2023 Founders’ Week Celebration | February 11-19
54 years ago Arthur Mitchell and master teacher Karel Shook co-founded Dance Theatre of Harlem at the height of the civil rights movement, and in a graceful moment of artistic resistance, created a haven for dancers of all colors who craved training, performance experience, and an opportunity to excel in the classical ballet world. We are thrilled to present a week of events celebrating our founders, committed to upholding the values they established – access, opportunity, and excellence! Thank you for joining us for the celebration and we are grateful for your continued support of Dance Theatre of Harlem.
Schedule of FREE Events
(All activities are Eastern Standard Time)
Monday, February 13th
Whose Ballet? Diasporan Waves and Black Genealogies for Dance, Virtual Panel
6pm (EST)
The Hemispheric Institute and the Center for Ballet and the Arts host Whose Ballet? Diasporan Waves and Black Genealogies for Dance, a dialogue with Virginia Johnson, Brenda Dixon-Gottschild, Zane Booker, Theresa Ruth Howard, and Zita Allen about their work, the histories of ballet, and the signal force of Blackness in shaping performance, repertoires, companies, dance scholarship, and dance memory.
Tuesday, February 14th
What’s The Step?
Learn steps to Helen Pickett’s When Love with DTH Company Artists
ICYMI – See the video below!
Wednesday, February 15th
Winterside Chat: “Teach Them Well”: Arthur Mitchell’s Lecture Demonstration
Watch our Founders’ Week Winterside Chat “Teach Them Well”: Arthur Mitchell’s Lecture Demonstration Artistic Director Virginia Johnson will be hosting the chat featuring panelists and DTH Company alumni Gayle McKinney, Karen Brown, Endalyn Taylor and Vince Collins and company artists Christopher Charles McDaniel and Sanforde Placide. The chat will also feature clips of Arthur Mitchell teaching a lecture demonstration in 1970.
Thursday, February 16th
Ballet for All @DTH
with
Resident Choreographer and Incoming DTH Artistic Director Robert Garland
Join internationally renowned choreographer, teacher, and director, Robert Garland, for an adult ballet class. He draws from his vast, encyclopedic knowledge of the classical, neo-classical, and contemporary vocabularies to create a fun, educational, and inspiring dance experience that will broaden one’s understanding of the art form.
*Robert Garland for The New York Times, Photo by Mark Elzey.
Friday, February 17th
DTH On Demand Streaming of Creole Giselle has ended.
Thank you for watching.
When the ballet Giselle was created in 1841, it was not imagined to be performed by men and women of color, Black men and women. In 1984, Dance Theatre of Harlem Co-founder Arthur Mitchell changed that. The acclaimed DTH production of this classic, Creole Giselle, was reconceived by Arthur Mitchell and staged by Frederic Franklin, based on the original by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot.
Creole Giselle
Aarhus, Denmark, September 1987
Choreography by Jean Coralli & Jules Perrot
Staged by Frederic Franklin
Scenario by Arthur Mitchell and Carl Michel
Produced by: Yanna Kroyt Brandt, Thomas Grimm
Directed by: Thomas Grimm, a co-production of A.M.E., Inc.
Saturday, February 18th
*Photo courtesy of Djoniba Mouflet
Sunday, February 19th
Virtual Sunday Matinée
Watch the full show here.
Hosted by DTH School Director Tai Jimenez and DTH Student Armand Rusen-Blanchette
Featuring performances by the Dance Theatre of Harlem Company and the Limón Dance Company.
DTH Company photo by Janee Smith