Treasured classics meet new works as Dance Theater of Harlem takes center stage Saturday as part of the Vail Dance Festival. “They’re such a beautiful company. The audience is going to have a great time,” said Dante Puleio, Limón Dance Company’s artistic director.
“They bring so much energy and such a different aspect to it — to see ballet on all these different bodies from different places.” In addition to presenting new works, Dance Theater of Harlem carries on the rich tradition of George Balanchine. Company co-founder Arthur Mitchell was not only the first black principal dancer at the New York City Ballet, but also one of Balanchine’s proteges.
Mitchell had planned to help found the National Ballet of Brazil, but after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., he returned to the U.S.
to make a difference in his community by teaching ballet classes with relaxed dress codes in his native Harlem. He launched Dance Theater of Harlem in 1969. “Dance Theater of Harlem was created as a space where Black people could thrive, much like the Black church, where we have our own culture,” said Robert Garland, the company’s artistic director.
Virginia Johnson, a founding member of the company and former artistic director, says it wasn’t about making “a Black ballet company,” but rather making “people aware of the fact that this beautiful art form actually belongs to and can be done by anyone,” according to the company’s website. “He made dancer.