{"id":10151,"date":"2021-02-22T16:01:57","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T16:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/?p=10151"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:16:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:16:25","slug":"donald-williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2021\/02\/22\/donald-williams\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Donald Williams<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Dance Theatre of Harlem (1977-2004)<\/strong>
\nRoyal Ballet: Guest<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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Donald Williams in Agon<\/em>, photo by Paul Kolnik.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Donald Williams studied under Larry Long at the Ruth Page Foundation in his hometown of Chicago, IL and later the Dance Theatre of Harlem school on scholarship. In 1977, he joined the company and became principal in 1983.<\/div>\n
Over his 27-year tenure with the company, Williams performed in the original DTH casts of Robert North\u2019s Troy Game<\/em> (1978); George Balanchine\u2019s The Four Temperaments <\/em>(1979) and Stars and Stripes<\/em> (1984); Carlos Carvajal\u2019s Secret Silence<\/em> (1979); Carmen de Lavallade<\/a>\u2019s Sensemaya<\/em> (1979); John Taras\u2019 Firebird<\/em> (1982); Valerie Bettis\u2019 A Streetcar Named Desire (<\/em>1982); Geoffrey Holder<\/a>\u2019s Banda<\/em> (1982); Domy Reiter-Soffer\u2019s Equus: The Ballet<\/em> (1982); David Lichine\u2019s Graduation Ballet <\/em>(1983); Glen Tetley\u2019s Voluntaries<\/em> (1984) and Dialogues<\/em> (1991); Claude Debussy\u2019s La Mer<\/em> (1985); David Gordon\u2019s Piano Movers<\/em> (1985); Jerome Robbins\u2019 Fancy Free<\/em> (1985); Billy Wilson<\/a>\u2019s Concerto in F<\/em> (1986); Garth Fagan\u2019s Footprints Dressed in Red<\/em> (1986); Michael Smuin\u2019s Medea<\/em> (1992), A Song for Dead Warriors<\/em> (1993), and St. Louis Woman: A Blues Ballet <\/em>(2003); Arthur Mitchell and Rachel Sekyi\u2019s Bach Passacaglia<\/em> (1993), Alonzo King\u2019s Signs and Wonders<\/em> (1995) and Ground<\/em> (1996); Robert Garland<\/a>\u2019s The Joplin Dances<\/em>, (1995), Return<\/em> (1999), and New Bach<\/em> (2001); Kenneth MacMillian\u2019s Las Hermanas<\/em> (1996); Vincent Sekwati Mantsoe\u2019s Sasanka <\/em>(1997); John Alleyne<\/a>\u2019s Adrian (Angel on Earth) <\/em>(1997); Jos\u00e9 Lim\u00f3n\u2019s The Moor\u2019s Pavane <\/em>(1997); Louis Johnson<\/a>\u2019s Soul on Pointe <\/em>(1998); Dwight Rhoden\u2019s Twist<\/em> (1999); Robert La Fosse and Robert Garland\u2019s Tributary<\/em> (2000); and Augustus van Heerden<\/a>\u2019s Memento Mori (To Remember Death) <\/em>(2000).<\/div>\n
In 1993, The Baltimore Sun<\/em> praised Williams\u2019 and his partner Christiana Johnson<\/a>\u2019s \u201cmagnificent sense of timing and strong vibrant technique\u201d in Glen Tetley\u2019s <\/span>Dialogues<\/em> and their \u201cnearly flawless performance\u201d in Le Corsaire<\/em>.<\/div>\n
Williams has performed as a guest artist with the Royal Ballet and the International Ballet Festival, Cuba.<\/div>\n
His film credits include The Cotton Club<\/em> and PBS\u2019s Dance in America <\/em>recording of A Streetcar Named Desire<\/em> and Firebird<\/em>. Williams also appeared in the Broadway cast of Ragtime<\/em> and The Phantom of the Opera<\/em>\u2019s national tour.<\/div>\n
He has been an instructor at Ballet Academy East, The Ailey School, Dance Theatre of Harlem\u2019s school, and the Cedar Lake Ensemble, among others.<\/div>\n
Williams is now a member of the dance faculty at Tulane University.<\/div>\n
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Donald Williams with Christina Johnson, photographed by Ruv\u00e9n Afanador for the the March 1995 issue of Vanity Fair<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Donald Williams with Lorraine Graves<\/a> in Raymonda<\/em> at the London Coliseum, 1984. Photo via Virginia Arts Festival.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Donald Williams with Christiana Johnson in Glen Tetley’s Dialogues<\/em>. Photo by Martha Swope.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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