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Chuck Davis
Chuck Davis, affectionately called “Baba Chuck,” is founder and artistic director of the Chuck Davis Dance Company and the African American Dance Ensemble, and creator of the New York-based DanceAfrica. Since 1959, he has traveled the world to study and teach dance and choreography.
A native of Raleigh, North Carolina, Davis attended Howard University and majored in theater and dance. Continuing his study in African dance under the guidance of Babatunde Olatunji, Eleo Pomare, and the Bernice Johnson Dance Company, his reputation grew as one of the foremost teachers and accomplished choreographers in the traditional techniques of African dance. In 1982, the American Dance Festival of Durham, North Carolina, recruited Davis as an Artist-in-Residence to organize and manage its outreach program. From this effort sprung the African American Dance Ensemble in 1984.
Davis is a recipient of the New York Bessie Award and the Brooklyn Academy of Music Award for distinguished service. In December of 1998, he received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from Medgar Evers College, New York, New York, and another in 2005 from Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts. He has served as a panelist for several programs of the National Endowment of the Arts and, in 1991, was appointed by the Governor to serve on the Board of the North Carolina Arts Council, where he continues to chair the grant panel for dance.
Davis’ numerous awards include: AARP’s National Certificate of Excellence; the North Carolina Dance Alliance Award (2002); the North Carolina Artist Award (1990); the North Carolina Order of the Long Leaf Pine; the North Carolina Award in Fine Arts (1992); the Triangle Community Foundation Kathryn H. Wallace Award for Artists In Community Service (2000); the Dance Heritage Coalition recognition as one of 100 Irreplaceable Dance Treasures in the United States (2000); the Dance for the Planet award (1998 and 2001); the Durham Human Relations Commission’s Advocacy Award, especially on behalf of People with Developmental Disabilities (2002); the Artist of the Year award by Dance USA; the 2002 National Governors’ Association Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts; and a citation from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus. He was also honored with a prestigious Dance Magazine Award (2004); bestowed the Balasaraswati Joy Ann Dewey Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching by the American Dance Festival (2006); and presented the Spirit of Hayti Trail Blazer Award (2004).
The City of Durham declared August 5, 2002 as Chuck Davis Day in recognition of his accomplishments and contributions to the arts, and again on January 1, 2007 in honor of his 70th birthday. Davis was also honored when his biographical profile was chronicled in The North Carolina Century: Tar Heels Who Made a Difference, 1900-2000, and again as a choreographer and consultant when interviewed for Free to Dance, a PBS production on the history of African American Dance since the 20th century (2004).
Davis keeps a full schedule, including appearances with the African American Dance Ensemble, guest artist directorships, choreographer assignments, and research and travel excursions internationally. As founder and facilitator of the Cultural Arts Safari, Davis makes an annual pilgrimage to the continent of Africa, to which he invites uninitiated and veteran travelers alike to join his party each year.
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