Eddie J. Shellman
Dance Theatre of Harlem: Principal (1975-?)
Royal Ballet: Guest (1993)
Eddie J. Shellman was a principal with the Dance Theatre of Harlem and a guest artist with the Royal Ballet.
Shellman was in the original DTH casts of Royston Maldoom’s Doina (1978) and His Love is Everlasting (1978); Robert North’s Troy Game (1978); Carlos Carvajal’s Shapes of Evening (1978) and Secret Silence (1979); Choo San Goh’s Introducing… (1978) and In the Glow of the Night (1997); George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments (1979) and Square Dance (1983); Carmen de Lavallade’s Sensemaya (1979); Glen Tetley’s Greening (1980); Swan Lake (staged by Frederic Franklin, 1980); Michel Fokine’s Scheherazade (1981); Marius Petipa’s Pas de Dix from Raymonda (1983); Bronislava Nijinska’s Les Biches (1983); David Lichine’s Graduation Ballet (1983); Michael Smuin’s Songs of Mahler (1984) and A Song for Dead Warriors (1993); Giselle (as Albert, staged by Frederic Franklin, 1984); Istvan Rabovsky’s Saffron Knot (1986); Garth Fagan’s Footprints Dressed in Red (1986); Arthur Mitchell’s John Henry (1988) and Bach Passacaglia (Mitchell with Rachel Sekyi, 1993); and Alvin Ailey’s The River (1993).
When Arthur Mitchell announced DTH lay-offs in 1990, Shellman went to teach at Iowa University for a period and married fellow DTH member Endalyn Taylor.
Shellman’s film credits include the filmed version of Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Creole Giselle and the 1992 film Malcolm X.
Shellman was sent to prison after being found guilty of abuse; details of this case can be found here.
Sources:
The Human Side of Harlem Troupe’s Crisis, The New York Times
Eddie Shellman, IMDB
Dance Theatre of Harlem Repertory List, Columbia University Libraries
“Giselle”, Dance Theater of Harlem (photo), Los Angeles Public Library
See also:
Harlem Dancers Open in London Amid Pomp, The New York Times
Photos via the Los Angeles Public Library
Video links: