Ballet Instructor's Newsletter (3-30-03): Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem
Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem
By Sara Mistretta
There was a predominant myth in American society that blacks were not suitable for classical ballet when Arthur Mitchell opened up his ballet school in 1969 1 and his company, Dance Theatre of Harlem, a few years later. It was said that blacks could never be good ballet dancers because they “lacked a classical line” and had “flat feet”. As Kraus, Hilsendager and Dixon stated in their book, History of the Dance in Art and Education:
It was [also] presumably felt that they [blacks] would disrupt the uniformity of the [ballet] company’s appearance; that often black bodies did not fit prevailing white aesthetic standards; even that black bodies and white tutus would provide a jarring visual effect for audiences. (251)
My thesis will attempt to answer the question of how Arthur Mitchell was able to help dispel this myth with his school and company. Additionally, I will address various ideas on why the Dance Theatre of Harlem has attempted to change its mission of being an all-black (one-race) ballet company into, what their web site now states as a “multicultural institution.” There will not only be a discussion on the changing composition of The Dance Theatre of Harlem’s company and school but also a discussion on their involvement and interaction with the community at large. The Dance Theatre of Harlem’s “Dancing through Barriers” program is a good example of how they are attempting to bring to the community knowledge of, and interest for, the arts, particularly ballet, pressing for a greater need for involvement of all persons in the arts.
Before discussing Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem, there needs to be a discussion on Mitchell’s background, his life before DTH’s inception, and the social elements existing during that time. Mitchell always stood out in class at school. One of his teachers saw that he had talent for dance and suggested to him that he should attend New York’s High School of the Performing Arts. He followed that advice, and while attending the new school, initially took up jazz, tap and modern, soon deciding thereafter that ballet was what he should delve into. A little while later, he received a scholarship to the School of American Ballet and a couple years after that, at the age of 21, he entered the well-known New York City Ballet, initially as a Corp dancer but successfully achieved soloist status with the company. All of society did not agree with Balanchine, the then director for New York City Ballet, that race did not denote dance ability. Balanchine wanted a dancer for his company, but only if he/she was ‘the best,’ dismissing whether that dancer was white, black, Asian, Hispanic or other. Some theatergoers felt that it was immoral to have a black dancer dance with a white dancer, especially in Mitchell’s case, where he (a black male) would dance with a white female. Balanchine did not care to pay attention to this protest and Mitchell stayed with his company for more than fifteen years. It was Mitchell that decided to venture out and open his own school and company. His school, opening in Harlem, was, according to Mitchell himself, a reaction to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination (1968). When the assassination occurred, Mitchell was in South America helping to develop a ballet company there. Hearing the news of the assassination, he quickly decided to come “back home [Harlem]” and develop an institution that would provide an artistic outlet for Harlem’s kids. In Laura van Tuyl’s 1990 article for The Christian Science Monitor, “Transcending Race With Dance,” Mitchell states: “[I wanted to] give them some kind of structure and discipline in their lives.” His school, however, could not last forever under its [then] current conditions, thus, requiring funding to continue. This was especially true for DTH, since many of its students were [and still are today] on free scholarships. The Dance Theatre of Harlem Company, therefore, was created to help produce revenue so that the school could remain afloat. It was also created so that his dance students had an outlet for displaying their skills. The company helped dispel the then current notion of blacks not being suitable for ballet. Originally the company was entirely composed of all black dancers but later became multi-ethnic, employing dancers from all different ethnic backgrounds.
It has been difficult to find any scholarly works, or any works for that matter, that discuss how a dance company can reflect the society’s current views and ideals and how both the company and society can influence each other, bringing about new definitions or meanings to race matters. As Eric Pace stated in his 1987 article, "Blacks in the Arts: Evaluating Recent Successes:"
Blacks have scored a number of notable successes in the performing and dramatic arts in recent weeks and months, prompting discussion in artistic, academic and other circles of a question: Do these triumphs reflect real advances for blacks in American culture and society as a whole?
Clearly Pace was posing the same question as I am now. Since I have not had too much success in finding any “artistic, academic and other circles” discussing this issue, it is apparent that no one took heed of Pace’s suggestion and fifteen years after his statement we come to the exact same question, still unanswered.
There needs to be a note as well made here that Arthur Mitchell was not the first black dancer to dance classical ballet neither was he the first person to have a ballet company with all-black dancers. Additionally, he was not the first person to start an outreach art program in New York and beyond, educating children of minority and of low socioeconomic background. Mitchell is noted for being the first classical ballet dancer to join a major American ballet company and move up to soloist status. There were other black ballet dancers before his time, but they usually were turned down at the doors of major American ballet companies, having to look elsewhere, or if accepted they received a nominal role in the company, never to receive principal roles. In Karel Shook’s book, Elements of Classical Ballet Technique, there is a brief synopsis on the history of blacks in ballet and modern dance. Apparently, Hemsley Winfield started a company, called the Negro Art Theatre Dance Group, in the 1920s and it is known to be the first black modern dance group. Baron Eugene von Grona’s American Negro Ballet debuted in 1937 at the Harlem’s Lafayette Theater, disbanding only five months after its inception. Other companies came and went before Aubrey Hitchen’s Negro Dance Theater, an all-male repertory company, created in 1953. For instance, in 1949 Joseph Rickhard created The First Negro Classical Ballet, which later merged with the New York Negro Ballet, becoming Ballet America. Gay Morris in her 1996 book, Moving Words: Re-Writing Dance, comments that von Grona’s and Hitchen’s dance companies “were formed with the express racialist purpose of proving the ability of the black body to inhabit classical ballet technique. The logic that pushed them to capitulate to stereotypical Negro themes in their repertory remains curious” (111). All companies mentioned above have long since disbanded, greatly due from a lack of adequate funding. I believe that this lack of funding resulted from not having enough community interest in keeping the companies alive, including corporate interest and support. Having blacks in ballet during those years was not well accepted by the public. In regards to an effort for an art education program, certainly there were such programs before Arthur Mitchell’s creation of Dancing through Barriers in 1992. Famous ballet dancer for New York City Ballet, Jacques D’Amboise, noted in Kraus, Hilsendager and Dixon’s book, “[had] initiated a program in the early 1980’s that drew as many as 1,000 children from public and parochial schools in New York and New Jersey—many from slum areas and of black, Oriental, and Hispanic background” (327). However, Mitchell did succeed in achieving recognition for his dancing abilities through the auspices of New York City Ballet, unlike previous black dancers that had tried. His company did outlast many other companies and still achieves high recognition in the ballet world. And, his Dancing through Barriers program is still running, reaching an ever-larger audience throughout the years. So, one of the things Mitchell can certainly be credited for is his tenacity and willingness to strive forward, even during harsh times.
If the majority of the [then] current society felt that blacks were not fit for ballet, how did Arthur Mitchell drive students into his school? Knowledge of former black ballet companies was not a well-known fact, especially since those companies disbanded so quickly after their inception. And as recently as the 1960’s the belief that blacks were not suitable ballet dancers persisted. It can, thus, only be understood as an understanding among the community of Harlem that Mitchell’s effort to take kids off their streets and to provide them with an artistic outlet was a benefit that caused his school to become a success. Perhaps Harlem residents were equally upset over Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination and were in agreement with Mitchell that such an organization should be initiated in their community. This could explain why Mitchell was able to quickly draw a large black student population into his dance school in the summer of 1969, soon after its opening, thus showing that not all blacks believed with the white community in the myth of blacks not being suitable for classical ballet. They did not tell themselves that because of the color of their skin and their physical features they could not do well in ballet. Afterall, Mitchell was a symbol of hope, for if Mitchell was able to become a successful dancer for a major American ballet company, then they could do the same (if they worked hard and persevered). The school’s success could also be explained, or partially explained, by the fact that Balanchine helped out Mitchell’s school and company. Balanchine stated in an interview done by John Gruen for his book, Private World of Ballet (1975), “I have helped Arthur, and I have helped his company, even before foundations came along with grants” (443). According to Gruen, Balanchine was a “Board Member and a Vice-President of the Dance Theatre of Harlem” (444). Mitchell, also interviewed by Gruen, stated when mentioning that the Dance Theatre of Harlem Company’s first public appearance was in a gala performance with Balanchine’s company: “Just the association of the two companies [DTH and NYCB] established the Dance Theatre of Harlem” (442). The major challenge for Mitchell’s school, during the first few years starting out, before starting the company and making its first public appearance, was to show that blacks, not merely one or two blacks, can do as well as whites in ballet 2. With the myth roaming in the air that blacks did not have the disposition for ballet, Mitchell’s own success may have been thought of as an ‘exception to the rule.’ Therefore, he needed to prove without a doubt, through the auspices of his Harlem dance school and company, that race did not dictate dance ability. Blacks could not only be successful in ethnic dance, tap and jazz but could also succeed in classical ballet.
Race has always been a major issue not only with society at large but also within the dance community. Exclusion by race is still remarked by some dancers today to be a continuing problem in the dance world. In Kraus et al’s book, despite Dance Theatre of Harlem’s success:
Few major ballet companies have engaged blacks as permanent company members. After starring Mel Tomlinson joined the New York City Ballet, retiring from dance in 1987. Debra Austin also danced with the New York Company, later joining the Pennsylvania Ballet as a principal dancer. But few other blacks have been accepted. (251)
They hypothesize that the reason behind this phenomenon must be from still existent racial biases. Stating that despite Dance Theatre of Harlem’s success in dispelling the myth of blacks not being physically capable of performing classical ballet, and despite blacks having been successful in other parts of the entertainment field, there are still few black ballet dancers in American dance companies. Kraus et al then conclude that this must be for reasons of racial prejudice. Notice in this excerpt, that Tomlinson and Austin are both mentioned to have gone from Dance Theatre of Harlem to the New York City Ballet. Could Arthur Mitchell’s tie with Balanchine have anything to do with this? A 1985 article, “A Man Who Championed Blacks in Ballet,” written by Jennifer Dunning for The New York Times, stated: “The sum total of blacks in classical ballet in New York—four out of 256 dancers—has jumped by one in 11 years.” In her 1997 article, “Visions of Ballet as a Multiracial Art Have Been Slow to Spread in the U.S.,” again writing for The New York Times, Dunning reports that there still remains a very low ratio of black ballet dancers in American ballet companies. “Of ten major ballet companies in U.S., only 4.6 percent of 495 company members are black.” Other dance critics have during the years discussed this issue. In “A Song for Dead Warriors,” written in 1993 by Tobi Tobias for the New York Magazine, it comments that black artists have had a “battle that is by no means over” in regards to gaining entrance into classical ballet companies. The article mentions that not until 1993 was the Dance Theatre of Harlem able to perform at the New York State Theater. Mitchell, while performing as a dancer for the New York City Ballet, was on its stage in 1964. However, his company would not get the same ‘privilege’ until 1993. Hopefully, by describing how Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem has striven to not only help their local community but to also help dispel racial myths, we can gain an understanding on how one group can influence another, namely Dance Theatre of Harlem and the society at large. This cycle of one group influencing another certainly appears to be a never-ending effort to redefine “race” and all racial matters.
How was Mitchell going to dispel this myth that blacks can never be good classical ballet dancers? By creating an all-black dance troupe, a full-fledged ballet company composed only of blacks. Although this may seem contradictory in doing so, I believe that his decision towards having a one-race group proved to be beneficial in the long run. Beneficial in that the company’s initial success could then be linked to only one determining factor: dancing talent. If the company was composed of, for instance, ten blacks, two Asians, one Indian, and five whites, then the company’s success could not only be explained by the group’s ability to dance well, but could also be explained by other factors, such as being multi-ethnic (i.e. having white dancers). However, because the company started off as an all-black group, their success was going to be more or less linked to their dancing capabilities rather than to an automatic acceptance into the white-centered ballet world. If the company was composed of whites, blacks, and other races, then the company might have been easily accepted into the ballet world based on it looking similar to other ballet companies of that time. Ballet companies were composed of mostly white dancers with only one or two non-white dancers. Therefore, Mitchell’s company would find success through their talent rather than their racial makeup.
So, Mitchell’s need to have an all-black ballet company was an attempt to clearly disprove the myth—his company was only going to succeed if it disproved the myth very well: they would have to be extremely good ballet dancers. His decision to name his company Dance Theatre of Harlem rather than placing racial terms in the title, for example, Dance Theatre of Black Harlem, most likely helped him gain audiences. In order to dispel the myth his company would need to be seen by many audiences, including audiences composed from all-white communities. The previous black ballet companies’ failures were probably or at least to a certain extent, caused by their use of race in the company name. American Negro Ballet, The First Negro Classical Ballet, New York Negro Ballet, Negro Dance Theatre, all denote the racial background of the dancers, giving the audience, in essence, a chance to discriminate against them before having seen them perform. This attempt to keep race out of the Dance Theatre of Harlem company name in order to gain audiences, was aided by the fact that newspaper reviews and commentaries tried not to heavily mention race when describing the company, but instead, concentrated on the company members’ dancing abilities. This was exactly what Mitchell wanted—to be evaluated on talent rather than on race matters. This would help dispel the myth and rank the company as one of the top major U.S. ballet companies.
Therefore, if Mitchell’s decision to have an all-black dance group was to show that the company’s success was due to their dancing ability rather than on having a couple of white dancers in their group, why then did he later decide to make the company multi-ethnic? The company would no longer be known as a successful black ballet company but a successful ballet company composed of dancers of different ethnic backgrounds. Did race matter anymore? It seems that Mitchell changed his goal, his company and school’s mission, to fit the times. Their mission was no longer to prove that blacks could successfully do classical ballet—they had already proven that—but to have their company represent the community at large. It was not necessarily to show that race no longer was a factor in the equation, but that race was not as distinctive as it once was. Racial meaning was taking a shape somewhat foreign from its previous form. There was to be no longer a dichotomous situation—one white group and one black group (and all other races)—but now one group to signify all races. The company was not to be known for its racial composition but continue to be known for its dancing ability, now better representing its multicultural environment. In van Tuyl’s article, Mitchell is found saying:
There are those who still may feel, ‘Yes, I want to preserve the roots of my people.’ [But] in the universal sphere, you’ve got to find a common language. In the final analysis, the arts transcend race, class, creed, or color.
This concept of going above and beyond issues of race seems to be an all-encompassing movement—no longer can there be a distinction between racial lines, but a blurring of those lines. In “Choreographing in Future Tense,” an article written for the Los Angeles Times’ January 13, 2002 issue by Diane Haithman, Mitchell is quoted as saying:
About 12, 14 years [1981, 1982, or 1983] after I established the company, I realized again that I was setting up a barrier; I felt that our company should reflect the society that we live in, so we integrated. The company is mostly African-American, but you will see Caucasian people in the company, Asian people in the company.
Not only can this statement of racial blurring be seen by Mitchell’s comments but it is also seen in DTH’s choice of dance pieces. Not only doing classical ballet, the company performs modern dance pieces as well as ethnically oriented pieces. Additionally, the company uses choreographers from all over the world, such as South Africa, and Canada. In Alan Kriegsman’s article, “Collision of Moving Bodies,” Mitchell has been criticized for his company’s ‘dependence’ on Balanchine’s pieces and for his [Mitchell’s] choreography appearing all too similar to Balanchine’s style, having Balanchine flair. Retorting to such remarks, Mitchell stated, “He is my teacher. People have said I’ve imitated him in my own choreography. Who better to imitate?” But there are those critics, such as Arlene Croce, who for The New Yorker magazine’s May 26, 1975 edition 3 , written in “The Bolshoi Smiles, Sort Of,” stated that “probably the company [DTH] won’t win the audience until it has the right vehicles to give it a distinctive image. I should hate to see that image overlap more than it already has with that of the New York City Ballet.” Kriegsman in own article comes to Mitchell’s defense:
Upon the classical foundations he received at the hands of Balanchine, he has built an eclectic, youthful, contemporary repertoire that runs a choreographic gamut from traditional classicism to the Afro-American heritage to Broadway.
Dance Theatre of Harlem’s transition to a multi-ethnic institution is, in essence, a reflection of what is occurring on a larger scale in society. The company’s origin as a one-race dance troupe signified the rigid racial lines of the time. Consequently, the company’s transition over to being multi-ethnic signified the blurring of racial lines that is ever so slowly occurring nowadays in society itself. But although Mitchell was successful in helping to prove that blacks, indeed, could be very good ballet dancers there still exists a problem today of low black participation in Euro-American arts.
There is now evidence that neither whites or blacks participate often in highbrowed arts. DiMaggio and Ostrower’s 1990 study, mentioned in their article “Participation in the Arts by Black and White Americans,” concluded that “fewer than 5 percent of all respondents attended an opera or ballet performance or performed in public.” Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem’s program, Dancing through Barriers (DTB), started in 1992, strives to bring the arts to children by visiting various communities and providing them with information about ballet, giving master dance classes and performances. In van Tuyl’s article, Mitchell states that it is not necessarily only racial bias that is holding blacks from joining major American dance companies but that and the fact that children are not getting involved in the arts. The purpose of the Dancing through Barriers program is not only to educate young persons about ballet, but also to show that there are dancers of all kind and of racial background. Additionally, DTH offers much reduced ticket prices for regular dance events that it holds for the Harlem community, charging only three dollars for adults. And it is while teaching art appreciation the Dance Theatre of Harlem at the same time reaffirms multicultural ideals. Not only should the dance members be ethnically diverse, so should the audience. The Dancing through Barriers program, “One of the country’s most comprehensive community arts education systems,” stated in 1997 by Valerie Gladstone for Dance Magazine, seems to be very important in this time of age when it appears that there is low participation in the arts by both whites and blacks. DiMaggio and Ostrower’s study concluded to this fact, commenting further that “although racial differences were persistent and often substantial, none of the activities represents a norm for either white or black Americans” (758). The Dance Theatre of Harlem works with local schools, colleges and universities in major cities such as New York, Detroit, Miami and London. According to Gladstone’s article, Mitchell, when speaking once about his purpose for starting the Dancing through Barriers program, commented that he is fighting against barriers: “I don’t mean just political barriers. I mean—psychological and social barriers as well.”
Is racial classification relevant any longer? Mitchell’s company is proving that it is not. The firm notion of “race” has been abandoned, and racial characteristics are no longer entirely relevant in the ballet world. Even though Mitchell’s successful company has helped redefine “race” by dispelling the notion that blacks are not suited for classical ballet, racial issues still do exist and there continues to be a problem of blacks not participating as much as whites in Euro-American culture (e.g. classical ballet). Brenda Dixon in her 1990 article, “Black Dance and the Dancers and the White Public: A Prolegomenon to Problems of Definition,” brings up the issue that racial issues still, to a certain extent, remain in the dance world. Her reason for this is that current ballet companies, such as Dance Theatre of Harlem, that consist of predominately black dancers, are viewed by the “white public” as black dance companies rather than just dance companies. She proclaims that this classification has relegated such companies to a separate class from “White companies,” such as the New York City Ballet. She states, furthermore: “America has learned that separate is, inherently, unequal. No dancer or choreographer wants a separate category created for his or her work” (119). Dixon’s main argument is that assumptions of what black dance is has put black dancers and choreographers into a position that sets limitations on how they are perceived by the white community. She concludes that black dance is not well-defined and that, consequently, the DTH, and other such companies, are placed in a different category from white dance companies based on the white community’s desire to define their work as black dance. Dance critics help contribute to this categorization. Arlene Croce stated in her article for The New Yorker (same issue as earlier quoted):
The DTH is in a difficult transitionary period—well out of its missionary phase as a ghetto experiment and yet not quite into the big time…Adding to the failure of publicity was the unlucky timing of the [1975] season. With a considerable portion of its repertory drawn from the NYCB, the company was playing opposite the NYCB as well as the Bolshoi, and also opposite another black dance company—Alvin Ailey’s.
Here, Croce is differentiating not only the level of talent between the Dance Theatre of Harlem and the New York City Ballet and the Bolshoi Ballet companies. But, she is also differentiating [intentional or not] between the DTH and the others by stating that the DTH is a black dance company: (“and also opposite another black dance company…”). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ballet, by Horst Koegler, thankfully does not make the same error. Looking at the 2nd edition, a 1987 update, it states, “[DTH] is the first long-lived classically oriented ballet company of the United States with almost entirely black dancers” (115). One can argue that perhaps this difference in discourse could be due to the changing times, since Croce’s article is from 1975 and the Oxford Dictionary is a 1987 update. Are there professional dance critics and others nowadays that still use racial discourse when critiquing dance? Yes. Going online to www.encyclopedia.com the description for the Dance Theatre of Harlem is: “The first black classical ballet company.” However, most resources I found avoided stating DTH as a black ballet company, stating instead, DTH. So, yes there are some authors nowadays that still use racial discourse in describing dance companies but they are in the minority. That minority still persists and this could explain why Mitchell still refers to his company’s former effort in dispelling the myth in his current interviews, continuing to bring up the issue of race matters. He very well may feel that he has to, since some critics still subject his company to racial discourse, continuing to refer to his company as a black ballet company instead of taking the racial term out altogether. I do not feel that it is so much that society wants to make such racial distinctions, but that there is still a lingering propensity to apply race in our discourse, in our wanting to describe things to a whole-hearted extent. It is our desire to state the apple not merely as an apple, but a red, yellow or green apple.
Endnote:
(1) Most people believe that the company started in 1969—one year after Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. It is also a widely held belief that Mitchell’s school started in a garage. Only one author mentioned that it was, instead, started in a church basement.
(2) Karel Shook stated in his book that his and Mitchell’s purpose for the Dance Theatre of Harlem was not to prove that blacks could do ballet. However, Mitchell was quoted in an interview done by Kriegsman, in Collision of Moving Bodies article, as saying “We’ve done exactly what we set out to do. Initially, we set out to prove to the world that blacks can dance classical ballet. We’ve done it.” Other sources have him taking credit for it. It is unknown for sure whether it was truly one of his sole intentions for the DTH or whether it was just an aftereffect.
(3) Arlene Croce’s article was found in her book, Afterimages, a compilation of her dance critic articles written predominately for The New Yorker magazine. Page 153 was used for this paper.
Bibliography:
Books:
1) Croce, A. (1978). Afterimages. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Afterimages
3) Dixon, B., Hilsendager, S. C., & Kraus, R. (1991). History of the dance in art and education (3rd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
History of the Dance in Art and Education
5) Shook, K. (1977). Elements of classical ballet technique. New York:
Dance Horizons.
Periodicals:
1) DiMaggio, P. D. & Ostrower, F. (1990). Participation in the arts by black and white Americans. Social Forces, 68 (3), 753-778.
2) Dixon, B. (1990). Black dance and the dancers and the White public: A prolegomenon to problems of definition. Black American Literature Forum, 224 (1), 117-123.
Magazines:
1) Tobias, T. (1993, April 5). A song for dead warriors. New York Magazine, 26 (14), 82.
Newspapers:
1) Dunning, J. (1985, August 11). A man who championed blacks in ballet. New
York Times, pp. Section 2, 14, column 1.
2) Dunning, J. (1997, February 24). Visions of ballet as a multiracial art have been slow to spread in the U.S. New York Times, pp. Section 2.
3) Haithman, D. (2002, January 13). Choreographing in future tense. Los Angeles Times, pp. Sunday calendar, part 6, 7.
4) Kriegsman, A. M. (1979, September 30). Collision of moving bodies. The Washington Post, pp. Style show, H1.
5) Pace, E. (1987, June 14). Blacks in the arts: Evaluating recent successes. New York Times, pp. I.
6) Van Tuyl, L. (1990, November 28). Transcending race with dance. The Christian Science Monitor, pp. The arts, 15.
Websites:
1) Dance Theatre of Harlem. In Electric Library Presents Encyclopedia.com. [Online]. Available: http://www.encylopedia.com/printablenew/45509.html [2002, March 13].
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