The American Negro Ballet Company was formed in 1934 under the auspices of Eugene Von Grona, a German immigrant. Originally composed of thirty African-American jazz dancers, the company focused on serious modern dance. Lavinia Williams and Al Bledger were lead dancers. [1]
The poorly reviewed debut performance on November 21, 1937, was conducted by Dean Dixon. It was held at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem, New York, US. [2] Von Grona was the main choreographer for pieces by Igor Stravinsky, Duke Ellington and W. C. Handy, among others. [1]
The company only lasted five months, until 1938. In 1939, the company was renamed "Von Grona's American Swing Ballet." [1]
There is great variety in dance in the United States of America. It is the home of the hip hop dance, salsa, swing, tap dance and its derivative Rock and Roll, and modern square dance and one of the major centers for modern dance. There is a variety of social dance and concert or performance dance forms with also a range of traditions of Native American dances.
Helen Tamiris was an American choreographer, modern dancer, and teacher.
Richard Bruce Nugent, aka Richard Bruce and Bruce Nugent, was a gay writer and painter in the Harlem Renaissance. Despite being a part of a group of many gay Harlem artists, Nugent was among only a few who were publicly out. Recognized initially for the few short stories and paintings that were published, Nugent had a long productive career bringing to light the creative process of gay and black culture.
Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) is an American professional ballet company and school based in Harlem, New York City. It was founded in 1969 under the directorship of Arthur Mitchell and later partnered with Karel Shook. Milton Rosenstock served as the company's music director from 1981 to 1992. The DTH is renowned for being both "the first Black classical ballet company", and "the first major ballet company to prioritize Black dancers".
Arthur Mitchell was an American ballet dancer, choreographer, and founder and director of ballet companies. In 1955, he was the first African-American dancer with the New York City Ballet, where he was promoted to principal dancer the following year and danced in major roles until 1966. He then founded ballet companies in Spoleto, Washington, D.C., and Brazil. In 1969, he founded a training school and the first African-American classical ballet company, Dance Theatre of Harlem. Among other awards, Mitchell was recognized as a MacArthur Fellow, inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame, and received the United States National Medal of Arts and a Fletcher Foundation fellowship.
Ruth Page was an American ballerina and choreographer, who created innovative works on American themes.
Lavinia Williams, who sometimes went by the married name Lavinia Williams Yarborough, was an American dancer and dance educator who founded national schools of dance in several Caribbean countries.
Rasta Kuzma Ramacandra was born on July 18, 1981 in San Francisco and is a dancer, martial artist, gymnast, and choreographer. Thomas is the founder of the Bad Boys of Dance and director/owner of the ShowBiz National Talent Competition. Thomas is a past winner of prestigious ballet competitions worldwide and has been a guest with numerous dance companies.
The company Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo was formed in 1932 after the death of Sergei Diaghilev and the demise of Ballets Russes. Its director was Wassily de Basil, and its artistic director was René Blum. They fell out in 1936 and the company split. The part which de Basil retained went through two name changes before becoming the Original Ballet Russe. Blum founded Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, which changed its name to Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo when Léonide Massine became artistic director in 1938. It operated under this name until it disbanded some 20 years later.
Robert Garland is the artistic director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, where he was a principal dancer and their first official resident choreographer. He has also choreographed for the New York City Ballet, The Royal Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and the Oakland Ballet, among many others.
Eugene Von Grona, was a German professional dancer and choreographer. He was born in Berlin as Eugen Pressner. As a child he visited the United States quite frequently, where he became enamored with the cakewalk and minstrel shows. By the 1920s, after completing his studies under Mary Wigman, von Grona finally made his move to the United States with his wife Leni Bouvier. Both dancers, they were fascinated by the new artistic innovations of the Harlem Renaissance. He enjoyed the sounds of Duke Ellington and other ragtime favorites. In 1930, Von Grona arranged the dance, "Mechanical Ballet," for the Broadway musical, Fine and Dandy. Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times said, "the most stunning dance number is a mechanical ballet, which is quite the most vivid of its kind."
Hemsley Winfield was an African-American dancer who created the New Negro Art Theater Dance Group.
Charles Holston Williams was an American choreographer and professor of physical education. He was the organizer and first director of the Hampton Institute Creative Dance Group, the first national touring company composed of college students. Williams was also an associate professor and supervisor of the Physical Education Department at the Hampton Institute—now known as Hampton University—in Hampton, Virginia.
Concerto Barocco is a neoclassical ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to Bach's Concerto for Two Violins. Danced by a cast of eleven, the ballet is completely plotless, and according to Balanchine, "has no "subject matter" beyond the score which it is danced and the particular dancers who execute it". The ballet was made for the American Ballet Caravan's 1941 South American tour, and premiered on June 27, 1941, at Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro. The ballet has entered the repertories of many ballet companies, including Balanchine's New York City Ballet.
Irina Nijinska was a Russian-Polish ballet dancer who performed with the company of Ida Rubinstein; in the Théatre de la Danse Nijinska; the Ballets Russes of Col. de Basil; the Polish Ballet, and other troupes. She spent much of her later life promoting the work of her mother, Bronislava Nijinska, the dancer and choreographer.
Michaela Mabinty DePrince is a Sierra Leonean-American ballet dancer, currently dancing with the Boston Ballet. She rose to fame after starring in the documentary First Position in 2011, following her and other young ballet dancers as they prepared to compete at the Youth America Grand Prix. With her adoptive mother, Elaine DePrince, she authored the book Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina. DePrince formerly danced with the Dance Theatre of Harlem as the youngest dancer in the history of the company and was a former soloist with the Dutch National Ballet. Since 2016, Michaela is a goodwill ambassador with the Dutch organisation War Child, based in Amsterdam.
Mel Alexander Tomlinson was an American dancer and choreographer. At the time of his debut with the New York City Ballet in 1981, he was the only African-American dancer in the company. Ballet choreographer Agnes de Mille referred to Tomlinson as "the most exciting black dancer in America."
Janet Reed was an American ballerina and ballet mistress. She danced with San Francisco Ballet from 1937 to 1941 as leading ballerina. Reed worked with Ballet Theatre from 1943 to 1947 and then with New York City Ballet from 1948 until she was made its ballet mistress in 1959, helping dancers to improve their technique. After retiring in 1964 to spend more time with her family, she taught danced and helped in founding Pacific Northwest Dance, where she worked as its first artistic director until 1976.
Roger Pryor Dodge was an American ballet, vaudeville, and jazz dancer, as well as a choreographer and pioneering jazz critic. He formed the first extensive collection of photographic portraits of Vaslav Nijinsky.
Fine and Dandy is a musical comedy in two acts with a book by Donald Ogden Stewart, music by Kay Swift and lyrics by Paul James. It was produced on Broadway in 1930.
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