Photo by Andrea Mohin/The New York Times
As reported by Gia Kourlas in The New York Times, Virginia Johnson, 63, has resumed leadership of the resurrected Dance Theater of Harlem. Johnson was one of the great stars of the company for 28 years, during the time when Dance Theater thrived both at home and on national tours, including annual visits to San Francisco.
Dance Theater was forced into hiatus in 2004, burdened with a $2.3 million debt, but as Kourlas reports:
Now Dance Theater is making a comeback. Beginning Wednesday the company, lean at just 18 members from 44 in 2004, will perform at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center.What does Dance Theater of Harlem mean today? Does a primarily black ballet company even need to exist? Since its founding the company succeeded in promoting black classical dances while developing dozens of luminous, powerful dancers, including Ms. Johnson — who still glides across the Harlem studio like a swan — Karen Brown, Homer Bryant, Lorraine Graves, Alicia Graf Mack, Paul Russell, and Donald Williams. Ms. Mack is now a member of the hugely popular Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Decades after Mr. Mitchell decided to expose children in Harlem to dance, black dancers are still rare in established ballet companies. Misty Copeland is a soloist at American Ballet Theater, and two apprentices at New York City Ballet, Silas Farley and Olivia Boisson, show tremendous promise. Yet it’s no coincidence that Ms. Johnson chose to add the renowned Black Swan pas de deux to the Dance Theater of Harlem repertory this season.