Preview 01262023.F

Illustrations by Adri Norris

Welcome to a fun and interesting way to introduce students to a cultural icon, Cleo Parker Robinson, as she shares her exciting story as a dancer, choreographer, educator, and social activist.

Learn about Cleo's contributions to the preservation and advancement of the legacy of American modern dance and its foundation in the traditions of African-American dance. Inspire and educate your young dancer­­-and encourage them to use all the colors of the rainbow, because that's one of Cleo's favorite things!

Cleo Parker Robinson Dance

Published by CPRD dba New DanceTheatre, a Non-Profit Arts Organization 119 Park Avenue West Denver, Colorado 80205 cleoparkerdance.org | Founded in 1970 First Edition, February 2023 Published in Denver, Colorado Copyright @2023 Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, CPRD, New Dance Theatre Art and design by AfroTriangleDesigns.com/Adri Norris All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.

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Purchase only authorized editions.

PUBLISHING HISTORY First Edition, February 2023, Paperback. Distributed for Black History Month 2023 in Denver, Colorado.

ISBN: 979-8-9872804-0-9 Library of Congress is cataloguing this first edition; at press time we indicate below our draft (not the LOC official cataloging: Parker Robinson, Cleo, b. 1948.

Coloring With Cleo/Cleo Parker Robinson p. cm ISBN 979-8-9872804-0-9 1. African American Culture-Non-Fiction 3. Modern Dance-Non-Fiction I. Title.

2. African American Art-Non-Fiction 4. Dance History-Non-Fiction

Cataloging numbers in progress February 2023; general classification: GV 1645-GV 1728 (Dance history (and historical dance) American Modern Dance Master/African American/Global Traditions.

Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Coloring Book Cleo Parker Robinson, Author; Adri Norris, Illustrator.

Printed in the Tribal Lands of The Pala Nation/Pala Band of Mission Indians (San Diego County, California, United States) Tribal Print Source, a tribally owned non-profit print and training facility.

36146 Pala Temecula Rd Bldg. J, Pala, CA 92059

This is Cleo Parker Robinson with her parents, Jonathon “JP” and Martha Parker. Both were musicians and her father was a wellknown black actor in Denver. As a mixed-race couple, they faced many challenges in the late 1940’s.

Ms. Cleo was the oldest of their four children.

Wrandell

Cleo

Sue

John

This is the Rossonian Hotel. It was a club on the bottom floor and people lived above. It’s in Denver’s Five Points, which is where Ms. Cleo lived as a baby. Five Points was called the “Harlem of the West” because of the many famous black jazz musicians who performed there.

Fats Domino

Count Basie

Nancy Wilson

This is Charles Burrell who was born in 1920! He’s one of the great musicians who played at the Rossonian. He brought Ms. Cleo and her mother home from the hospital in 1948 when she was born, because her father had to work.

In 1970 as part of the Model Cities Cultural Center, Ms. Cleo started her dance company. That’s over 50 years ago! She wanted to “bring the world to Denver and Denver to the world”. Here is Ms. Cleo and some of the early members of the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble.

Leni

George

Daryl

Winifred

Curtis

Ronnie

Cleo

Schyleen Marceline

Roslyn

Sue

The same year that Ms.Cleo started her dance company, she married her childhood sweetheart Tom Robinson. Mr. Robinson helped build the company and also was a teacher, coach, and football sports official for over 50 years.

Not long after she started her company, Ms. Cleo and her husband, Tom, had their baby boy, Malik. She never stopped dancing and choreographing.

Malik Robinson is now the Executive Director of the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance organization.

This is our company home where we have our offices, studios, and theatre. Our home is in the historic Shorter AME Building, in the iconic Five Points. There is so much history here and so much more still to create!

Part of Ms. Cleo’s idea of “bringing the world together” was to create pieces about People of Color and the universal village as she confronted racism and celebrated diverse cultures. This picture shows the creators of “Cleo and Gordon: Two Artists in Collaboration”, a documentary about the Civil Rights Movement and Angela Davis.

Margie Soo Hoo Lee: film maker

Gordon Parks Sr.: composer, film maker

Cleo Parker Robinson: choreographer, producer

Ms. Cleo’s dancers have performed all over the world, inspired by many cultures such as...

…Haitian…

…Pieces inspired by the Pharaohs of Egypt…

Marceline Freeman as Hatshepsut in the "Valley of the Nile". She was a dancer and the Rehearsal Director for the company for 38 years.

And “Raindance”, choreographed by Milton Myers in 1984--the company’s signature piece, inspired by all people and the culture of movement.

Many people inspired Ms. Cleo’s vision and choreography, including her teachers, family, and ancestors. This is one of Ms. Cleo’s teachers and honored mentors: Rita Berger, who danced under the direction of the great George Balanchine at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

Katherine Dunham was another one of Ms. Cleo’s mentors. Along with teaching and performing, she studied world culture through the way different groups of people moved. She was the first cultural anthropologist.

Cleo Parker Robinson

Ms. Cleo performed in “Barrelhouse Blues”, a masterpiece choreographed and originally danced by Ms. Dunham. Ms. Cleo’s company is one of the only companies to continue Dunham’s choreographic legacy.

Marceline Freeman

Randy Brooks

Donald McKayle is also an inspiring teacher of Ms.Cleo’s.

Both he and Ms. Dunham inspired and changed the idea of dance throughout the world.

Winifred Harris is the current Associate Artistic Director of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. Here she is in a piece Mr. McKayle choreographed called “Apsaras”.

Chloe-Grant Abel ` is the current rehearsal director and is a dancer in the company.

She continues Mr. McKayle’s legacy in his piece “La Nina” from his ballet “Uprooted: Pero ~ Replantado”.

“Lush Life” is a piece created with the iconic Dr. Maya Angelou.

She was a renowned poet. Both Dr. Angelou and Ms. Cleo created “Lush Life” as “a celebration of sharing the feeling of how connected we really are”.

Baba Chuck Davis was a wonderful friend of Ms. Cleo who taught traditional African dance in our International Summer Dance Institute and our Dance Africa performances.

He’s called Baba, which is a term of great respect meaning father. His mantra “Peace, Love, and Respect for Everybody” is an important part of how all people are treated in the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance village.

“Granny Dances to a Holiday Drum” celebrates holidays from around the world!

We use dance, song, and spoken word to tell these wonderful stories!

Ximalma Gonzalez Robinson

Ralaya S. Goshea

Davry Ratcliffe There are dancers and musicians of all ages in the show, including the Ensemble and our Academy, creating our "Granny" village.

Cleo Parker Robinson as Shakti

Cedric D. Hall as Griot

Chloé-Grant Abel as Cantadora

All of the things Ms. Cleo has learned in her travels around the world continue through the dancers and children that come through Cleo Parker Robinson Dance.

She shares those ideas with everyone she meets!

Margarita Taylor as Granny (with the Granny kids)

At Cleo Parker Robinson Dance,

East Indian Dance with Namita Khanna Nariani

we learn about different cultures…

Mexican Folklorico with Jeanette Trujillo

…how to dance within a community…

Contemporary Modern Dance

McKayle's “Uprooted: Pero Replantado”

… and how we’re all connected!

Peace, Love, and Respect for Everybody!

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Axe Axe!

Draw a picture of you dancing in the company!

Ms. Cleo believes her legacy continues through you!

Acknowledgements The Cleo Parker Robinson Dance (CPRD) Coloring Book was created thanks to a grant by the Denver Metro area's Scientific and Cultural Facilities District's (SCFD's) support of Tier III organizations such as CPRD--and their continued investments into Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work.

This coloring book was created through many hours of consultation between Cleo Parker Robinson, Founder and Artist; Adri Norris, and the staff at CPRD. This coloring book is dedicated to Cleo's parents, Jonathon and Martha Parker, and to dancers everywhere.

CLEO PARKER ROBINSON is the Founder and Artistic Director of the over 50-year-old Denver based CLEO PARKER ROBINSON DANCE. As a master teacher/choreographer and cultural ambassador world-wide, she oversees the renowned Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, as well as Cleo II (her 2nd Company), a Youth Ensemble, an Academy of Dance, an International Summer Dance Institute, a 240-seat theatre and a diversity of educational and community outreach programs.

Cleo is the recipient of a myriad of honors and awards from civic, community, and artistic organizations world-wide, as she and her Ensemble continuously provide performances, workshops, commissioned works, master classes, and community programming and engagement.

Her philosophy of "One Spirit, Many Voices" is reflected in all that she does and is the vision she and her organization share everywhere they go.

Photo: Jerry Metellus

ADRI NORRIS is an artist who focuses on telling the stories of women in history. She uses her experiences as a Black, lesbian, immigrant woman in America as a guide when it comes to selecting her subjects. What we choose not to elevate gets lost or buried, so she has placed her focus on some of the most marginalized among us in order to shift the narrative and seek equity in the conversations about our shared history.

Photo: courtesy Denver Art Museum

CLEO PARKER ROBINSON DANCE Inspiring Movement!

Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, founded in 1970, is an international performing arts and education institution rooted in African-American traditions, dedicated to excellence in cross-cultural instruction, performances, and enrichment programs--empowering communities by cultivating healthy mind, body, and spirit development for intergenerational students, artists, and audiences.

Viewing dance as a universal language of movement that transcends boundaries of culture, class, and age, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance is committed to honoring diversity and inclusiveness throughout the global community.

Photo: Amelia Dietz-Rowe

www.cleoparkerdance.org CLEO PARKER ROBINSON DANCE Located in Denver's Historic Five Points District 119 Park Avenue West Denver, Colorado 80205