Arthur Mitchell
— -- A pivotal figure in the dance world for more than 50 years, Arthur Mitchell, the co-founder of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, broke barriers in the 1950s when TV stations refused to broadcast programs where he was partnered with white ballerinas.
Mitchell began his dance training at New York City's High School for the Performing Arts and was the first male student to win the coveted annual dance award. Upon graduation, he was offered two scholarships, one to Vermont's Bennington College and the other to New York's School of American Ballet, which he accepted. (Bennington College was officially an all-women's college at the time but had male students studying there. It officially became coed in 1969.)
Mitchell made history in 1955 when he joined the New York City Ballet, becoming the first African-American male dancer to become a permanent member of a major ballet company. He debuted in the fourth movement of famed choreographer George Balanchine's "Western Symphony."
He quickly rose to principal dancer with the New York City Ballet and in his 15 years with the company, was known to dazzle audiences in an eclectic array of roles. His most-noted performances were in the neoclassical style of "Agon" and in the lighthearted role of Puck in "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Mitchell said he was determined to do something to provide children in Harlem with the kinds of opportunities he had growing up.
He began giving ballet classes to local children in a Harlem church basement in 1969, with financial assistance from the Ford Foundation. He and his teacher and mentor Karel Shook founded the Dance Theatre of Harlem as a school of the allied arts and a professional ballet company. The Dance Theatre of Harlem made its official debut in 1971, had its first full season in 1974, and grew into a world-renowned multicultural institution composed of students and dancers from the United States and abroad.
Mitchell has received numerous honors and awards, including the 1987 National Medal of Arts and "Living Landmark" status by the New York Landmark Conservancy in 1993. He is also one of the youngest people to be honored by the Kennedy Center and is a member of the Council of the National Endowment for the Arts. Perhaps Mitchell's greatest legacy will be the Dance Theatre of Harlem -- his own way of sharing a boyhood dream he had with others.
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