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MOBBallet.org

Oregon Ballet Theatre

International Association of Blacks in Dance 2nd Annual Audition for Ballerinas of Color

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 (Philadelphia PA)/Mabel Jones Freeman Founds the Studio for Classical Dancing (Washington DC)
1937 – American Negro Ballet was Founded
1940 – Negro Unit of Ballet Theatre was Founded
1941 Jones-Haywood School of Ballet was Founded In Washington DC
1946 Sydney King and Marion Cuyjet found the Sydney-Marion School of Dance (Phila.)
1947 First Negro Classic Ballet / Talley Beatty and Betty Nichols performed Lew Christensen’s Blackface With Balanchine’s Ballet Society
1948 Marion Cuyjet founds the Judimar School of Dance (Phila)/ Sydney King founds the Sydney King School of Dance (Phila)
1948 – Therrell C. Smith School of Dance is founded in Washington D.C.
1950 Arthur Bell dances world premiere of Frederick Ashton’s Illuminations with New York City Ballet
1951 – Janet Collins joins with Metropolitan Opera Ballet
1952 – Louis Johnson performed Jerome Robbins’ Ballade with NYCB
1954 – Negro Dance Theater was founded/Delores Browne, John Jones and Billy Wilson perform in Antony Tudor’s Offenbach in the Underworld
1955 – Janet Collins retired from the Metropolitan Opera Ballet
1955 – Arthur Mitchell Joins New York City Ballet/ Raven Wilkinson Joins the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo New York City
1957- Ward Flemying founds Ballet Americana/New York Negro Ballet
1960 – Sylvester Campbell joins the Dutch National Ballet
1961 – The Capitol Ballet Company was Founded in Washington DC/ Raven Wilkinson Leaves the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo
1962 – Arthur Mitchell is promoted to Principal of New York City Ballet
1965 – Judith Jamison, Carmen de Lavallade, Glory Van Scott and Cleo Quitman perform with American Ballet Theater in Agnes de Mille’s The Four Mary’s
1966 – Cleo Quitmen performs with the Joffrey Ballet in Eugene Loring’s These Three
1967 – Sara Yarborough Joined Harkness Ballet /Raven Wilkinson joins the Dutch National Ballet as a soloist
1968 – John Jones Leaves Jerome Robbins Ballet/ Keith Lee joins American Ballet Theater
1969 – Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook form The Dance Theatre of Harlem

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