit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bernice Hammond<\/strong> (b. 1918) began her dance training at the age of nine in 1927 at a local YMCA. She trained with Mabel Freeman in the 1920s, when she was a young girl, and continued studying with her through high school. She also received private lessons from dancer and choreographer Lisa Gardiner, formerly a Fokine<\/a> dancer, because Gardiner wanted to avoid losing students in segregated Washington DC. Hammond left Howard University, where she was pursuing a degree in art, to teach dance. She opened her own dance school, the Hammond Dance Studios, in 1939. Hammond also pursued dance study in New York. Like Therrell Smith<\/a>, she studied ballet at Carnegie Hall’s Ballet Arts. In 1949, she formed Ballet Africana Americana, the performances of which were accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra, an unusual occurrence for any dance school at the time. The <\/span><\/span>company also performed with the National Negro Opera. It was said that “Ms. Hammond would invite guest teachers to conduct dance classes and has employed such notables as John Sergieff of the Russian Imperial Ballet School and Leroy White of the Jose Limon Company.” Hammond is also \u201ccredited with being the first in the area to send a student, Ruth Thomas, to the prestigious School of American Ballet.” Like her colleagues in Washington, Hammond enabled African Americans to obtain better ballet training.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Josselli Audain Deans
\nBernice Hammond Interview by Ngoma Center for Dance<\/a><\/p>\n