|
|
Article: Classic Black. (photography exhibit of African American ballet dancers, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, New York, New York)(Black History Month)
- Article from:
- Dance Magazine
- Article date:
- February 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Dance Magazine, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
What began as an oral history project about black ballet dancers became "Classic Black,"a ground-breaking historic photo exhibition.
A few years ago, my colleague, Dawn Lille Horwitz, a professor of dance history at City University of New York (CUNY), perceived a gap in the information on black ballet dancers prior to the formation of Arthur Mitchell's Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1971. Many of the dancers were still alive, but no one was collecting material or gathering any information. Horwitz, with help from a grant from Professional Staff Congress/ CUNY, began to collect oral histories from Talley Beatty, Elizabeth Thompson, Gene Hill Sagan, Louis Johnson, Betsy ...