Hemsley Winfield (April 20, 1907 – January 15, 1934) was an African-American dancer who created the New Negro Art Theater Dance Group.
Contrary to the natural inclination to the residents of Yonkers at that time, Winfield pursued a career in the Arts, developing a strong background as an actor, director, stage technician, dancer and eventually a choreographer.
Winfield, during this time, continued to attend concerts by the great trailblazers of modern dance, who later served as an influence and sponsor for his choreographic work.
Edna Guy was trained by Ruth St. Denis of the Denis-Shawn School of Dance, and performed as a guest in at least two of Winfield's concerts which soon grew to draw massive crowds.
Edna Guy was never a member of the New Negro Art Theater Dance Group, the leading female dancers of the company were Ollie Burgoyne, Drusela Drew, and Midgie Lane.
[7] His final performance of the 1933 season was reviewed as “a thrilling exhibition of savage dancing”[8] and “his sinister and frantic caperings as the Witch Doctor made even the most sluggish, opera-infected blood run cold.”[9] On January 15, 1934, Hemsley Winfield died of pneumonia shortly before his 27th birthday, leaving with the final words, "We're building a foundation that will make people take black dance seriously".
Winfield used the black body in dance and other art forms as raw material in order to show racial configuration within his company to an audience.
Winfield projected this "new negro" in support of the Harlem Renaissance, a movement referring to the artistic and sociocultural awakening among African-Americans during the 1920s and 1930s as a response to the political and economic events resulting from World War 1.