Virginia Johnson: an accomplished life in dance recognized by Bessie Award
Jul
18
2023
A highly respected, accomplished, and worthy woman of dance, Virginia Johnson, founding member and former artistic director of Dance Theatre of Harlem, will receive the 2023 Bessie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dance, announced New York Dance and Performance Awards Executive Director Heather Robles, who labeled Johnson “a pioneering woman in the arts.” Born in ...
Aching loss of Arthur Mitchell assuaged by Memorial, DTH season 1
Nov
15
2018
The 50th anniversary season of the beloved Dance Theatre of Harlem will honor its legendary Founding Artistic Director Arthur Mitchell, who passed away on September 19, 2018, with a memorial service on December 3, 2018. Free and open to the Dance Theatre of Harlem community and friends, the memorial will include performances by the company, ...
If it’s August, it’s NYCB Nutcracker time in Los Angeles 2
May
14
2011
This fascinating poster — click on it for detail — dating near to 1954 when Balanchine first staged the Nutcracker [Maria Tallchief as Sugar Plum Fairy, Tanaquil LeClercq as Dewdrop] — comes from the collection of Edith Brozak McMann, a former New York City Ballet dancer. It may interest Los Angeles dance fans of a ...
Virginia Johnson remembers her path to Dance Theatre of Harlem
Jan
27
2011
Dance Theater of Harlem Artistic Director Virginia Johnson, once the company’s tall prima ballerina — and she still has gorgeous gams — spoke today to a group of African-American dance students at the annual conference of the International Association of Blacks in Dance at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The classy Manhattan-ite told ...
Arthur Mitchell delights in his ballerinas
Jul
6
2010
“I love to partner,” admits the great pioneering African-American ballet dancer Arthur Mitchell who joined New York City Ballet in 1955. In conversation he shares affectionate sound bites about the ballerinas he partnered when dancing for choreographer George Balanchine at New York City Ballet, 1955 – 1966. On Allegra Kent: “Otherworldly. A real creature, there was nothing she ...
Legendary dancer/director Arthur Mitchell visits L.A. 1
In tandem with the soon-to-close “40 Years of Firsts,” a loving and comprehensive art gallery retrospective of Dance Theatre of Harlem, Arthur Mitchell, the troupe’s artistic director emeritus, will appear at the California African American Museum the evening of June 30. The multimedia exhibit, organized by the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, ...