{"id":13260,"date":"2021-12-02T16:21:16","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T16:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/?p=13260"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:16:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:16:22","slug":"american-ballet-theatre-evelyn-pilcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2021\/12\/02\/american-ballet-theatre-evelyn-pilcher\/","title":{"rendered":"American Ballet Theatre’s Orbit: Evelyn Pilcher"},"content":{"rendered":"

ABT Negro Unit\u2019s Black Ritual <\/i>and Evelyn Pilcher<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Click to view American Ballet Theatre; Negro Unit and Black Ritual Orbit<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The American Ballet Theatre\u2019s all-Black Negro Unit, which was founded in 1940 as part of the Federal Theatre Project, included Evelyn Pilcher<\/a><\/strong>, along with Lawaune Kennard<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Lavinia Williams<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Anne Jones<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Dorothy Williams<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Elizabeth Thompson<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Edith Ross<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Valerie Black<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Leonore<\/strong> \u201cAzelean\u201d Cox<\/strong><\/a>, Edith Hurd<\/strong><\/a>, Mabel Hart<\/a><\/strong>, Maudelle Bass<\/strong><\/a>, Clementine Collinwood<\/strong><\/a>, Carole Ash<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Bernice Willis<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> and Muriel Cook<\/strong><\/a><\/span>.<\/strong>\u00a0The Negro Unit only performed one ballet during its existence\u2014Black Ritual<\/em> or Obeah<\/em>, which was choreographed by Agnes de Mille and premiered in 1940.<\/p>\n

Pilcher performed with members of the Negro Unit in other works. In 1940, she appeared <\/span>in <\/span>Cabin in the Sky<\/span><\/i>\u2014<\/span>staged and choreographed by George Balanchine<\/span>\u2014with Negro Unit members <\/span>Edith Ross and Lawaune Kennard.<\/span> Pilcher also performed alongside <\/span>Dorothy Williams, Edith Ross, Valerie Black, Edith Hurd, and Mabel Anderson in the Broadway show <\/span>Carmen Jones <\/span><\/i>in 1943.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Evelyn Pilcher and George Balanchine<\/h2>\n

\"CabinGeorge Balanchine didn\u2019t create pieces for the Negro Unit of Ballet Theatre, but\u00a0he served as choreographer with several members of the company during production for Broadway\u2019s Cabin in the Sky<\/em>. The cast included Lawaune Kennard<\/a>, Evelyn Pilcher<\/a>, Edith Ross<\/a>, and Lavinia Williams<\/a> of the Negro Unit as well as other notable dancers Katherine Dunham<\/a> and Talley Beatty<\/a>. Cabin in the Sky<\/em> tells the story of Little Joe, who has earned a chance to redeem his soul after a near-death experience.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cabin in the Sky, Playbill<\/a>
\nCabin in the Sky, Wikipedia<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

More about Evelyn Pilcher<\/h2>\n

Evelyn Pilcher was born in 1922 and passed away in 2013. In addition to taking part in <\/span>Black Ritual <\/span><\/i>(1940), <\/span>Cabin in the Sky<\/span><\/i> (1940), and <\/span>Carmen Jones<\/span><\/i> (1943), Pilcher performed with La Verne French as \u201cVelyn and La Verne\u201d in the 1950s.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Black Ritual (Obeah), American Ballet Theatre<\/a><\/strong>
\nBernstein Meets Broadway: Collaborative Art in a Time of War by Carol J. Oja<\/a><\/strong>
\nEvelyn Pilcher, Playbill<\/a><\/strong>
\nMaher, Erin K. \u201cBallet, Race, and Agnes de Mille\u2019s Black Ritual.\u201d The Musical Quarterly, vol. 97, no. 3, Fall 2014, pp. 390-428.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

McClain Groff<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Madeline Crawford<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ABT Negro Unit\u2019s Black Ritual and Evelyn Pilcher The American Ballet Theatre\u2019s all-Black Negro Unit, which was founded in 1940 as part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"universe-template.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[284,253],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abt-negro-unit-constellation","category-universe"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13260"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15560,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13260\/revisions\/15560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}