And the Children Danced
Thirty years of the Arthur Hall
Afro-American Dance Ensemble

Philadelphia, Penna.
1958 - 1988

And the Children Danced is a one hour television special that tells a success story, the story of Arthur Hall and the creation of a distinctly American culture that sprang from the ghetto of North Philadelphia to achieve international influence.

"What Arthur Hall does many be called dance," reports the Philadelphia Inquirer, "but it's also more than dance. It is a kind of culture-making sorely needed and rarely seen." And the Children Danced will allow an international audience to experience the kind of culture-making so many thousands have admired over the past two generations. It is as sorely needed now as it was forty years ago, perhaps it is needed even more.

And the Children Danced begins in 1958 with the dance of Obatala, celebrating birth and creativity, and ends thirty years later with Oba Koso, a flash of lightning which reveals the beginnings inherent in all endings. In between is an artistic reflection of African American culture, which is to say the birth of the black arts movement in Philadelphia.

We have changed the world through our music and dance. There is no place you go without listening to black music. There is no place now where you go and people are not dancing like black people. We have touched the heart of the world. I call this the quiet revolution. We have changed the world, and we didn't use a gun.