Dr. Melanye White Dixon, associate professor, received a $4,000 Coca-Cola Critical Difference for Women Grant for her research project “Black Body Between the Lines: Mary Hinkson Dancing Graham and Transforming White Spaces." Dr. Dixon, who began researching Hinkson as a graduate student at Temple University, was prompted to return to this research in 2010 when she received a phone call from Hinkson to discuss her work. Her current project, Dixon writes, "interrogates the notion of dance and activism during the performance career of Mary Hinkson, former principal dancer with the celebrated Martha Graham Dance Company. The research acknowledges Hinkson as a legendary modern dance artist and considers her role in addressing racial barriers and challenging cultural hegemony in American concert dance during the direct action phase of the Civil Rights Movement." 

The Critical Difference for Women Grant, supported by the Coca-Cola Foundation, was awarded to five faculty members this year. With support from this grant, Dr. Dixon will visit the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the New York Public Library and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City. She plans to publish a journal article on Hinkson's life and career with the information she gathers from these sites. 

Photo: Mary Hinkson (L) and Dr. Dixon (R)