Scholly atkins biography sample

Choreographer, dancer

At a Glance…

Selected writings

Sources

Upon hearing of the death of choreographer Cholly Atkins in 2003, vocalist Gladys Knight told the Las Vegas Review-Journal,“He was so underrated and overlooked for the contributions that he made to our industry.

There is not one African-American artist that he did not touch in some way.” Indeed, the list of European and American stars touched by Atkins’s art was a long one, ranging from screen dancer Gene Kelly in the 1930s to the 1980s vocal group New Kids on the Block.

Perhaps Atkins’s most significant contributions to American culture were the dances and stage moves he created for Motown Records in the late 1960s.

Though these defined Motown’s look and became familiar to a wide cross-section of Americans through concerts and television programs, Atkins gained little recognition for his work until the end of his long life, because he worked pri