Squaring the Circle
I’m not weathering well. Are you? Individually and globally, it seems to me the last five years left many of us in a vague sort of freefall, in a theatrum mundi that becomes more and more desperate.
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In her new biography, The Swans of Harlem, journalist Karen Valby is witness to the testimony of five pioneering Black ballerinas intimate with the founding history of Dance Theatre of Harlem. She shares their stories from childhood dreams to international stages to obscurity within the larger dance world with a palpable urgency. The mission seems to be somewhat contradictory: on one hand, to give these icons their due before it is too late and, on the other, to restore them to their rightful place in dance history. At intervals she reprises the realization of one of these ballerinas, Sheila Rohan, that she didn’t need to be the star ballerina—“It was enough that I was there. I was there. I was there.”
I’m not weathering well. Are you? Individually and globally, it seems to me the last five years left many of us in a vague sort of freefall, in a theatrum mundi that becomes more and more desperate.
Continue ReadingShe’s one of the hottest and most prolific Black female directors and choreographers working today. Tapping into both ancestral and contemporary stories that capture a range of not only deeply personal experiences but also embody cultural narratives of African American identity, she is Camille A. Brown.
Continue ReadingMartha Graham’s short ballet from 1947 “Errand into the Maze” takes inspiration from the epic Greek legend of the Minotaur’s Labyrinth.
Continue ReadingThe New York City Ballet's summer residency at Saratoga Performing Arts Center captured a year of company anniversaries.
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Thank you for this detailed, thoughtful, and thought provoking review of a complex and groundbreaking chapter of ballet history. I learned a lot. It makes me want to read The Swans of Harlem to learn much more.