{"id":13270,"date":"2021-12-02T16:21:16","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T16:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/?p=13270"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:16:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:16:22","slug":"american-ballet-theatre-mabel-anderson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2021\/12\/02\/american-ballet-theatre-mabel-anderson\/","title":{"rendered":"American Ballet Theatre’s Orbit: Mabel Anderson (n\u00e9e Hart)"},"content":{"rendered":"

ABT Negro Unit\u2019s Black Ritual<\/em> and Mabel Anderson<\/b><\/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 Mabel Hart<\/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> Edith Ross<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong>\u00a0Leonore<\/strong> \u201cAzelean\u201d Cox<\/strong><\/a>, Edith Hurd<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0Maudelle Bass<\/strong><\/a>, Clementine Collinwood<\/strong><\/a>, Carole Ash<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Bernice Willis<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> and Muriel Cook<\/strong><\/a>. <\/span>The 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

Anderson<\/span> performed with members of the Negro Unit <\/span>in other works. <\/span>Anderson and Valerie Black <\/span>danced in <\/span>Aida<\/span><\/i> with the National Negro Opera Company in 1941 and Lysistrata<\/em> in 1946. Anderson, Dorothy Williams, Edith Ross, Valerie Black, Edith Hurd, and Evelyn Pilcher performed in <\/span>Carmen Jones <\/span><\/i>in 1943.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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More about Mabel Anderson (n\u00e9e Hart)<\/b><\/h2>\n
\"Playbill
Playbill for Four Saints in Three Acts<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Born in 1916, Mabel Anderson (n\u00e9e Hart) was a member of the Negro Unit of Ballet Theatre. <\/span>Her Broadway credits include roles in <\/span>Run, Little Chillun<\/span><\/i> (1943); <\/span>Carmen Jones<\/span><\/i> (1943-1945); and <\/span>Lost in the Stars<\/span><\/i> (as the Young Woman, 1949). In 1934, she was one of the six dancers featured in <\/span>Four Saints in Three Acts<\/span><\/i>, composed by Virgil Thomson and choreographed by Frederick Ashton, with a libretto by Gertrude Stein. With the Federal Theatre Project, Hart performed in <\/span>Sweet Land <\/span><\/i>(1936) and <\/span>Pinocchio<\/span><\/i> (1939).<\/span><\/p>\n

Her other theater credits include <\/span>La Belle Helene<\/span><\/i> in Westport, Connecticut (1941); <\/span>Lysistrata<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(1946); and <\/span>Show Boat<\/span><\/i> (1948).<\/span><\/p>\n

In the 1930s, Hart taught dance at the Grace Giles Dancing School. She founded the Mabel Hart Dance School in the 1950s; the school performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Opera House in 1968.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hart passed away in 1965.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Playbill
Playbill for Carmen Jones.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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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>
\nMabel Hart, Playbill<\/a><\/strong>
\nPioneers in Negro Concert Dance: 1931 to 1937, Free to Dance<\/a><\/strong>
\nMaher, Erin K. \u201cBallet, Race, and Agnes de Mille\u2019s Black Ritual.\u201d\u00a0The Musical Quarterly<\/em>, vol. 97, no. 3, Fall 2014, pp. 390-428.
\nMable [sic] Hart Dance Studio, BAM Archives<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Caprice Turchiano<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

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

ABT Negro Unit\u2019s Black Ritual and Mabel Anderson 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-13270","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\/13270","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=13270"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15564,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13270\/revisions\/15564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}