The Capitol Ballet and Tammy Hurt
Tammy Hurt performed in Rosa in May 1988 with the newly reconstituted Capitol Ballet Company at the University of the District of Columbia. This was a dance honoring Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 was remarkable. At the end of the piece, the taking of an empty seat next to a white passenger, by Hurt in the role of Parks, becomes a moving act of defiance, resolution and spiritual affirmation.
Sources:
Doris W. Jones, MoBBallet
Capitol Ballet Capital Night, The Washington Post
More about Tammy Hurt
Tammy Hurt, a native Washingtonian, started her dance training at the Jones-Haywood School of Ballet and later became a member of the Capitol Ballet Company under the direction of Doris Jones and Claire Haywood. After an extensive dance career with some of the greatest choreographers of the times such as Louis Johnson, Kevin Jeff, George Faison, Hinton Battle, and Mike Malone, to name a few, Ms. Hurt decided to devote her life to teaching. She spent ten years as the Director of the Jones-Haywood School of Ballet. There, she directed and choreographed The Nut-Kracker and Black Heritage for youth dancers. Ms. Hurt has taught ballet at Howard University and choreographed for the Duke Ellington School.
Source:
Alisha Naidu
