Black History Month

Katherine Dunham (1909 – 2006) was the first black choreographer to work at the Metropolitan Opera House.  A dancer, choreographer, school founder, and anthropologist, she was born in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and graduated from the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.  Dunham incorporated her training in anthropology and her study of African and West Indian [...]

Janet Collins (1923 – 2003) was the first black prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera Company, a position that she held for three years.  She made her debut in Aida.  Collins was born in New Orleans on March 2, 1923, and her family later settled in Los Angeles.  A graduate of Los Angeles City College [...]

Hemsley Winfield (1906-1934) was the first black dancer to be involved in ballet.  He choreographed and performed with his own company in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Louis Gruenberg’s “The Emperor Jones.”  This was a one-time exception to the rules — m    Winfield’s mother was a playwright, and he made his debut in one [...]

The Alvin Ailey Dance Theater was the first black modern dance troupe to perform in the Metropolitan Opera House.  Founded in 1958 by Alvin Ailey (1931 – 1989), the troupe has performed before more than an estimated fifteen million people throughout the world.  Ailey’s best known work, “Revelations,” based on his childhood experiences in black [...]

The first black dancer in the country to become a member of a classical ballet company, the New York City Ballet, was Arthur Mitchell (1934 – ). Born in New York City, Mitchell studied at the city’s High School of Performing Arts and at the School of American Ballet.  He founded the Dance Theater of [...]

Buddy (Clarence) Bradley  (1905 – 1972) was the first black to choreograph a show of white dancers.  He was hired to prepare the London production of Evergreen for which he was in charge of sixty-four dancers.  Bradley received full-credit in the program.  His career from this time on was mainly Europe, where he was an important [...]

In October, 1923, “Running WIld” was the first black show to introduce the Charleston to nonblack audiences.  After is appropriation by a white show in 1926, the dance achieved a world-wide popularity second only to the black-inspired Tango, which came to Europe and America from Argentina.  A third black dance to achieve wide success in [...]

William Henry Lane (c. 1825-1852), “Master Juba,” was the first black dance star.  He was born a freeman in Providence, Rhode Island.  He took his stage name from the African dance, the juba.  In 1845, Lane won the title “King of All Dancers” after three challenge contests. Master Juba performed at a lightning-fast tempo, with [...]

Bernice Collins (1957 – ) was the first black woman clown with Ringling Brothers.  The Kansas City native decided to become a clown when she was fourteen years old. Bernice Collins, circus showgirl – the Baltimore Afro American, March 22, 1980 Source:  Essence 8 (March 1978), p. 58.

The first black showgirl with Ringling Brothers Circus was Toni Williams (1943- ) of Reading, Pennsylvania.  Since then she has formed a trapeze act on her own. Source:  Alford, Famous First Blacks, p. 71; Essence 8 (March 1978), pp. 56, 58, 60.