12 Facts About Syvilla Fort

Syvilla Fort was an American dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher.

Syvilla Fort died from breast cancer at the age of 58.

Syvilla Fort attended the Cornish School of Allied Arts in Seattle as their first black student after graduating from high school in 1932.

Several weeks later, Syvilla Fort began dancing and touring with the Katherine Dunham Company and learning the Dunham technique, which was rooted in the dance traditions of Africa, Haiti, and Trinidad.

Syvilla Fort danced with the company until 1945 and was included in the well-known film Stormy Weather.

In 1955, Syvilla Fort joined her husband Buddy Phillips to open a dance studio on West 44th Street in New York.

Syvilla Fort continued to use this method in her work as a part-time instructor of physical education at Columbia University's Teachers College from 1967 to 1975.

The studio on 44th Street thrived until 1975 when Syvilla Fort began struggling against breast cancer and was unable to solve the school's financial problems.

Syvilla Fort shaped three generations of dancers and among her best-known students were Marlon Brando, James Dean, Jane Fonda, James Earl Jones, Eartha Kitt, Jose Limon, Chita Rivera, and Geoffrey Holder.

Five days before her death from breast cancer on November 8,1975, Syvilla Fort attended a tribute to her life's work which was organized by the Black Theater Alliance and hosted by her student Alvin Ailey and by Harry Belafonte.

In 1992, Syvilla Fort's work was honored again when dancers from several companies performed an evening of her choreography at New York's Symphony Space.

Buddy Phillips' son Sabur Abdul-Salaam, Syvilla Fort's stepson, published a book, Spiritual Journey of An American Muslim, that includes additional information about her.