‘The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas…’
—Cathy Ritchie
The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History (By Karen Valby, Pantheon Books, 2024)
While Misty Copeland, the first Black ballerina to become a principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre, justifiably deserves all her accolades, it may be time for her to share her place of honor with some other remarkable women.
In The Swans of Harlem, one of the best performing arts books I’ve read so far this year, Karen Valby gives readers a remarkable profile of five exceptional Black ballerinas from the 1960s. The book is a riveting account of how their company, the Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH), was created and maintained largely by the dedication of a frequently tyrannical leader. It also is a moving testimonial to the many ways in which the performing arts in general—and ballet in particular—change hearts, minds, and lives.
Valby focuses on five dancers who became bonded friends and honorary sisters through their years of association with DTH: Lydia Abarca, Sheila Rohan, Karlya Shelton, Marcia Sells and the late Gayle McKinney-Griffin, who died last October, but whose obituary appeared only recently. (McKinney-Griffin would also serve as DTH’s ballet mistress for a time.) We learn of their mutual early attraction to ballet and how their fledgling hopes of training and performing were often dashed when they found themselves the only girls of color in their respective ballet classes.
Fortunately, they all had supportive families providing shelter from the discrimination their daughters faced. And their fortunes, and the ballet world as a whole, changed after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr in 1968. The following year, a remarkable Black dancer/choreographer from the New York City Ballet, Arthur Mitchell, permanently entered their lives by creating DTH, transforming them and the surrounding cultural landscape that had once seemed so forbidding. While Mitchell proved to be a formidable taskmaster (times 10), the young ballerinas learned their craft and surmounted their challenges, becoming strong and resilient artists.
Says Valby about Mitchell: “His guiding ethos was as simple as it was revolutionary. Ballet belongs to everyone. Ballet benefits everyone. The discipline it demands and the beauty it gives back can transform lives. As he put it more bluntly, ‘You’re not going to stick a needle in your arm when your instrument is your body.’”
Blended with the women’s reminiscences is Valby’s absorbing account of DTH’s development and its struggles in times of crisis. Those interested in what arts organizations must face on a daily and yearly basis, financially and creatively, will find her narrative rewarding.
The ballerinas, who eventually formed a weekly social group for staying connected and sharing both joys and frustrations, reminisce freely about their individual and collective lives during their DTH years—with “Mr. Mitchell” the forceful catalyst behind nearly all their professional memories. (His rules governing behavior were unbending: for example, he never allowed his company members, students or associates, no matter their age or how long-standing, to address him as “Arthur”.)
While the dancers achieved sporadic recognition for their individual performances during their active years, their accomplishments as a whole never seemed to enter the ballet history books. Decades later, when—probably thanks to better public relations, surmises a member of the quintet—Misty Copeland became a performing arts household name, the contrast between her fortunes and theirs was striking.
While the gracious ladies sincerely applaud Copeland’s achievements, their periodic social gatherings have been fortified by a sense that her balletic glory could have and should have also been theirs as well a half-century ago.
Comments Karlya Shelton: “There’s been so much African American history that’s been denied its proper place in the annals of our country. It’s really important that while we have the opportunity and a platform, we set the record straight. There have been Black ballerinas for a long time, and the fact of that takes away from no one.” Valby’s excellent book contributes greatly to this new level of recognition.
Arthur Mitchell died in 2018, but Dance Theatre of Harlem lives on with former prima ballerina Virginia Johnson at the helm. She has led the troupe through several hiatuses due to financial problems, but the company is back to full strength with touring, commissioning of new works, and special exhibitions. In 2013, DTH received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to further assist them in preserving the company’s archival history.
The Swans of Harlem offers ballet aficionados and general readers a wonderful
journey through the life of an American artistic treasure, plus a portrait of the determination and passion of five dedicated women. Their collective love for their art—and personal joy in each other—should inspire us all. It is highly recommended. (Watch an evocative ABC News report on the dancers and the book here: https://www.google.com/search?q=Dance+Theatre+of+Harlem+1960s+photos+of+ballerinas&rlz=1C1RXQR_enUS932US932&oq=Dance+Theatre+of+Harlem+1960s+photos+of+ballerinas&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigAdIBCjEzOTc3ajBqMTWoAgiwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:d2f68433,vid:XFDjuOHeiVM,st:0
