1846 - George Washington Smith dances Albrecht in the first American production of Giselle

1919 - Ella Gordon opens the Gordon School of Dance NYC

1926 - Essie Marie Dorsey founds the Essie Marie Dorsey School of Dancing / Mabel Jones Freeman founds the Studio for Classical Dancing

1931 - Katherine Dunham forms Ballet Négre

1937 - American Negro Ballet gives its debut performance

1939 - Bernice Hammond founds Hammond Dance Studio, Washington DC

1940 - Negro Unit of Ballet Theatre is founded

1941 - Jones-Haywood School of Ballet is founded in Washington DC

1946 - Sydney King and Marion Cuyjet found the Sydney-Marion School of Dance in Philadelphia / The First Negro Classical Ballet is founded

1947 - First Negro Classic Ballet debuts / Talley Beatty and Betty Nichols perform Lew Christensen’s Blackface with Balanchine's Ballet Society

1948 - Therrell C. Smith School of Dance is founded in Washington DC / Ruth Williams School of Dance is founded in NYC / Sydney King School of Dance is founded in Philadelphia, PA / Marion Cuyjet founds the Judimar School of Dance

1950 - Arthur Bell dances in the World Premiere of Frederick Ashton's Illuminations with New York City Ballet

1951 - Janet Collins joins the Metropolitan Opera Ballet

1952 - Louis Johnson performs in Jerome Robbins’ Ballade with NYCB

1954 - Negro Dance Theater is founded / Delores Browne, John Jones, and Billy Wilson perform in Antony Tudor’s Offenbach in the Underworld

1955 - Arthur Mitchell joins New York City Ballet / Raven Wilkinson joins the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in New York City / Janet Collins retires from the Metropolitan Opera Ballet

1957 - Ward Flemying founds Ballet Americana/New York Negro Ballet

1961 - The Capitol Ballet Company is founded in Washington DC / Raven Wilkinson leaves the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo / Sylvester Campbell, Benjamin Feliskdal, and Billy Wilson join the Dutch National Ballet

1962 - Arthur Mitchell is promoted to Principal with New York City Ballet

1965 - Judith Jamison, Carmen de Lavallade, Glory Van Scott, and Cleo Quitman perform with American Ballet Theatre in Agnes de Mille’s The Four Marys