Joan Myers Brown

Young Joan Myers Brown with other Sydney King Students

West Philadelphia High School Joan Myers Brown Club

Sydney King Students Joan Myers Brown and Mary Johnson (1949)

Sydney School of Dance Flyer- featuring Joan Myers Brown on faculty

Joan Myers Brown with Sammie Davis Jr at Club Harlem

Joan Myers Brown performs at Club Harlem

Letter from Pearl Bailey to Joan Myers Brown

TIMELINE ENTRIES

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
1966 – Cleo Quitman performs with the Joffrey Ballet in Eugene Loring’s These Three
1967 – Sara Yarborough joins Harkness Ballet / Raven Wilkinson joins the Dutch National Ballet as a Soloist
1968 – John Jones leaves Jerome Robbins Ballet / Keith Lee joins American Ballet Theatre
1969 – Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook form The Dance Theatre of Harlem
1970 – Sylvester Campbell leaves the Dutch National Ballet / Dance Theatre of Harlem premieres at Jacobs Pillow
1974 – Debra Austin joins New York City Ballet / Anthony Bassae co-founds the Trockadero de Monte Carlo / Dance Theatre of Harlem debuts flesh-tone tights and shoes
1975 – Lydia Abarca becomes the first Black female ballerina on the cover of Dance Magazine
1978 – Anne Benna Sims joins American Ballet Theatre
1982 – Debra Austin is hired as a principal with Pennsylvania Ballet / Alonzo King LINES Ballet is founded
1998 – Carlos Acosta joins the Royal Ballet / Rubinald Rofino Pronk joins Dutch National Ballet as a soloist at age 16
2006 – Eric Underwood joins the Royal Ballet
2007 – Misty Copeland is promoted to soloist at American Ballet Theatre
2009 – Toshiro Abbley joins the Dutch National Ballet
2011 – Bruno da Rocha Pereira is promoted to coryphée at Dutch National Ballet
2013 – Tyrone Singleton is promoted to principal with Birmingham Royal Ballet
2014 – Michaela DePrince is promoted to élève at Dutch National Ballet
2015 – Misty Copeland is promoted to principal at American Ballet Theatre
2016 – Céline Gittens of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and Francesca Hayward of the Royal Ballet are promoted to principal dancers
2018 – Nikisha Fogo of the Wiener Staatsballett and Claudia Monja of the Joburg Ballet are promoted to principal dancers
2019 – Nathan Brhane is promoted to coryphée at the Dutch National Ballet

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