From Ballet to Broadway and Black and Mabel Hart
Mabel Hart was a Black ballet dancer that built quite a reputation for herself – as a ballet dancer, teacher, and Broadway performer. She was a member of the Negro Unit of the Ballet Theatre. She participated in a number of dances with the company; one of her most notable performances was Black Ritual along with Edith Hurd, Lavinia Williams and Muriel Cook. Hart also took on the role of teacher, teaching at a number of schools. One of the schools she taught at was her own, Mabel Hart Dance School, which did very well. She also has a lot of famous students, including ballet dancer, Denise Perry.
Mabel Hart was a classically trained ballet dancer who also performed in a number of shows on Broadway. The most notable of these shows is Four Saints in Three Acts (1952). She performed in the Broadway show Carmen Jones (1943-45) with Hurd. Hart also performed in Run, Little Chillun (1943) and Lost in the Stars (1949). In most of the performances she participated in, she was casted as a dancer, but in Lost in the Stars (1949), she played a character.
Sources:
Mabel Hart (Performer), Playbill
Mabel Hart: Credits, Bio, News & More, Broadway World
A Peek Inside Her Agenda: E. Denise Perry, HER AGENDA
Mabel Hart, MoBBallet
Lost in the Stars (Broadway, Music Box Theatre, 1949), Playbill
More about Mabel Hart
Sources:
Sana Jawa