{"id":16201,"date":"2022-06-12T16:43:47","date_gmt":"2022-06-12T16:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/?p=16201"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:16:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:16:20","slug":"the-capitol-ballet-1988-restoration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2022\/06\/12\/the-capitol-ballet-1988-restoration\/","title":{"rendered":"The Capitol Ballet: 1988 Restoration"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Capitol Ballet: 1988 Restoration<\/h2>\n
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Enter Capitol Ballet Orbit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Capitol Ballet Company, a multiracial performing company, was founded in 1961 by Doris Jones<\/a><\/strong> and Claire Haywood<\/a><\/strong> as an extension of their Jones-Haywood School<\/a><\/strong>. Jones served as the company\u2019s artistic director until 1982. Today, the Capitol Ballet Company holds the distinction of being the oldest predominately African American ballet company in the United States. In 1980, Jones also formed the Jones-Haywood Youth Dancers in order to provide more opportunities for younger dancers. As Miss Haywood described it, “the company is an in-between training ground for becoming professionals.” The company’s primary goals are enlarging the group, getting more scholarship money for children who can’t afford lessons, and providing more consistent training and development for young people. Their ultimate aim is to contribute greatly to the Arts in the Washington Metropolitan Area by aiding the intellectual and aesthetic growth of young people in the community.<\/p>\n

With grants from organizations like the D.C. Commission on the Arts, the Ford Foundation (the School of American Ballet), and the National Endowment for the Arts, the two dance instructors were able to take their students to study in New York with George Balanchine at the School of American Ballet and to perform nationally and internationally.<\/p>\n

The company performed classic works like Swan Lake<\/i>\u00a0as well as original pieces by Jones, including Ebony Concerto<\/i> and the Rachmaninoff Concerto<\/i>. The company has appeared in concerts before the Cultural Arts Club of Cleveland, at John Hancock Hall in Boston, and at Cramton Auditorium in Washington, D.C. It has also performed with the Drama and Music Departments of Howard University in productions of Medea<\/em>, Finian\u2019s Rainbow<\/em>, On The Town<\/em>, and Fly Blackbirds<\/em>. In 1983, the company closed due to economic pressure and a lack of funds. In an effort to reopen, a fundraising campaign beginning in 1987 resulted in the company reopening with 12 dancers in 1988 under the brief directorship of Keith Lee.<\/p>\n

While the company closed again due to a lack of funds, it left a lasting impact by providing the opportunity for artistic expression that was denied to them in a segregated American society. The legacy of the company and its founders lives on through the Jones-Haywood School of Dance, which is still flourishing today.<\/p>\n

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

Capitol Ballet Guild, Incorporated, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library<\/strong><\/a>
\nHighlights from America’s Black Broadway, Gale Academic One File<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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1980<\/b><\/h2>\n

March\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n