Billy Wilson and Dance Theater of Harlem
Upon returning from Europe and dancing with the Dutch National Ballet, Billy Wilson was hired by Arthur Mitchell, a proponent of Black choreographers, to create pieces for the Dance Theatre of Harlem. He eventually choreographed several ballets for DTH, including Mirage (1979) which was a Broadway-esque ballet about the goings on at an urban cocktail party and stars Lowell Smith and Melva Murray-White. Concerto in F (1986), which was first set on Alvin Ailey, features music by George Gershwin and stars Stephanie Dabney and Donald Williams. Wilson’s next ballet with DTH was in collaboration with Mitchell on Phoenix Rising (Work in Progress) in 1987. It featured a beautiful set design by Geoffrey Holder is based on the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. whose death had a great impact on Wilson and Mitchell’s careers. According to Wilson, this ballet was meant to pay homage to those who have “led the way for other people.” Ginastera (1991) was Wilson’s last ballet for the company and was in tribute to Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera. Virginia Johnson starred in this theatrical ballet which featured unresolved vignettes that kept the audience on its toes. Although there were criticisms about the lack of unity in the choreography for Ginastera, Wilson is able to convey why Ginastera’s music has been so influential.
Sources:
REPERTORY LIST WORKS PRODUCED BY THE DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM 1969-2004, Columbia University Libraries Online Exhibition
Harlem Dance Theatre, The Washington Post
DANCE: HARLEM’S ‘PHOENIX RISING’, The New York Times
Reviews/Dance; Stormily, Harlem Troupe’s Tribute to Ginastera, The New York Times
Dance Theater of Harlem: Arthur Mitchell’s Dream at 50, The New York Times
Dancing, ALEXIS WILSON
More about Dance Theater of Harlem
Arthur Mitchell created the company in New York City, after making history in 1955 as the first Black principal dancer at New York City Ballet. To accommodate his growing roster of students, he eventually partnered with his former ballet master Karel Shook to help him run the school and direct what would eventually become Dance Theatre of Harlem. In 1971, Dance Theatre of Harlem, billed as a “neo-classical ballet company,” officially debuted at the Guggenheim Museum to great acclaim. After a prize-winning television special that Mitchell choreographed, Rythmetron, the company had their first full season in New York in 1974. By 1979, it was touring internationally with a repertoire of 46 ballets. In the 1980s, the company reached the forefront of the American ballet scene by carving a niche for themselves and infusing new life into works like Firebird, Giselle, Scheherazade, Bugaku and Agon. They were the first American ballet company to perform in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union, and in 1992, they made an international statement on their tour to South Africa at the tail end of apartheid. Dance Theatre of Harlem went on hiatus due to financial difficulties from 2004 to 2012 but came back, ready to usher the company into a new era while maintaining the old legacy. See more
Source:
Our History, Dance Theatre of Harlem
Elaine Yu
