Tänzerin · Grete Kolliner · 1931

**Grete Kolliner** (1892-1933) ~ Rhythmisch beschwingt. Das Leben B.8, H.12, Juni 1931

**Grete Kolliner** (1892-1933) ~ Rhythmically elated. Das Leben B.8, H.12, Juni 1931

Inge Morath im Magnum Office

Inge Morath, Hochzeitsfeier im Magnum Office New York, 1962 (foto: Wayne Miller) | Morath Retrospektive Kunstfoyer München

For Colored Girls · 1976-77

**Martha Swope ~** Ntozake Shange (right) in a scene from the Broadway production of her choreopoem: ‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf’, 1977 | src NYPL

‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf’ is a 1976 work by Ntozake Shange. It consists of a series of poetic monologues to be accompanied by dance movements and music, a form which Shange coined the word choreopoem to describe. It tells the stories of seven women who have suffered oppression in a racist and sexist society.

**Martha Swope ~** A scene from the Broadway production of the *choreopoem* by Ntozake Shange: ‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf’, 1977 | src NYPL

As a choreopoem, the piece is a series of 20 separate poems choreographed to music that weaves interconnected stories of love, empowerment, struggle and loss into a complex representation of sisterhood. The cast consists of seven nameless African-American women only identified by the colors they are assigned. They are the lady in red, lady in orange, lady in yellow, lady in green, lady in blue, lady in brown, and lady in purple. Subjects from rape, abandonment, abortion and domestic violence are tackled.

Shange originally wrote the monologues as separate poems in 1974. Her writing style is idiosyncratic and she often uses vernacular language, unique structure, and unorthodox punctuation to emphasize syncopation. Shange wanted to write ‘For colored girls…‘ in a way that mimicked how real women speak so she could draw her readers’ focus to the experience of reading and listening.

**Martha Swope ~** Actresses (Front L-R) Laurie Carlos, Paula Moss, Aku Kadogo, Trazana Beverly; (Top L-R) Rise Collins, Janet League, Seret Scott in scene from the play ‘For Colored Girls Who Have Condsidered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf’ by Ntozake Shange (1976) | src NYPL

The cast of the Broadway show ‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf’ by Ntozake Shange, in the Meatpacking District of New York City, 1977 (Photo by Jill Freedman) | src getty images

A scene from the Broadway production of the *choreopoem* ‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf’, 1976 | src NY Times: Ntozake Shange’s Tales of Black Womanhood

In December 1974, Shange performed the first incarnation of her choreopoem with four other artists at a women’s bar outside Berkeley, California. After moving to New York City, she continued work on for colored girls…, which went on to open at the Booth Theatre in 1976, becoming the second play by a black woman to reach Broadway. quoted from wikipedia entry

For Colored Girls chronicles the experiences of seven black women through monologue and dance, confronting topics of sexism, rape, and domestic violence. The play has long been considered a benchmark for black female writers and inspired a book, film, and Tony Award-nominated Broadway play.

Written for seven characters, For Colored Girls is a group of 20 poems on the power of Black women to survive in the face of despair and pain. The show ran for seven months Off-Broadway in New York City before beginning a two-year run on Broadway. It was subsequently produced throughout the United States, broadcast on television, and in 2010 adapted into a feature film titled For Colored Girls. [text: Britannica]