{"id":2624,"date":"2018-02-21T17:36:23","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T17:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mobballet.org\/?p=2624"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:16:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:16:28","slug":"what-wendys-watching-arthur-mitchell-blazes-an-international-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2018\/02\/21\/what-wendys-watching-arthur-mitchell-blazes-an-international-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"What Wendy&#8217;s Watching: Arthur Mitchell Blazes an International Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"widget__body clearfix sm-mt-1\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"widget__head\">\n<div class=\"widget__image crop-3x2\" data-runner-img-hd=\"https:\/\/assets.rbl.ms\/17178446\/1200x800.jpg\" data-runner-img-md=\"https:\/\/assets.rbl.ms\/17178446\/600x400.jpg\" data-runner-img-sd=\"https:\/\/assets.rbl.ms\/17178446\/600x400.jpg\">By Wendy Perron: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dancemagazine.com\/arthur-mitchell-exhibit-2531733824.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Via Dancemagazine.com<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"widget__body clearfix sm-mt-1\">\n<div class=\"headline-container\">When <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dancemagazine.com\/arthur-mitchell-harlems-ballet-trailblazer-2524648519.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Arthur Mitchell<\/a> set out to prove that African Americans could excel in ballet, there were many skeptics. He not only created a world-class ballet company\u2014Dance Theatre of Harlem\u2014but he launched a discussion about race and ballet <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dancemagazine.com\/diversity-is-the-new-black-2307002349.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">that we are still engaged in<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"widget__body clearfix sm-mt-1\">\n<div class=\"body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url\" data-elid=\"2531733824\" data-authors=\"Wendy Perron\" data-headline=\"What Wendy's Watching: Arthur Mitchell Blazes an International Trail\">\n<div class=\"body-description\">\n<div class=\"rm-shortcode\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"IQQMF31519225044\">\n<div class=\"fb-video fb_iframe_widget fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop\" data-allowfullscreen=\"true\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/video.php?v=10155719846533500\"><span data-verified=\"redactor\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" title=\"fb:video Facebook Social Plugin\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/v2.5\/plugins\/video.php?allowfullscreen=true&amp;app_id=287375348398280&amp;channel=http%3A%2F%2Fstaticxx.facebook.com%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2Fr%2FlY4eZXm_YWu.js%3Fversion%3D42%23cb%3Df1d2a4fac0188d2%26domain%3Dwww.dancemagazine.com%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.dancemagazine.com%252Ff54498e972cc38%26relation%3Dparent.parent&amp;container_width=716&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fvideo.php%3Fv%3D10155719846533500&amp;locale=en_US&amp;sdk=joey\" name=\"f6703032d4931\" width=\"1000px\" height=\"1000px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Who was Arthur Mitchell and how did he get the chutzpah to start a (mostly) black ballet company? Now we have a multi-faceted answer in an exhibit at Columbia University titled &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/exhibitions.cul.columbia.edu\/exhibits\/show\/mitchell\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Arthur Mitchell: Harlem&#8217;s Ballet Trailblazer<\/a>.&#8221; It&#8217;s curated by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dancemagazine.com\/2016-dance-magazine-awards-2307048288.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2016 Dance Magazine Awardee<\/a> Lynn Garafola, who is considered the foremost American dance historian.<\/p>\n<p>Mitchell grew up in Harlem and became the first black principal at New York City Ballet. He danced beautifully, no matter what genre he was doing. He dazzled audiences with his performances in Balanchine ballets like <em>Agon, The Four Temperaments, Midsummer Night&#8217;s Dream, Bugaku <\/em>and many other ballets. Then, inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., he used his own glorious dancing to do something for the civil rights movement. He started DTH with the help of Karel Shook, the ballet teacher he studied with at Katherine Dunham&#8217;s school. The company traveled all over the world, meeting with a warm reception everywhere.<\/p>\n<div class=\"share-tab-img share-buttons share-trigger\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"89bbf\" class=\"rm-shortcode\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.rbl.ms\/17167361\/980x.jpg\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"VU0UA81519225044\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"share-media-panel\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><small class=\"image-media media-caption\">Allegra Kent and Mitchell in Balanchine&#8217;s Agon. PC Fritz Peyer<\/small>This exhibit contains photos, videos, posters and a costume from Mitchell&#8217;s vast archives. When you see the photos of Mitchell as a young man, his magnetism jumps off the wall. His beauty, charisma, gorgeous classical dancing\u2014and his bold idea\u2014attracted many talented, hopeful dancers.<\/p>\n<p>Little known facts about Mitchell&#8217;s life:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 He auditioned for the High School of Performing Arts with a tap dance! (Of course he got in.)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 After his graduation performance, he was offered scholarships at both School of American Ballet and Bennington College, known for its modern dance department. I think you know which path he chose.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Before joining NYCB, he performed with choreographers Donald McKayle, Sophie Maslow, Dunham prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Walter Nicks and\u2014quite a surprise\u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dancemagazine.com\/david-vaughan-passed-away-2502536268.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">David Vaughan.<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"share-tab-img share-buttons share-trigger\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"9189d\" class=\"rm-shortcode\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.rbl.ms\/17167367\/980x.jpg\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"8JHD9W1519225044\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"share-media-panel\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><small class=\"image-media media-caption\">Mitchell as the Snake in Todd Bolender&#8217;s Creation of the World in 1960<\/small><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Wendy Perron: Via Dancemagazine.com When Arthur Mitchell set out to prove that African Americans could excel in ballet, there were many [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","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":[6],"tags":[72,32,51,68,99,31,71,204],"class_list":["post-2624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-zine","tag-arthur-mitchell","tag-ballet","tag-black-ballerinas","tag-dance-theatre-of-harlem","tag-diversity-in-ballet","tag-mobballet","tag-new-york-city-ballet","tag-nycb"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/27893068_877269479112179_5291158825431203840_n.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2624","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2624"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2628,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2624\/revisions\/2628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}