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Ruth Beckford, the legendary dancer, choreographer and Oakland community activist, died May 8 of natural causes. She was 93.
Beckford known as The Dance Lady, toured with the acclaimed dancer/choreographer Katharine Dunham when she was just 17. She started the Ruth Beckford African Haitian Dance Company, taught Dunham technique at her dance studios in Oakland and San Francisco, and started the first modern dance department at a recreation department in the country.
As talented as she was as a dancer, her interests were wide-ranging; she took up acting, wrote three books, several plays and was always actively serving her community, usually in projects she started.
She was born in Oakland and began her dance training when she was 3, the only black student of Florelle Batsford, studying tap, ballet and acrobatics, her specialty. As a child, she performed acrobatic dance at talent shows sponsored at movie theaters on Friday nights.
She graduated from Oakland Technical High School.
Dunham offered her a position in her company, but Beckford elected to continue her education and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. She performed with the Anna Halprin and Welland Lathrop modern dance company, the only black dancer in the group. She said she could hear the audience gasp when she came onstage.
When she started the modern dance department at Oakland’s park and recreation department, she insisted that the dance classes were free. She used dance to teach life skills and encourage the girls to be self sufficient and confident in their individuality. She stayed close to many of her former students for more than 50 years.
Beckford retired her company in 1965 and retired from teaching dance in 1975. One of her enduring legacies is the group of 20 students she inspired to go into dance education and lead college level dance departments, earning Masters and PhDs along the way. She started acting with the Oakland Ensemble Theater and appeared in several movies, including “My Funny Valentine” with Alfre Woodard and Loretta Divine. Her play, “Tis the Morning of my Life,” was produced in the Bay Area and off Broadway. At Dunham’s request, Beckford wrote Dunham’s biography. She also wrote “Still Groovin’” and co-wrote “The Picture Man,” published last year.
She consistently found ways to help her community. She started the Black Panther Party’s free breakfast program for children at St. Augustine Episcopal Church, which became a model for breakfast programs in public schools. She founded the oral history program at the African American Museum and Library at Oakland, capturing the stories of Oaklanders who were over 70-years-old.
Beckford counseled homeless people at the Berkeley office of the Department of Social Services, was a life skills counselor for the Oakland Private Industry Council and visited women’s prisons to talk about life skills and women’s empowerment. In 2018, she was named Oakland’s Mother of the Year.
She was especially proud of The Ruth Beckford Museum at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle in downtown Oakland.
In her words: “I choreographed my life. Step by step, year by year.”
According to her wishes, there will be no memorial service.
