{"id":13262,"date":"2021-12-02T16:21:16","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T16:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/?p=13262"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:16:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:16:22","slug":"american-ballet-theatre-edith-ross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2021\/12\/02\/american-ballet-theatre-edith-ross\/","title":{"rendered":"American Ballet Theatre’s Orbit: Edith Ross"},"content":{"rendered":"

ABT Negro Unit\u2019s Black Ritual<\/em> and Edith Ross<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Click to view American Ballet Theatre; Negro Unit and Black Ritual Orbit<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Image
Edith Ross (far left), Beryl Murray, and Lavinia Williams.<\/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 Edith Ross<\/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> Evelyn Pilcher<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong>\u00a0Valerie 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

Edith Ross had previously danced with fellow Negro Unit members Valerie Black, Dorothy Williams, and Lavinia Williams in the American Negro Ballet, which debuted in 1937 and disbanded in 1940. Additionally, Ross was part of the <\/span>original cast of Lew Leslie\u2019s<\/span> Blackbirds of 1939<\/span><\/i> with dancers Muriel Cook and Edith Hurd.<\/span> 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 Evelyn Pilcher<\/span> and Lawaune Kennard.<\/span> Ross also performed alongside <\/span>Dorothy Williams, <\/span>Evelyn Pilcher<\/span>, Valerie Black, Edith Hurd, and Mabel Anderson in the Broadway show <\/span>Carmen Jones <\/span><\/i>in 1943.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Edith Ross 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 Edith Ross<\/h2>\n

In addition to the Negro Unit of Ballet Theatre, Edith Ross was a member of Eugene Von Grona\u2019s American Negro Ballet and the Katherine Dunham Company from 1940 to 1943.\u00a0<\/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>
\nEdith Ross, Playbill<\/a><\/strong>
\nJackson, La\u2019Toya Princess. \u201cBlack Swans Shattering the Glass Ceiling: A Historical Perspective The Evolution of Historically Black Ballet Companies\u2014 From Katherine Dunham to Arthur Mitchell.\u201d<\/a><\/strong>
\nMaher, Erin K. \u201cBallet, Race, and Agnes de Mille\u2019s Black Ritual.\u201d <\/span>The Musical Quarterly<\/span><\/i>, vol. 97, no. 3, Fall 2014, pp. 390-428.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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

ABT Negro Unit\u2019s Black Ritual and Edith Ross 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-13262","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\/13262","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=13262"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15554,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13262\/revisions\/15554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}