BHM 2

29.9.14
Development upon chosen idea

We have chosen our first dance idea surrounding Martin Luther King. We have also decided to perform and arrangement of the song 'Strange Fruit' by Billie Holiday, first performed in 1939. This song symbolises how the Africa-american slaves were mistreated, tortured, even killed. We will include solos and maybe duets to enhance it. This will be performed at the beginning of the section, before we begin our dance piece.

Southern trees bear strange fruit,

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,

Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,

For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,

Here is a strange and bitter crop.